Thursday, August 25, 2011

WRITING your PERSONAL testimony

WRITING YOUR PERSONAL Testimony
borrowed from Dough Fields
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This is sharing how your relationship with Jesus has impacted your life.

What is a Testimony?
When we commit ourselves to Jesus, a change takes place in our lives.
This changed-life story is what is known as a testimony.
“Testimony” means sharing how your relationship with Jesus has impacted your life. The Bible tells us that when we become Christians our “old” self is put in the past and that we are made new because of Christ. The process of being “made new” is what a testimony reveals.

Testimony comes from the word testify. You might recognize this term as something that a witness in a court might give – they “testify” as to what they know or what they saw. When you share about what Christ has done in your life you are testifying to His presence.

Telling the story of Christ in your life is part of reaching out to others by telling them about God. You don’t need to be a Super-Christian to give your testimony, and your story doesn’t need to be flashy or dramatic; you only need to have a desire to tell others about God in your life and a commitment to living God’s way.


Are you thinking about giving your testimony?

If you’re thinking about sharing with the high school ministry how Christ has impacted your life, we would like to congratulate you. We think it’s incredible that you are thinking about sharing how God has worked in your life. Just picking up this sheet takes a great deal of courage – we’re proud of you!!! We want to give you the tools that you need to make giving your testimony a successful and meaningful experience. Attached to this letter is a tool designed to make this as easy as possible.

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Testimony Tool
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How We Used This. . .
This resource will help your students examine their life and think about how God has impacted his or her life. This tool has two parts: in the first part, a student does a brief study on the “testimony” of Paul; in the second part, he writes his own. We make this tool available to all students at our Crowd program, but we require all student leaders to write their testimony.

Writing Your Personal Testimony
The Example of the Apostle Paul
One of the privileges and responsibilities of Christians is to share with others our faith in Christ. Although many methods and plans can be used to communicate our faith, none is more effective than sharing how the love, grace, and mercy of Christ has changed our lives.

People to whom we witness may evade issues, attempt to discredit biblical and historical facts, or blame their condition on others. But it’s hard to discount the authentic testimony of a believer whose life has been transformed.

That’s the reason for this lesson. Completing the worksheet will better equip you to give a logical and organized presentation of who Jesus Christ is and what he has done in your life.

Let’s use the story of Paul’s conversion as a pattern for your testimony.

Read the Bible text: Acts 26:1-23
Paul’s attitudes and actions before his conversion –VV. 1-11
Lived as a Pharisee – v. 5 (Gal. 1:13-14)
Imprisoned many saints – v. 10
Condoned the deaths on many saints-v. 10
Persecuted Christians – v. 11
Circumstances surrounding Paul’s Conversion – VV. 12-18
 Where was he going?
 What time was it?
 What did he see?
 Who was with him?
 What did he hear?
(Read 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15)
Changes in paul’s attitudes and actions after his conversion – VV. 19-23
What evidence of Paul’s repentance and conversion can be found in the following verses:
 Verse 19
 Verse 20
 Verse 21
 Verse 22,23
(Read 1 John 1:5-9; 2:3-6)

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Writing Your Personal Testimony . . . Your Turn!
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Attitudes and actions before I became a Christian
(if appropriate, include family or church background. Avoid naming religious denominations (or naming specific people), since this may alienate some of your listeners)

Circumstances Surrounding My Conversion
(consider time, place, important people, motivation, emotional state, etc. This is a natural place to summarize the gospel: the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ)

Changes in my attitudes and actions since my conversion
Be enthusiastic and realistic! Paint a true picture of your new life, share your victories and let everyone know you’re not perfect.

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