- 100 words or less. It must be concise, focused and true.
- No "christianese". In other words, only use words that everyday regular people use.
(Read Just Walk Across The Room by Bill Hybels)
Think of it this way. What is the Gospel? It is quite literally, "good news". It is a story. Jesus came to earth, lived a perfect life, die on the cross for our sins, went to heaven to prepare a place for us, and one day will come back for those who follow him. It is not a formula, doctrine, fives steps to salvation. It is what it is: Good News. What people who are seeking God want to hear is how that "Good News" changed your life. They don't want you to spout out the basic Bible doctrines, refute evolution or support the basic tenets of Christianity, they want to know your story.
Infomercials have been doing this forever.
"I was overweight forever, then I bought this Bowflex and now I'm ripped!"
"My parties were boring, then I bought this Greatest Hits of the '70's and now my parties rock!"
My favorite faith story of the Bible is found in John 9:25. Jesus has healed a man born blind. The man has been dragged before the Pharisees for questioning, here is his story.
“Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
Simple, concise and to the point. One other thing, he doesn't defend Jesus or try to prove anything. He just tells the Pharisees and his friends and neighbors how Jesus changed his life. Sometimes that is all God seekers want to hear. So here is the deal: What's your story? Please share your story in the comment section below. It is a great exercise to help you prepare for connecting people to Jesus.
Here is mine to get things rolling. Remember no more than 100 words!
Much of my life was spent trying to prove to God that I was good enough for him to love me. My problem was that I was never good enough. My life was marked with guilt and shame because of my obvious inadequacies. In 1998 during a Christian conference the light bulb finally went on and I realized that no matter what I had done God loved me anyway. That realization changed my relationship with him and gave me a clear focus on how to live life. Today I live for him because of his never-ending love for me.
3 comments:
I can't believe that there isn't one story here! Shame!
I attended Christian schools, but entered the real world totally unequipped.
College equated sex, drugs, booze, rock and roll, repeat. I attended church on Sundays near campus, but PRAYED that no one would see me.
In my final semester, I became pregnant. I moved to the Chicago suburbs where I had an abortion, unbeknownst to anyone but me, God, the baby, and the father.
Not even murder could change the way I lived. Two weeks after the abortion, I had sex with my groomsman at a friend's wedding.
I rode up the corporate food chain, trying to fill a space in my heart with anything but God. I got chlamydia and herpes instead.
And then, Good Friday in 1991. The church was darkened and a loud THUMP rang out as Jesus' death was portrayed. The songs that night tore my heart open--and nothing but an empty space spilled out.
I sobbed, sobbed, sobbed. As members filed out, I remember not looking at anything but my feet as I shuffled out to my car.
God told me that night, I want you. I want you, all of you. Give up everything for me. I want you. I created you for my pleasure and nothing else. Please, Joy, please.
So I relented. After 25 YEARS of trying to fill a space in my heart, I finally accepted the only love that perfectly fit.
This story was 404 words, but I can only pare it down to 232. Blessings!
Joy
Joy,
Thank you for sharing your story. I have discovered in this proccess that there are a lot of Christians that have trouble articulating their faith story, or are not sure exactly why they believe what they believe.
I don't fault them, because quite frankly I have never thought of it much. But there is power in our faith story, and I am convinced that there are people who want to hear it. Thanks again.
I was born into a religious system and behaved quite well in it, thank you. Perfect attendance and all that. Christian College should have suited me, but it disillusioned me of the intellectual arrogance that was my religion.
Then God asked me to stop worshipping knowledge. He allowed me to just live for a few years.
Ten years later, God put some people into my world who lived from a heart of desire. It became clear that desire is at the center of how He gets things done.
Before long, He began to reveal some of my own desires, and invited me into my own story. It's been pretty weird ever since.
112 words. But I'm not a legalist anymore, so it'll have to do.
(Joy In The Journey, that's an incredible story!)
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