How to tell your story (without being the hero)

‘Sharing your testimony’ is the bread and butter of many evangelistic strategies. As is often said: ‘No-one can argue with your story’.

Notice how the man born blind answers the Pharisees in John 9: ‘I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!’ It’s the most brilliant riposte (not that it endeared him to his questioners!). But it gives hope to every Christian. I don’t have all the answers, but I do have a story.

Not what it first seems?

As we progress in the New Testament, notice how Paul tells his story repeatedly in Acts (chapters 9; 22; and 26). He also narrates something of his life in his letters (e.g. Phil.3 and 1Tim.1). And at the end of the Bible, the book of Revelation attributes the most extraordinary power to testimony: ‘They triumphed over [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.’ (Rev.12:11) The idea that anything should be considered triumphant alongside ‘the blood of the Lamb’ is astonishing enough. The fact that it’s ‘the word of their testimony’ indicates a jaw-dropping power to testimony. But…

I don’t think Revelation 12 means what we mean when we say ‘testimony.’ For a start, the word for ‘testimony’ is what is used in a court of law. It’s also what John the Baptist is called: a ‘witness testifying to the light’ (John 1:7). Consider this though: John’s testimony is not about himself. Can you imagine? ‘I grew up in a devout home, but I never really understood the Jesus thing. I guess you could say I was lost in the dark until I was in my third trimester. One day my aunty Mary visited and she really brought Jesus home to me. I leapt in the womb (Luke 1:41) and, I dunno, but maybe that was when I was born again. Except I hadn’t been born the first time, so I don’t really know what to call it…’

Pointing to Christ

John does not ‘give a testimony’ the way we do. When it comes, his word of testimony is of the ‘Behold the Lamb of God!’ variety. So testimony is vital. But, Biblically, testimony is not about narrating our spiritual journey from lost to found. Testimony is about pointing to Christ in the midst of our lostness.

We’re not the hero making our way to the light. He is the hero who enlightens our darkness. Therefore the question our testimony is answering is not: ‘Can you prove that you’ve had a conversion experience?’ Such stories could only put ourselves at the centre. Instead the question we must answer is: ‘How has Jesus proved Himself the hero of your story?’ Let me offer you the first sentence of a testimony that you might share: ‘I could never have gotten through 2020 without Jesus…’ That will shape your testimony in much healthier ways.

One of the benefits of this view of testimonies is that it enfranchises cradle Christians. If, like John, you’ve loved Jesus for as long as you can remember that does not mean you have a dull or unrelatable testimony. If you can tell your friend how Jesus got you through 2020, your friend is interested, whether you’ve grown up in a Christian home or not. If you don’t have much of a ‘before Jesus’ section to your story, you don’t need to invent ‘wilderness wanderings’ to spice it up, you don’t need to inflate your doubts and intellectual wrestling when you left home, you don’t need to throw your parents, youth leaders and pastors under the bus by testifying that ‘I never heard the gospel until 2009’. None of that is the focus. If Jesus has gotten me through the pandemic / the redundancy / the divorce / the depression / the bereavement, then the fact I’m from a Christian home is really besides the point.

The point is not my Hero’s Journey. Because I am not the hero.