A friend recently emailed and asked what my thoughts were on the Christian practice of telling our “personal testimony.” I thought I would answer him here since it might be a helpful discussion for everyone to think through.
After my conversion (1990) I was asked to tell my testimony in several different contexts – especially youth groups. Following the popular format of the day I shared how bad I was, how I met Jesus, and how different I was after. What I found was that people, especially youth, were more interested in the sordid and morbid details of my previous life than they were of my new life, and even less interested in the Jesus who brought about the change. I eventually stopped telling my testimony in that way, and focused more on finding the best way to help people see the gospel itself, not just what it has accomplished in one man’s life.
In short, I have two main problems with the Christian testimony. My main problem is that many testimonies, at least as they seem to be popularly told today, make more of the change a person experienced than the One who brought about such change. Sometimes this is intentional because, let’s face it – most people like to be the topic of conversation. But often listeners overlook Jesus in a Christian’s testimony because they are simply gravitating to the one they think is the central character in the story.
But another problem is that an argument from personal experience carries very little weight these days; much less weight than we are led to believe by some church leaders and evangelism training. Your radical transformation, at least as much as can be seen by others, is not very different from the stories told by the disciples of Jenny Craig, Scientology, veganism, or Mac computers. “My life is so different now. So better. I am a new person!” There are converts to something everywhere all sharing their personal testimony, pointing to the power and truth of whatever it is that has brought about transformation.
The only way to make a clear distinction between your Christian testimony and someone else’s story of transformation is via a direct appeal to the gospel itself. We have to make sure that Christ is the central character in our story, and that we are not merely sharing our experience, but the gospel; that God in Christ reconciles the world to himself, establishing an everlasting Kingdom in which our sins are forgiven and the image of God is restored in us.
I am not suggesting that we abandon the practice of telling our stories. We should! Our stories can help people see the gospel at work, but the gospel must be clear. So yes, I am in favor of Christians sharing their testimony so long as we are careful to:
1. Make Jesus the central character in your story, and/or the gospel your point.
Your story is anecdotal. The people you talk to need to understand that your experience is what the gospel does, and is not the gospel itself. Your story fits into the larger story of God’s work of redemption. In a very real sense, Jesus is the central character in your story.
2. Tell the truth.
I was once in an evangelism class where the professor actually instructed the students to “jazz up” their former lives to make their story of transformation more exciting. (He was apparently not impressed with the stories of young adults who came to know Christ early, or were protected by God from gross sin in their youth. He missed that the grace of God preserving and protecting the young from temptation and sin is an incredible testimony.)
Think of it this way. One man was considered scum by his family and neighbors, while another was a stand-up guy who was widely respected as virtuous and valuable. But both men were under the curse of the law, and in need of God’s grace. Their testimonies are the same in that they both discovered the triumph of God’s grace over sin and death. One man saw that his unrighteousness was foolishness, while the other saw his morality as absolutely lacking. Both men had to repent and believe the gospel in order to enter the Kingdom. What makes your testimony worth hearing is not the dramatic outward transformation, but the eternal transaction between Father and Son on your behalf.
3. Know how to talk about the gospel.
This is what I always tell our people at Redeemer. The key to being an evangelist is not a script, nor a diagnostic question, and it’s definitely not a banana. The key to the discipline of evangelism is a theological and experiential knowledge of the gospel. Without this a testimony is just you talking about yourself. We are holding a Saturday Seminar on Evangelism at Redeemer in February and will cover some of the theological and practical issues involved.
What are your thoughts on the testimony? How is it misused, abused, or used well?
I am the Lead Pastor of Redeemer Fellowship; husband to Jen; Dad to Katherine, Elias, Madeline, and Kilian. If you're in town you can probably find me in the local coffee house or running through the neighborhoods.
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Thanks for this Joe. This rocks my world. I’ve been reading Michael Horton’s Christless Christianity and he discusses the Gnostic influence on evangelicalism and how both liberals and fundamentalists may come from different perspectives but the end result is becoming more an internally experiential relationship to Christ. He quotes E.Y. Mullins’ statement “That which we know most indubitably are the facts of inner experience.”
This scares me. Scripturally the Bible says much about my “inner experience” and none of it is good. Horton talks much about the gospel coming to us externally, placing the emphasis on the indicative (what was done) moreso than the imperative (something to do). It seems testimonies (including my own in the past) and too much preaching have majored on what to do and less on what Christ did. I also see HUGE implications with this in evangelism. We try to talk people into having a “personal relationship with Christ” and celebrates the experience more than the doctrinal fact of a historic Jesus doing something once for all time. Instead of giving people “ways Jesus changed me and he can help you too if you have a personal relationship with him,” we need to shift to communicating our desperate situations void of hope apart from throwing our belief/faith over to a cross standing on a hill. We need to see Jesus coming to us from outside of us instead of Him welling up inside of us as if we had some innate spiritual insight that is awakened. Dead people don’t ooze anything but death (Eph. 2:1)
Joe you hit the nail on the head. Typically personal testimonies imply that Christianity is a subjective thing. However, I think when personal testimonies emphasize the Gospel, as you suggested in your post, they can server to demonstrate that the Gospel isn’t just mere ideas, but has huge implications and effects in our lives.
Thanks for that…
I think as you have pointed out, the danger is an emphasis on a dramatic sinful life and a dull Christian life.
My view of our youth group, is that they have never really fallen in love with the Lord Jesus. We have studied much of His teaching, but I think we need to look at HIM, His love, His sacrifice, His person….wwhat He has doen for us….and hopefully it will be transforming!
Thanks for reminding me of that!
I’m with you on this too. The overemphasis on having an elevator speech for God is long worn out by now. I agree also that most people like to be the topic of conversation – it’s self-fulfilling to present the story in a way that makes people ooh and aah about what a rotten person you were and by extension what a great person you are now.
I think Christian testimony for me now is entirely context, in the same category as advice or encouragement. My testimony is not a story about what happened to me once upon a time either, or else it seems to me I devalue what God is doing in my life now. It’s probably now more of a novel in progress, that if you are interested you may flip through, or I may read you something from sometime.
Thanks for this post Joe. I’ve just started in youth ministry and one of the things that has stuck out to me is that the teens do seem a lot more interested in what Jesus has saved me from than what he has saved me for.
Good thoughts here Joe.
One thing that I have seen in my own story is the importance of telling what the gospel is doing in my life, not just what it has done like Jonathan said. Part of the idea of testimony is bearing witness to the power of God being made known in our lives ‘post conversion’ as the love, grace, and reconciliation of God becomes more evident in our lives.
Talking about how bad I was, and how i’ve changed is a one dimensional story that people have a hard time relating to. Telling about who I am now and how i’m believing the gospel and knowing Jesus more and more invites people to walk with me and find out what happens in there life when Jesus comes to stay.
I moved around a lot growing up, but every youth group I was in and most churches I have served with (primarily as a summer missionary) valued the testimony highly, and it always bothered me. Although “big testimonies” interested me, it was always the horrific past and not the present grace (though I was thankful and more moved than many).
Personally, I have found when asked to give a testimony, it is best to speak Scripture, with a little bit of how it has affected the recent past. There is no “big change” I can tell of in a “before” and “after” sense, as there wasn’t much before I became a Christian at 6 years old. But I find that things going on in my life recently (such as the tornado at Union University, witnessing 4 children almost drown and require CPR to resuscitate them, deaths of loved ones), intertwined with Scripture highlighting the grace of God and the hope for the future turn out well. Basically to get on the average level (step down from the platform summer missionaries/ministers are oft put on and “be real”), and let them know that I understand suffering, pain, heartache, death, but greater than this is the grace of the almighty God, which is really real.
This is brilliant advice Joe, a few years ago as part of a baptism I asked if the guys would share their testimony, but rather than major on ‘the before of their lives’ to major on Christ & how they’ve seen Him post conversion.
It was a concept that one, who was bible college trained, found it hard to grasp. I love him as a brother but it was an example to me of how programmed we can be with our testimonies & how often our sin before Christ’s calling can be ‘glorified’ more than Christ.
Thanks for writting this post
Joe – My experience is that all three of your points are greatly needed, and that the most needed is #3 – knowing the gospel. Many of my evangelical friends, if you were to ask them do define the gospel, would be the deer-in-the-headlights. We simply don’t have a full, comprehensive view of the gospel itself and when I say “full”, I mean an understanding of the gospel that includes the “me-and-Jesus” aspect, but extends also to the kingdom.
Your point about making Jesus the focal point is key as well. It’s really His story. He’s the hero.
I enjoy your blog, brother and dig the new look.
Thanks, Joe – I think I understand now how my own testimony has turned off one Christian guy whom I have been serious with because I had more of a radical change than he did in my life (before and after becoming born-again). He never had that “miraculous moment” so for the several years that I knew him, I was waiting for it to happen but it never really did except a series of trials where his character appeared to have developed. I would appreciate it if you could respond back because I have a question that requires feedback from a guy who is Christian.
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