How to Share Your Testimony

Do you struggle with sharing Christ with others? Does the thought of leading someone to Christ make you feel intimidated, overwhelmed, or just plain inadequate? If so, I’d like to offer you some encouragement. Sharing Christ doesn’t require you to be a Christian superstar or a theologian. It just requires that you share your story in a simple, clear way that communicates the love of God to other people. Revelation 12:11 talks about the saints in a future time in their battle against Satan himself. It says, “They overcame him, Satan, by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony and they loved not their life, even unto death.” God wants you to be able to tell your story because the word of your testimony – your story – is powerful. It’s probably the most powerful way you’ll ever share His love with people and those you care about. But how do we do it?

To help you, I would encourage you to take forty-five minutes to an hour and literally write it down. As you write, consider these three specific tips:

1. Develop a theme.

Think about what might be a central issue in your life that shows the contrast in your spiritual outlook before Christ and then after. My theme is the belief that success equals happiness and how that didn’t pan out in my life. Until I found Christ, I was striving to be successful and was very unhappy despite what I was taught. To find your theme, answer the question: What was your life like before Christ? Think about where you grew up and what was going on. What was your vocation? Were you single or were you married? Think about what your life looked like externally. Then, think about what your life was like from an internal standpoint. What was going on inside of you? What were some of the struggles and what did you fear?

2. Keep it clear and simple. The power is in what God has done.

• To get clear, start by asking yourself a few questions: What caused me to consider trusting Christ? What motivated me? What was the tipping point? What happened in my life? For some of us, it’s a tragedy. For others, it’s that someone walked out on us. Or sometimes we went through a really difficult time that was a turning point.
• Next, share how your life changed after trusting Christ. Be honest. You don’t have to exaggerate. You don’t ever have to improve on what God has done. Just tell people honestly and candidly what occurred in your life so they can see what happened on the outside and what changed on the inside.
• Finally, share honestly where you still struggle. I’ve heard people share a testimony that went something like, “My life was a wreck, but I met Jesus and now everything is great.” And I remember thinking to myself, they sound like they’re already in heaven!Jesus didn’t promise to make everything great or promise that we would never have any problems. He did promise that, progressively, we’d change. He promised that He’d give us hope in the midst of real difficulty. It’s important to share very honestly about all that God has done, but make it clear that you’re still on a journey.

3. End with a question or statement that requires a response.

When I get done sharing my story, I often ask, “So what do you think? Have you ever investigated the Bible?” Or “Would you like to share God’s story for you?” After you’re done preparing your story, be willing to say to God, “If you’ll open the door, Lord, I will naturally and lovingly share my story with a person as You lead me.” And then expect great things to happen! To learn more how you can make sharing Christ a part of your lifestyle, check out Chip’s series, Share the Love.