Want to Become More Confident with Sharing Your Testimony?
On a scale of 1-10 (1 being not confident, 10 being very confident), how prepared do you feel to share your testimony with someone? Why?
This was the last question I asked my junior high and high school Sunday school group after discussing how the apostle Paul used his testimony to back up the claim that the gospel he received was not from man but God in Galatians chapter 1.
ALL of the church-going kids in my group gave answers of 1 to 2.5 in their answers. When I asked them to explain why they did not feel confident, most said that they didn’t have enough life experiences yet or didn’t have an exciting story because they had been raised by Christian parents and in church since they were babies. I decided to take a mini-break from our Galatians study and address their concerns about sharing their testimonies the next week.
In this blog post, I will walk you through my train of thought as a teacher. At the end of this post, you will find the lesson handout I printed and used as a guide for the class.
*Note: I write lessons for discussion, not lectures. Familiarizing yourself with the questions will help you see how they build on each other so that you do not give too much away and spoil the following questions.
STUDY
Revelation 12:7-12
I began the study portion of the lesson in Revelation chapter 12, discussing God’s plan for a Christian testimony and the power behind it. Revelation is a prophetic book written by the apostle John. In the vision God gave him, we learn that Satan is cast down by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimonies (12:11). Satan knows that a Christian’s testimony is powerful, so he often uses his deceptive tactics to attempt to make Christians too timid to share.
Ephesians 2:1-10
Next, I wanted the group to see the connection between the gospel message and their testimony, regardless of how old they were when they received the message through faith. No matter how “little” or “big” in our eyes the wandering and disobedience from God seemed, the truth is Jesus had to pay the same death punishment to pay for every person in the world to be made right with God again. The same Jesus who paid for the sins of the once persecutor of Christians, Paul, is the same Jesus who paid for the sins of a six-year-old little boy who grew up in a household that paved the way of faith for him to know Jesus’ love.
In question 8, I asked again why the group members sometimes feel they have nothing substantial to share from their salvation testimony. I wanted this question to be a time for vulnerability without teaching; the lesson part would come next in the Luke 15 passage.
Luke 15:1-10
Transitioning to Luke 15, I had the group members reflect on the importance of their salvation to God. All of heaven is rejoicing over their salvation, and the rejoicing is not dependent on how epic of a lost backstory they have. Their salvation is rejoiced because they return to a God who created them to be in a relationship with Him. Anytime a sinner repents and turns to God, no matter the age or “epicness” of the story, there is a party in heaven, and we should view our salvation through the lens of God. Therefore, all Christians should be thrilled to share their salvation testimony no matter the length of it because it all took Jesus dying for their sins.
APPLY
The apply section is where participants can write out short testimonies and practice telling them in the safety net of their small group. Writing out their testimony and practicing retelling them in a safe space is one way to start tipping the scales to be more confident.
Salvation Testimony Practice
It is important that they share the gospel story in their message. At the same time, depending on when they received salvation, how long they have been saved, or other factors, they will focus on different sections of their story more than others. Give the group time to think about their story and jot down notes in the categories listed, or if they would like, they can write out the whole story. Allow time for some or all of the participants to share their testimony, but encourage them to keep it under three minutes.
Other Testimony Practice
Encourage participants to think about times they have seen God move or work. The sentence starters on the handout are designed to help someone new to sharing, but they do not have to use them. Here is an example of how the starters can be used in a testimony: There was a time when I was a new Christian, and one day, I started to have many doubts and questions flood my mind about why I was sure that Christianity was true. I had all these dark feelings and doubts, but then I felt God say to pray against those things. Later, I talked to godly people I trusted, and they helped me find answers to my questions. Now I know that when Satan begins to attack my mind with doubts, I can go to God for help, and I have trusted people who help me wrestle with hard questions and see that there is good reason to trust Jesus.
As promised, here is the handout for your next small group lesson. I pray your participants will grow in their confidence in sharing the gospel and see that they are part of God’s plan to defeat Satan once and for all.
