WHY CHRISTIANS SHOULD WRITE TESTIMONIES By Allen Taylor In the church tradition I grew up in, it was not uncommon for the lead pastor to set aside a time during service for lay persons to stand up and share a testimony. The testimony could have been about how God changed that person’s life as a result of the individual coming to faith in Christ. More often than not, it was simply about how God has worked in that individual’s life, usually recently, to bless them or convict them in some way. A testimony is really nothing more than a way to witness to the power and glory of Jesus Christ. In law, a testimony is a written or oral statement by a witness, usually under oath, that testifies to the facts of a case as known by that witness. It can be something the witness saw or heard that might shed light on events being judged by the jury, or it could be professional expertise to help a judge or jury better understand information, data, or facts shared in the case. Such testimonies are presented so that those judging a criminal or civil case in a court of law can have access to all pertinent information available in order to make a good and fair decision regarding guilt, innocence, or the weight of evidence in a case. By the same token, a Christian testimony presents one person’s story about how Jesus has made an impact on them in some way.
Some Examples of Famous Christian Testimonies While a testimony may be considered a type of memoir, which is a story about a particular time in a person’s life or concerning a particular event or incident, it is not, strictly speaking, a memoir. There is a stark difference between a memoir and a testimony that involves the subject of the story. In short, a memoir is about the person telling the story, whereas a testimony is about someone or something other than the person telling the story. However, both may be told from a similar point of view. In a certain sense, the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John could be considered testimonies. What they do is present the teachings and facts of Jesus’ life while on earth from the perspective of the respective authors. That makes them testimonies. As such, they do what all good Christian testimonies should do—point to the redemptive and saving power of Jesus Christ. Some famous testimonies of people who once walked in darkness before being called into God’s marvelous light include: • Singer Vanity, Boxer Manny Pacquaio, and Actor The Rock • Actor Stephen Baldwin • C.S. Lewis • Holocaust survivor Corrie Ten Boom • Abortion survivor Melissa Ohden
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