You Can Share The Gospel

Session 5: Share Your Testimony

Different people feel comfortable sharing in different ways.

One method for sharing the gospel is to share your testimony. In this video look for three key components of a testimony:

• The way I was before I became a Christian
• A description of what happened. How I became a Christian
• How my life has been changed by Christ.

Sharing your testimony is very personal and that makes it very powerful.

Steps To Prepare For Sharing Your Testimony

Write It Out: Before sharing your testimony write it out. You'll need both a long version, no more than 3-4 minutes, and short version that is under two minutes. Unless you have a particularly compelling story, 4-5 minutes is about the limit of people's attention span. Having a short version of your testimony prepared is important because, at times you may be in circumstances in which time is limited.

Both versions should have all three components:

• Describe the way you were before you became a Christian
• What type of attitude did you have?
• What was the focus of your life?
• What made you happy?
• What problems did you have?
• What happened? Describe how you became a Christian
• When did you first hear the gospel?
• How many times did you hear the gospel before you started trust Christ?
• Who shared the gospel with you?
• Where were you?
• How did you react to the gospel when you first heard it?
• Did you struggle with your decision before trusting Christ?
• Describe how your life, attitudes and behavior was changed by Christ.

Phrases To Avoid: Christians use a lot of phrases to describe salvation, that have no meaning to a non-Christian. You should avoid using phrases such as:

• Invited Christ into my heart
• Accepted Christ
• Gave my life to Christ
• Christ filled a hole in my soul

The Bible never talks about any of these.

What has Christ done for you? He died to pay the penalty you owe for disobeying God.

What are you doing now? Believing that Christ died to pay your penalty. Another way to say this is that you are trusting that Christ died to pay your penalty. The words BELIEVING and TRUSTING are the words you should use. They describe exactly the way things are and they are Biblical.

Don't leave out scripture when sharing your testimony. It is the word of God that is powerful and sharp as a two-edged sword, not your words. Make the word of God a part of testimony.

Practice, Practice, Practice: Never read your testimony. After you've written both a long and short version, practice what you are going to say until you have it memorized. This is the greatest event in your life! You should be able to tell people about it without referring to notes.

Next Session: Evangelism Explosion

Music Video: Who Did You Tell?

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