Back in the “good old days” of pentecostalism, testimonies were common (i.e., an autobiographical story of how God had worked in a person’s life). At the Azusa Street revival testimonies were not only shared regularly by people in attendance, but they would also sometimes read letters during their meetings from people who had been inspired by the revival.

The practice of sharing testimonies continued in many pentecostal churches. When I was a youth, we would sometimes even have whole services that were set aside to give people time to share their testimonies.

What happened to the testimonies?

It is rare that I hear testimonies in services these days. The most likely time to hear them is during a baptismal service. I suppose in some churches, they are taking place in small groups instead of in the Sunday worship service. But even then, it depends on how the small group is structured.

Who Cares?

Testimonies can contribute to the life of the church in many ways.

1/ Testimonies encourage others in the church that they can do similar things with God’s help (for example, share the Gospel with a neighbor). In a sense, testimonies make stories from the Bible a contemporary reality.

2/ Testimonies help people in the church realize that they are not alone in their struggles and that God can help them in their struggles too.

3/ Testimonies are a way that the congregation can disciple one another. For example, when one person testifies that God spoke to them in some way, other people start thinking, “Hey, maybe God might speak to me too.” It is one thing to hear a pastor tell such stories, but it is a whole different story when “a normal person” from the congregation shares such stories.

Testimonies are a way that the congregation can disciple one another. Tweet Quote

Testimonies aren’t Professional Church

I suppose one reason that testimonies are less common in my own denomination is because many churches are concerned with having a professionally run service—things need to go smoothly.

Testimonies can hinder that professionalism. Someone might talk for too long. Or, someone might just say something really strange and weird.

Someone (I don’t remember who) once said that church is like a family reunion—we know that some relative(s) is going to say some things that will not be appropriate, but because they are part of the family, we still let them speak (most of the time 🙂 ).

Quality Control

To deal with the concern of professionalism, quality control can happen with testimonies. For example, a pastor could invite people to share their testimonies with him regularly, and the pastor could invite a person to share her/his testimony with the congregation when the pastor felt it would be appropriate.

Another way of having ‘quality control’ is by video recording (and editing) testimonies before services (this allows for time and content control).

The key for success in both of the above is that the congregation needs to be encouraged to share their testimonies with the pastor (or someone) on a regular basis so that the pastor is aware of who she/he might invite to share with the congregation.

“We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done” (Psalm 78:4).

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