Learning to Share Your Faith Story

Sharing what God has Done in Your Life with Others

By Rev. Faith E. Parry

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INTRODUCTIONView the online resources: bit.ly/2LUKFBy

I’ve heard for years people tell me that sharing their faith is too hard. They don’t know the right words to say, or what if someone asks them about a scripture passage that they don’t know. When I was a child, I was taught to share the Gospel message using the wordless book or the two caverns with the cross in the middle. I guess you could say I have evangelism in my soul because I would share these things with my friends as soon as I learned them. At summer camp, we used to paint our fingernails and toenails the colors of the wordless book just so we were “always prepared.”

The truth is, we can always be prepared to share our faith with others because we are a walking wordless book. God has written upon our lives proof of his love, grace, and mercy. You can always be prepared to talk with someone if you think about your own life and what God has done.

FINDING YOUR STORYMany people tell me that God hasn’t done very much

in their lives, that their story isn’t a dramatic story of transformation or redemption like some other people’s stories. In this section, I want you to take some time to reflect on each of these questions and jot some things down. Don’t rush yourself. Take a moment right now to STOP AND PRAY, asking God to help you remember and recognize where he has worked in your life.

What was the first moment you remember God’s presence in your life? _________________________________________________________

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How did you come to recognize God’s love for you? ____________

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What was the first thing God forgave you for that you remember? _______________________________________________________

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Did you ever have a time that you rejected God’s gift to you, or fall away from God? ______________________________________________

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Who in your life helped show you love? _________________________

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Was there a time where you felt God’s presence stronger than others? ___________________________________________________________

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How are you growing in your faith now? ________________________

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What was the last thing God taught you? _______________________

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Where do you feel God is leading you? __________________________

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Why do you believe in God’s loving grace? ______________________

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THE FRAMEWORK

GOD’S DESIGN BROKENNESS

SIN

GOSPEL

TURN & TRUST

GROW

There is a model for crafting our faith stories in an evangelical way called the 3-CIRCLES METHOD. The purpose of this framework is to use our personal life interactions with Christ, and to lay them on top of the Gospel Presentation.

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We can summarize what is really very deep theology in Paul’s writings to the church in Rome:

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his

sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. - Romans 3:23-24, NLT

GOD’S DESIGN

GOD’S DESIGN BROKENNESS

SIN

We were all created in GOD’S IMAGE, to live a life without sin, but man fell from that life. Still, God created each of us for a specific purpose. The world pulls us from God’s desires for us through sin. Just as Paul said, we have ALL SINNED at some point at some age. Our sin made us broken. The amount of time we spend in our brokenness differs from person to person, but we all have a time in our lives of brokenness.

Look back over the questions you answered on the previous pages and reflect on where you felt broken. Write down when you felt sin and brokenness in your life.

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GOD’S DESIGN BROKENNESS

SIN

GOSPEL

TURN & TRUST

Paul goes on in Romans to say that God FREELY gives us grace so that we may be forgiven of our sins. We haven’t earned God’s forgiveness and we never will. God’s love for us caused him to want to mend the broken relationship between us and him, so he sent Christ to sacrifice himself so that we could be made whole again.

The Son gave His own life so we could be clean from all sin. After He had done that, He sat down on the

right side of God in heaven. -Hebrews 1:3b, NLT

The only way we end our brokenness is by TRUSTING God’s love and turning ourselves over to Jesus to be made new. This is what we consider the Good News.

Take some time and reflect on the moment or moments in your life when you trusted God’s redeeming grace. When did you repent and trust Christ’s sacrifice?

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GOD’S DESIGN BROKENNESS

SIN

GOSPEL

TURN & TRUST

GROW

Now that we have been freed from the power of sin and the penalty of sin, we are able to GROW into the person that God designed us to be from the beginning. This only happens when we embrace God’s will because he gives us the ability to choose if we want to turn and trust him or not. We could choose to stay in our lives of sin and brokenness. Once we’ve decided to trust him and wants to TRANSFORM us into his people.

As you have put your trust in Christ Jesus the Lord to save you from the punishment of sin, now let Him lead

you in every step. Have your roots planted deep in Christ. Grow in Him. Get your strength from Him. Let Him make you strong in the faith as you have been taught. Your life should be full of thanks to Him. -Colossians 2:6-7, NLT

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How have you grown in your faith since you started your walk with Christ? How have you grown lately? Take some time to reflect on these things.

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PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHERNow that you’ve reflected on each of the 3-circles, and

the path to each one, take some time to put your whole story together moving from one circle to the next. Try to see if you can get it to 1 MINUTE OR LESS. We call this our “elevator testimony.” What would you share if you only had 1 minute of a person’s time?

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CONGRATULATIONS!You’ve done gotten all the prep work you need to share

your spiritual story with others. Don’t worry about having to memorize these scripture passages. Instead, continue to reflect on what God’s done in your life. Spend time in prayer asking the Holy Spirit to guide you in these reflections. The wonderful thing about your story is that you can tailor which parts of it you tell based upon the conversation you are having with a person.