Branch On The Vine

By: Alli Matthews

Humans are drawn to stories. Last week I shared a beautiful love story in honor of Valentine’s Day (The Greatest Love Story – Branch On The Vine). Spoiler alert: it is about God’s love for you and how you can have a relationship with Him.

Over the next two weeks I’m going to teach you how to tell your faith story quickly and effectively in a way that glorifies God. 

First of all, why should we share our faith stories with other people? 

In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus says to his disciples, “…All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” 

Sharing how God has worked in our lives can help people see how God can work in their lives too. God can use our stories to soften people’s hearts to the Gospel, (the good news that Jesus died for us, so that by faith we can receive forgiveness for our sins, a relationship with God, and new life in Christ; read more about this in last week’s post linked above). People are drawn to stories because they connect with them. Hearing a story is much more memorable than hearing a list of facts. 

Another reason to share your faith story is to glorify God. 1 Chronicles 16:24 says, “Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.” 

Now, second of all, I have to give credit to the people who taught me how to write and share my own faith story in college: Marcus and Arianna Pattullo. They are missionaries with Cru, meaning their job is to share Jesus with people and equip college students to also share Jesus with people. During my sophomore year of college, Marcus gave a lesson about how to write your testimony, and Arianna walked me through the process over a few weeks. 

Testimony is a term that Christians often use to describe the story of how God has or currently is working in their lives. 

Marcus discussed a framework for how to outline your testimony. He illustrated it by pointing to himself, pointing up, pointing to himself, then pointing at us. 

This symbolized explaining about your past – something you struggled with. Then, you describe how God stepped in and changed your story – the turning point. Next, you explain how your life has changed because of what God did. Finally, you share how God can work in the lives of your audience. Basically, the order is: you, God, you, audience. 

I’m going to break down each of those steps in next week’s post, but first I want to identify four goals that I suggest you adopt when sharing your faith story: 

1. Aim to glorify God with your testimony, not yourself.

The goal of sharing your testimony should NOT be to explain how you overcame your sin and are now a good person. The goal should be to show the goodness of God who stepped into your story and helped you overcome a struggle in your life. 

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 says, “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Boasting in our strengths only brings glory to ourselves. Boasting in our weakness and struggles shows the glory of God! 

2. Share the Gospel in your testimony. 

2 Timothy 4:2 says, “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.”

If people don’t know the Gospel, they don’t know how they can have a relationship with God, be forgiven of their sins, and have a new life in Christ. That’s one of the main reasons you’re sharing your faith story – to help people understand how a relationship with Jesus can change their lives too. 

3. Include at least one Bible verse in your testimony. 

2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 

There is power in God’s word. It changes both people’s hearts and lives. Using Scripture in your testimony will help people understand how God has impacted you through the Bible. 

4. Have an estimated time limit for how long your testimony will take to share. 

There is a time and a place to share every detail about what God has done in your life, but in most conversations you won’t have that kind of time. 

Being able to share your testimony in everyday conversation requires you to shorten it to somewhere between 30 seconds and 2 minutes. In some situations, you may feel the Holy Spirit leading you to share more or less (listen to Him for sure), but having a goal of a 90 second testimony is going to help you to communicate more effectively. 

In our tech age, people have short attention spans. Keeping your testimony short will help people remember the important details and not get lost in the weeds. 

~

Now that you know your priorities for sharing your testimony, you’re ready to learn how to write each section. We will dive into that in next week’s post, but if you want to start praying over what to share in your testimony, here are some questions to process with God:

• What are some sins that you have struggled with in the past? 
• What or who has God used to speak to you and change your heart? (Scripture, family member, friend, mentor, pastor, worship song, etc.) 
• How does your life look different since God has changed your heart? 
• What are some Bible verses that have strongly impacted your faith journey? 
• What are some Bible verses that describe the Gospel?