3 Tips for Helping Students Share Testimonies with Confidence

Opening space for students to share testimonies can be exciting and nerve wracking as you anticipate unpredictable young people holding the microphone. Even still, every summer, my local youth group chooses this practice to hear about the ways God has been working in the lives of our young people over the course of the year. During those weeks, we make room for students to share their stories of faith, many of whom are doing so for the first time. This practice is formative for students, allowing them to think through what God is doing in their lives. These testimonies are powerful moments for students to invite friends into the conversation. But helping students share with confidence can be a challenge. Here are three tips to help:

Spend Time Talking about Faith

It may go without saying that you should spend time with the student who is preparing to share a testimony, but this is a necessary reminder for all of us. If we are asking students to share about their faith, we should ask them personally what God is doing in their life and spend time praying for them. I like to have at least a couple of intentional meetings with students as they prepare to share about the ways they have seen God moving in their faith journey, helping them craft themes from those conversations that they may be able to use to explain where they have seen God at work in their midst. This is also a great time to help students find a few Bible stories or verses they may be able to include as they think about their testimonies. 

Testimonies Are Real Stories of God’s Movement, Big or Small 

As I look for students to share testimonies, I don’t look for students with merely a dramatic story to tell. I ask my volunteer team to tell me about students who live out their faith—those who display God’s movement in their prayer life, how they have been delivered from lying, how God has guided them through challenging friendships and into flourishing ones, and about breaking free of a painful addiction with God’s help. When students listen to stories of everyday faith from their peers, we remind students that God is always at work around them. There is no moment too big or too small to invite God to shape us or draw us near. 

Let the Student Write Their Story of Faith

After having conversations about the ‘how to’ of sharing their personal faith journeys, I let students write their testimonies with as little guidance from me as possible. This doesn’t mean that I don’t engage in the writing process or that I don’t give feedback through a final edit. I want students to tell their story of faith in a way that makes sense and is comfortable to them. Sometimes, students organize their thoughts by telling a few stories with a similar theme, and at times they choose to use props to drive their point home. Also, I’ve had students use sports analogies to share what God is doing in their life. Giving students space to creatively tell their peers the way the gospel has been made real to them helps students deepen their faith. In fact, sharing real experiences opens the door to bring others to Jesus.

Jen Willard
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