How to give your personal testimony.
The omelet - Are good works enough?
Should I invite people to come to church?
Have you tried a bus ministry?
1. People are most interested in a true human interest story (they can identify with other people best), and
2. You are interested in sharing with others what Christ and salvation mean to you personally.
You may be giving your testimony to a friend, a co-worker, someone that you meet on the street, or in a church service. Here are some guidelines that will make your testimony the kind that others will like and that will bring glory to Christ:
1. Realize what is at stake: the destiny of the souls of men.
You are representing Jesus Christ. II Cor. 5:18-20.
2. Ask the Lord to give you wisdom and guidance in preparing and presenting your testimony.
3. Begin with an interesting, attention-getting sentence and close with a good conclusion. Include relevant, thought provoking facts and experiences.
4. Give it in such a way that others will feel associated with you. See #8.
5. Give enough details to arouse interest.
6. You should always have a general outline already in your mind. By this, we mean that you can give your testimony in two or three minutes to an hour or more. You never know when or for how long you may be called on to give a testimony.
7. If you are the first or only one to give a testimony, always give the plan of salvation.
8. Be sure your experiences are scriptural before you share them with others. Interpret your experiences by the Word of God and not vise-versa. The Bible is our authority.
9. Be lovingly enthusiastic. Let them know you really believe in what you are saying. Don't bore people with the greatest thing in the world.
10. Speak loudly and clearly, in a relaxed tone of voice.
11. Smile often. A smile tells a person, "I like you," and "You're worth smiling at." Ask the Lord to give you a happy, radiant face. Eph. 4:15.
12. Avoid mannerisms when you speak, such as: rubbing your nose, playing with your ring, jingling coins in your pocket.
13. Feature Christ, and not yourself.
14. Have a good appearance: clean, good posture, smell good.
Be full of life.
Salvation in a testimony:
1. Tell the circumstances involved in your salvation.
2. Spell out exactly what salvation is. Be clear and simple.
Think: Could a person be saved by hearing that testimony alone?
3. As a general rule, it is good to quote at least one clear salvation verse, and no more than two. Eph.2:8-9; John 3:16; I John 5:13.
4. Always distinguish between faith and works, between salvation and service, Christ and religion.
5. Remember the gospel is the power of God unto salvation.
Rom. 1:16. Rely on His Word and the Holy Spirit.
Don'ts
1. Don't use Christian jargon. Words such as "born again," "convicted," "converted," do not communicate truth to the average non-Christian.
2. Don't preach-- Do talk, share something of value.
3. Don't tear down. Be positive!
4. Don't let your testimony drag on. When you have finished, you can stop. Don't keep talking just to talk.
5. Don't apologize. This gives the person or audience lack of confidence.
6. Don't mention church denominations, especially in a derogatory way.
7. Don't speak critically or negatively about any other individual or group. You are here to talk about Christ and try to lead a person to a saving knowledge of Christ.
8. Don't give the impression that the Christian life is a "bed of roses." Some people are told that when they give their life to Christ, that all of their problems will be solved and life will be a complete joy for the rest of their lives. If you have been a Christian for very long, you know that you will still have problems.
9. Don't give a bragamony.
Let's suppose that you are 10 miles from shore and your boat sinks and you can't swim. Along comes another boat as you cry out for help. - What is a Saviour?
Let's say that the man in the boat throws out a book for you entitled "How to Swim". Would you call this man a saviour? I don't think so. You may have a few other names for the fellow with your last breath, but I doubt that it would be saviour.
Now let's say that he gets out of the boat and shows you different methods of swimming. He shows you the dog paddle, the backstroke ,and a few other things. Is this person a saviour? NO! You might call him an example at best.
How about if he throws you a life preserver, pulls you into his boat, gives you a blanket, some hot chocolate and takes you about a mile from shore and throws you back into the water so that he may continue on his way. Is he a saviour? NO! Maybe an indian giver. He really didn't save you because you will still drown one mile from shore just as quickly as you will ten miles from shore.
None of these examples are of a saviour. A saviour is one that gets you out of the water into his boat and takes you all the way to shore.
Jesus did not just give us a book with instructions in it, He was not just an example for us to follow, He does not take us part way to Heaven and then cast us back out again. When Jesus saves us, He stays with us through this life and takes us all the way and sets us on Heavens shore. That's what happens when you accept Jesus as your saviour. He has stated that He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5) and He will not cast us out (John 6:37).
I visited there..................1%
I liked the Sunday School........1%
I had a special need.............2%
I just walked in.................3%
I liked the programs.............3%
Other............................5%
I liked the Pastor...............6%
A friend or relative invited me..79%
I have found in my experience that I as the Pastor of a church I can go and knock on doors and invite many people to come to church. Most of them will say that they will be there Sunday but very few will ever show up no matter how much I go by. However one of my church members who is a friend of theirs can invite them and they will be there that Sunday or soon after. I have found that many people expect the Pastor to go out and visit as part of his job. However the Bible tells us that ALL Christians should invite people to come to church. Start with your friends, neighbors, and relatives. After that it will be easier to ask the cashier at the bank or the man at the gas station that you see occasionally.
When trying to find a good tract to use there are several things you will want to look at. It shouldn't be too long. I have seen some tracts which are full of a lot of great material but they have been so long that many people either won't start reading it or they put it down for another time. One thing we know about life is that they may not have the time later to read the tract before it is too late for them.
The tract should establish that we are all sinners and that we can not get to Heaven by good works. It needs to also make it clear that good works can't help a person to get into Heaven. We are saved by God's grace through faith in His Son and accepting the payment that Jesus made on the cross for our sins and nothing else. Adding anything to faith in Christ will nullify the gospel, even if it says believe and be baptised. Baptism to help with salvation becomes a work for salvation.
First of all pray that God will help you to leave the tracts in the right places and give them to the right people. Hopefully people will find them that have questions about their salvation. Some people will stick a tract in their purse or wallet so they can read it later and will find it at the right time in their life.
If you are at a restraunt, you can leave a tip in a tract for the waitress. Make sure it is a good tip or they won't read the tract and you will just give Christians a bad name. I worked in many restraunts and can tell you that they usally don't like the church crowd on Sunday afternoons. Christians who come on Sunday after church as a whole are demanding, rude, and very cheep tippers. If you are a Christian eating at a restraunt still in your Sunday church clothes make sure you treat the staff well before leaving a tract.
When you go to a county fair or to an amusement park you can leave gospel tracts. The tracts that look like money are espically fun to leave at these places. Also at shopping malls.
I like to put a tract in the envelope when I send in a payment for a bill. My Brother used to have a successful business. He put a tract with every invoice he sent out.
Subway stations, bus terminals, waiting rooms or any other place where a person is going to have a little time on their hands.
Leave a tract in the Bible at a hotel that you stay at. Many people at hotels are there because something is going wrong at their house and they need a place to stay for a night or two.
Remember not to leave a tract close to a garbage can. Some people will just throw it away when they see it before anyone interested can read it.
I hope this has helped you to consider having a tract ministry or getting involved on one that your church or another organization may have. If you have any questions about a tract ministry feel free to contact us at makeitclear@aol.com. We look forward to hearing from you. If you check out our news page, it tells about some of the tracts that we print up to help share the gospel with others.
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