Preparing your Testimony

Why Prepare a Personal Testimony?

• The Bible commands that we be able to communicate our faith, 1 Peter 3:15, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”
• The apostle Paul demonstrates it in Acts 26. When he stood before King Agrippa, he told him logically and clearly about his life before salvation, how he came to know Christ, and what his life was like after salvation.
• As a Christian, you have a message that non-Christians need to hear.

What Is a Personal Testimony?

A personal testimony is your own communication of your personal experience in coming to know Jesus Christ as your Savior. The purpose of a testimony is for you to express in your own words your experience of coming to know Christ so that a hearer who does not know Christ can understand you.

The general outline of a testimony is:

• Before I came to know Christ, I lived and thought this way.
• How I came to know Christ.
• After I came to know Christ, my life changed in the following ways.

Make your testimony conversational; prepare it to be natural! If possible, avoid religious words and phrases that non-Christians may not understand (“went forward”, “saved”, “redeemed”, “under the blood”, etc.). In the “how”, communicate the Gospel briefly and clearly:

• God’s Holiness
• Man’s Sinfulness and Its consequences
• Christ’s Payment of the Penalty
• The Necessity to Repent and Personally Trust in Christ

In the “after”, share two or three specific changes that God has made in your thinking/behavior.

How to Write a Personal Testimony

Before you begin, pray and ask for God’s help. Accumulate brief notes under before, how, and after. From your notes, write out a complete testimony. Have someone who has given a testimony before read yours and give suggestions.

If you have your testimony prepared, you will be ready to share the Gospel with others when God brings opportunities in your life to do so (Matthew 28:19-20).

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