Planning your testimony: Seven steps for proactive preparation

This post is part of the Testimony Revolution series. Get future posts delivered to you for free by grabbing the RSS feed or email updates.

Wonderful, now you’re going to tell your friend about your life WITH Christ. But you have a problem…

B-o-r-i-n-g.

Photo by nate steiner

“Since accepting Christ into my heart last year, I’ve started going to church, and I’m about to start teaching Sunday school.” (The Discipling version)

“I was saved when a traveling evangelist preached at my college campus. Now I love reading the Bible and sipping tea.” (The Learning version)

Or the ultimate drain… “I’ve been a Christian most of my life. I grew up in a Christian home and stayed that way.” (The Being version)

Not quite the nail biter your friend wants to hear, right?

So how do you make your testimony exciting if it’s all about being a Christian?

Is that harsh? Perhaps, but for many, it’s a legitimate question. I’ve asked that question. I grew up in a Christian home and stayed that way. Maybe you have too.

This problem comes from our leftover, B.C. testimony mindset. With a B.C. testimony, experiences happened to us. We’d then form a testimony from them. We assume then that we form our A.D. testimony from who we are or what we’ve accomplished as Christians.

Ah, but welcome to the other side of Christ. With an A.D. testimony, you create the experiences you will include in your testimony. With Christ, you happen to experiences, not the other way around.

Exciting? Yes, but it can also be intimidating if you’re not sure where to start. That’s why I wrote this article. In a minute, I’m going to walk you through the preparation process step by step.

First, though, let me introduce some tools…

The fruit of the Spirit

You’re likely familiar with the fruit of the Spirit. Briefly, the fruit of the Spirit (FofS) lists attributes that manifest in your life when the Holy Spirit is upon you. Paul gives us the list in Galatians 5:22-23:

– Love
– Joy
– Peace
– Longsuffering
– Kindness
– Goodness
– Faithfulness
– Gentleness
– Self-control

We’ll use these attributes in a minute to find ideas for your testimony.

Eight detailed steps for planning your testimony

Here’s what you’ve waited for: the no-fluff guide to planning your testimony.

Let me warn you – this does NOT work if you only read the steps. It will sound goofy. If you follow these steps as you read, though, you will have a complete, practical plan when you’re finished.

If you don’t have at least half an hour or more to commit to this, I encourage you to bookmark this article WITHOUT reading the rest. It’ll motivate you to come back to it.

If you have time now and are brave enough to try it, let’s get started: :)

Step 1: Pray. Ask God for direction. Ask Him to lead you to make wise choices. Ask God to help you choose three attributes from the FofS list.

Now you know why I included that list.

Step 2: Grab a sheet of paper and a pen (or pencil if you prefer).

Step 3: Write the three attributes from step 1 on the top of your paper. Write one on the left side, one in the middle, and one on the right side.

Choose attributes God wants to develop in your life. What three attributes best combine to make who God wants you to be? Loving, faithful, and kind? Peaceful, gentle, and self-controlled?

Don’t worry about picking only a few and abandoning the rest. You can’t leave out any attributes even if you try.

For example, let’s say you choose to focus on love, joy, and peace. Is it possible to be loving, joyful, and peaceful but not gentle or kind? Not really. This exercise focuses your testimony on three attributes but includes the others also.

Step 4: Pray again. Ask God to show you experiences that would reveal each of your chosen attributes.

For example, going with the three choices from step 3, how would a loving person reveal love? A loving person would live a thankful life. That person would devote more time and energy to appreciate trees and lakes and clouds. That person might give to charity, volunteer at church, or read a book to a child.

How would a joyful person reveal joy? A joyful person would smile more, complain less, offer more compliments.

What about for peace? A peaceful person would worry less? That person would live courageously, accepting challenges as gifts and helping others do the same.

Step 5: Write your three lists of experiences under each respective attribute. Try to write at least ten for each.

Step 6: Pray yet again. This time ask God to show you how He wants you to live these experiences.

Taking a few of the experiences from step 4 as an example, you might consider a plan for how you can volunteer at church. Are you going to volunteer to teach Sunday school or pass out fliers at the fair or visit patients in the hospital? Who do you need to talk to to get involved? When will you talk to that person?

Keep asking questions and answer how you will be a loving, joyful, peaceful person or whatever three attributes you chose.

Step 7: Write a separate paragraph for each attribute explaining specifically how, when, where, with whom, and for whom you will apply your plan.

Read back over the attributes you chose and the experiences you linked to those attributes.

At this point you should have each of the following:

– Three attributes from the FofS you will focus on (see steps 1-3)
– 30 general experiences that will reveal these attributes – 10 for each attribute (see steps 4-5)
– Three paragraphs, each explaining a specific action for your chosen attributes (see steps 6-7)

If you’re missing anything, please go back and fill in what you’re missing. I find it more effective to write this out on paper. That’s why I recommended the paper and pen.

HOWEVER, if you’re thinking, “Ah, Marshall, this is lame – I’ll plan it in my head (or not at all),” try typing it in a word processor. You don’t even need to leave your chair.

I’ll wait.

You’re back. You’re finished planning. You have a complete, detailed testimony outline. In the next article, I’ll give you some tips for bringing your testimony to life from this plan.

As you grow more comfortable with these steps, you can begin applying other lessons instead of always starting with the FofS. Your plan will start to look like this:

Two general steps for planning your testimony

Step 1: Chose a biblical lesson to apply (steps 1-3 in the detailed version).

Step 2: Create a practical plan for applying the lesson (steps 4-7 in the detailed version).

I like detailed, step-by-step instructions, especially at first. Starting with the FofS makes it easy to choose where to begin. Experiment though. That’s the beauty of having your own testimony revolution.

Your testimony reveals what God fulfills in you. It’s your personal gospel, your good news, of who Christ is and what He does in your life. It’s your testimony for Christ.

Serving Suggestions:

(1) Follow the detailed steps. Yes, I’ve said this already. Many of you still haven’t tried it though. If you’ve put it off until now, now’s the time to get started.

(2) Save the list. We’ll use it in the upcoming article on creating your testimony.