Your 1-minute testimony statement

[friend of]

Hey! So I got this idea from a friend at church. The idea is to condense your story about how you came to Christ within the span of say, 1 minute. Think "speed-dating" but for the purpose of evangelizing. It's important to get your 1-min statement down to an art-form so that you can pump it out on the fly and plant some seeds. Below are a series of questions to help shape your personal evangelism statement:

1) Who was I before I met Christ? (living for self, addicted, angry, lonely, envious, etc..)

2) What was your turning point? (What prompted you to search for Jesus? How and when did Jesus reach out to you and make his presence known in your life to the point where you could no longer deny Him?)

3) How has your life been changing since following Christ? (learning, growing, self-control, peace, fruits of spirit, more love for others, etc..)


friend of's statement:

Hello, I used to be possessed by a desire to get obliterated with alcohol and I would spend my time brooding over how much I hated other people for having all the stuff I wanted until I passed out in a flurry of sadness and self-contempt. Then get up and do it over again.

Then one night my mind was tormenting me that I had sold my soul to the devil and that I was going to hell and for the first time I became afraid about the afterlife. The only thing I could do was pray to God, but it was only when I started praying in the name of Jesus that my life started to change. Then I learned that Jesus had taken the punishment intended for me on the cross by shedding his blood.

Now I'm sober and I have zero desire to be intoxicated and I believe this is a miracle. I am learning morality from the Bible and want everyone else to know who Jesus is and what He will do for you in your life if you accept Him into your heart.

---Fin

What is your 1-minute story of coming to Christ?

 

[Saint Beloved]

I don't know who I was before I met Christ I met Him as a child in Sunday School I loved His book of songs and book of stories.

When I was 12 I got baptised and soon after got distracted by school drama followed by work and health drama you know how it goes.

When I was 29 I moved away from a toxic area that had swamped me in depression and suicidal thoughts for years and boom! Jesus came back into my life full force and hasn't let up! I'm still running after Him right now actually, wanna run and talk!?

 

[Jesus4Ever]

Hi, I'm a 21 year old lady who grew up technically Lutheran but I only went to Sunday school when I was little, cause my parents stopped taking me to church due to football and other things. I grew believing there was a God, but not neccesarily believing IN God and was totally lost and depressed from the time I was ten. However, a couple weeks ago, God reached out to me and I began reaching for Him and reading His Word (which I am still in the process of reading.) And yesterday, as I attempted to observe the Sabbath (as I believe dedicating one day out of seven is sufficient) I looked up a testimony of someone who died and went to Hell and came back and it woke me up. I wept and sobbed throughout the day over the many souls that were lost to Hell, the ones that were going to be lost in Hell and my own soul and my own sinful nature and sins.

Before I used to live for video games. I'd plan my life around them. And I would be lazy and wouldn't help my mom out or others because I was so depressed I couldn't care less. But now I know I need to put other people first and God first. That games are for when you have nothing better to do and time to spare. With God's help I am going to turn my life from sin and come follow Jesus.

 

[PKFox]

Before I met Christ, I was just a little girl who knew God was real but hadn't quite devoted her life to Him. My turning point was a night when I was just praying to God about my problems, but then started praying for others instead and I just felt the Holy Spirit come upon me, which was a sensation like nothing else I've ever experienced, and I didn't know at the time but that was the moment I gave my life to Christ. This was a few years after my baptism though.
Since I started living for Christ, I've become more devoted to reading my Bible and more interested in learning about Him and studying His Word. I've also started praying more and grown closer to Him through trials and good times.

 

[Hammster]

1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (Ephesians 2:1, NASB)

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

I'm known as a revert in Catholic circles. I reverted to the faith in March 2016 after many years away exploring secularism, Buddhism, and meism. (the last one means "all about me ism")
But I've always maintained a tiny thread of faith throughout all that turning away from God. I think that fragment of faith enabled me to come back.
I think its my age that brought me back too. I'm getting old. Also, only working part-time now, I have more free time to explore the big questions in life, instead of working full-time and focussing on worldly ambition. I thought to myself" I'm running out of time. This life is short. I need to get serious about committing to one belief/one religion/one philosophy."
Ironically, the connect for me was through Buddhism. A catholic writer named Thomas Merton wrote a book about Buddhism, which shocked Catholic authorities at the time. I realised his interest in Buddhsim was firmly grounded in Christian faith though.
Christianity I realised offers relationship with the divine. I needed this. the idea that I can face the rest of life's journey feeling less alone, appeals. Humans die but God wont die. Death will not part. That has big appeal.

 

[tadoflamb]

Who needs a minute?

What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.

 

[SnowyMacie]

I don't know how to answer any of those questions because there was never a time in my life I didn't know Jesus, when I was baptized I saw it more as just making the whole following Jesus thing official than some kind of turning point or conversion.


I guess mine would be...

I grew up in the church and always believed, I became baptized at age 12 to make my following Christ official, and ever since then I've been learning more and more about it means to follow Christ.

 

[friend of]

Who needs a minute?

Telling others about Jesus is our job. It's better to bother a stranger for a minute of his/her time rather than getting into a conversation about Jesus and rambling on, as this will probably annoy people because your objective isn't focus.

What's at the heart of what we want people to know? When we find ways to deliver the good news that Christ died and rose again for us in under a quick minute then evangelizing will become much more natural. It's kinda like having a canned opener ready to go. If they inquire about our personal story, then tell you'll be prepared to tell more. If they don't want to know more, okay, tried my best, take care!

That's why it's important to memorize your story. Everyone has a unique story to offer in telling others about Christ and this uniqueness makes our testimonies interesting rather than dry, and more likely to draw attention and give others something to think about. Seasoned with salt.

 

[EnergonWaffles]

My senior year of college I was in WalMart and a homeless guy came up to me and said "God loves you." What struck me about him was I could tell he really BELIEVED what he was saying. He had this joy that I'd never seen before.... He had something I didn't.

Well, I wanted whatever that guy had. So I went home and prayed for the first time in 7 years. I told God that I didn't want to follow Him, but I'd like to want to. Like, if the Bible was true, I was in trouble. So I asked God to have mercy on me and lead me to Him..

I prayed this off and on for the next 6 months. Then one morning God decided to answer. I was running on the treadmill when it suddenly was like a blindfold was ripped off my mind. I saw how dark my life was, and I instantly knew God was calling me home. What surprised me was how kind God was! It wasn't like "you're a terrible person you should feel terrible" - it was like "Leave your sin and come to me, child. Come home to Jesus!"

I was so shocked I sat up the whole night crying and gave my life to Jesus the next morning. Ever since then it's been an adventure!

 

[friend of]

Wow... that's all it took?

That is so inspiring. Bless you for sharing!

 

[EnergonWaffles]

Wow... that's all it took?

That is so inspiring. Bless you for sharing!

God put the power behind his words, which was why it worked haha.

But yeah...that man walked away without ever knowing his words did diddlysquat. He'll never know till Judgement Day that God used those words. I look forward to meeting him

I hope this encourages people who don't know if their words do anything. For real - you may never know how God uses your attempts to witness after you leave.

 

[WindHund]

Look up the term "elevator speech" and see how you can use it for witnessing.