Tag Archives: Evangelism

God And The Priority Of Love by Beth Felker Jones

God And The Priority Of Love by Beth Felker Jones

The following article has been reposted with permission from Beth Felker Jones. Check out the original post at her Substack: Church Blogmatics.

 

 

Understanding the Mystery of the Holy Trinity

We should not be surprised to discover that God, being God, goes beyond human categories and assumptions, and we should be suspicious if we find our theologies supposing themselves capable of handling the mysteries of God …

Sometimes the limits of theology come from humans being human, and those limits are proper and even benign. But sometimes theology’s limits are revealed to be something more sinister than limitations of finitude and are instead revealed as sinful limitations. Here, perhaps, the blinders of sin prevent us from imagining a sensibleness that goes beyond the sinful common-sense of violence and reaches into the trinitarian sense of consensus. 

A hearty appreciation of the magnitude of sin will ask us to search for the limits of our imaginations and may open us to the mysterious Triune consensus in which the coincidence of threeness and oneness does not mean violence or domination or assimilation but, instead, threeness and oneness together mean community and peace.

Theology must respect the limits of human finitude and tremble before the limits of human sin. For this reason, I have little interest in solving any “problem” of oneness and threeness, though I am happy to talk of the “mystery” thereof. As a “problem” though, the thing can only be reductive. As a “problem,” the thing ignores the mystery and fecundity of analogy, denies God’s fundamental holy otherness, and so imagines God in violent competition with God. 

As a “mystery,” oneness and threeness is revealed in scripture as the wholeness of the God of Israel. The Triune God is, without doubt, an integer, whole and full in oneness and threeness, but God’s Triune integrity cannot be reduced to human understandings of number …

 

What Does the Bible Teach About the Trinity?

The oneness of the God of Israel is about who we do and do not worship, and when Jesus rightly receives our worship, we are recognizing him as the One God revealed in both testaments … 

I want, then, to speak of and practice the mystery of divine threeness and oneness through invoking and witnessing to the Triune God rather than through trying to solve a supposed logical problem which God has revealed as unproblematic in that it is no impediment to the love of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for one another and for the world … 

The church does this work of witness when it recognizes the work of Jesus and the Spirit as the gift of the Father and when it does the difficult intellectual and spiritual work that would eventually bear fruit in the creed we now call Nicene, the best efforts we have been able to offer at speaking of God in a way that coheres with the surprising fullness of the biblical witness, a witness that is full of God’s one-ness and three-ness. 

The church is able to witness to the Triune God because “the Lord, the Spirit” removes veils from faces and displays glory in the people of the body of Christ, who are “being transformed” (2 Cor 3:18). The church tells the Triune story when it speaks, preaches, and testifies to the resurrection of Jesus, who lays down his life and takes it up again, having “received this command from” (Jn 10:18) his Father. We invoke and witness to the Trinity when we trust that “the Advocate, the Holy Spirit” is indeed the one sent by the Father in Jesus’s name and when we allow the Spirit to do the work of teaching us and reminding us of Jesus and converting us through him (Jn 14:26). We trust and witness to the Trinity when we come to the Father through Jesus (Jn 14:6) and accept that Jesus himself has shown us the Father (Jn 14:10), and we practice the doctrine of the Trinity when we keep Jesus’s commandments (Jn 14:15) just as Jesus practices it when he does “as the Father has commanded” him and, in so doing, lets “the world” know that he loves his Father (Jn 14:31).

We witness to the Triune truth when we live the kingdom life of “peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:17) and, in doing so serve Christ in a way that is “acceptable to God” (Rom 14:18). This kingdom dynamic makes sense because the oneness and threeness of the Triune life is sense.

 

Living the Trinity

I will close this … section … with reflection on a pair of biblical passages which help us to enter into the oneness and threeness who is the God of love. First, from the fifth chapter of 1 John:

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments … Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree … And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life … We know that we are God’s children, and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. (1 Jn 5: 1-2, 5-8, 11-12, 19-21).

This passage is a lived doctrine of the trinity, for in it we see the eternal relationships of Father, Son, and Spirit invoked as definitive for human relationships with God and with one another. Our love for the Father is naturally connected to our love for the Son and to our living in love for one another and through obedience to God. We are invited to participate in Jesus’s relationship with his Father and so in Jesus’s victory over the world. And we are invited to participate in the Spirit’s true testimony, which is to the eternal life we share with the Son. We are “in him,” and so we are in a life which participates in the inter-triune relationships. The last verse quoted above, with its warning to reject idols, is part and parcel of this lived doctrine of the trinity. When we are in this God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — we are drawn into a certain life, a life of love, and we reject other ways of life, the ways of the violent world which Jesus has conquered.

We find another source for living the doctrine of the trinity in Paul’s rich thought in Ephesians. Paul sends “grace” and “peace” “from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph 1:2). Even his greeting participates in the triune life.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will …I n Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory (Eph 1:3-5, 11-14).

The Father blesses and chooses; he wants us “for adoption” through Jesus and so we receive the status of children, the inheritance that is Jesus’s. The purpose of the inheritance is our ability to live in testimony to the triune love, to “live for the praise of his glory” (v. 12). We are sealed by the spirit and so pledged to the life Paul here imagines for us.

 

The Role of the Father in the Trinity

Because the Father is the one from whom the Triune unity flows, and so has a Fatherly priority, we sinners are prone to imagine priority as something which could be lost and so we imagine a father who protectively guards His priority. In the sinful life, at odds with God, we have no tools for imagining a secure life, a life free from any need of such defensive guarding. We grasp and strive, hoard and guard. If we come by any priority, we immediately fear its loss. We play zero sum games and worry about allocation of scarce resources. We build fences and thrones. We lock gates and draw blinds. Where we close, the Father opens.

For the Father is utterly secure in his Fatherliness, and that Fatherliness never has known nor never could know any lack. In his all-sufficient, unoriginate, almightiness, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is powerful to be the one who he is, and this Father is the one who gives good gifts. The Father gives good gifts in freedom, never thereby to be diminished. This seems true both in the love life of the Godhead, wherein the Father is all-powerful unto eternal generation and inspiration and all-powerful unto sharing his glory fully with the Son and the Spirit. And this seems true in the love the Triune God offers to the world, wherein the Father gives his Son in the Spirit, and with that giving, gives every other good gift as well. The Father’s all-powerful gift giving nature is so plenteous, it opens up even the Triune life itself, drawing human beings into that life as we are enabled to share the status of the Son in the Spirit; “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are” (1 Jn 3:1a). In giving the only begotten son of the Father, God is revealed as the one who “so” loves the world, drawing men and women into God’s own “eternal life” (Jn 3:16).

Contemporary theology is in desperate need of a recovery of the Father. So much theology has given up on the Father, consigning any idea of fatherliness to hopelessness and hierarchy, but it is only in the Father’s fatherliness that the hierarchy which, among other things, underwrites demonic conversion by coercion instead of Spirit-led conversion by consensus, can be undone. The Father’s fatherliness undoes hierarchy and coercion. The Father’s fatherliness is steadfast love, unshakable and unassailable. It is the Father’s love for the Son and the Spirit and the Father’s love for us all, consensus-love.

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Are You Asking The Right Question? by Rob Haynes

Are You Asking The Right Question? by Rob Haynes

I like to do projects around the house and the garage. It may be a small chore like changing a light fixture or a large job repairing the car. I like to be part of the solution. Over the years I have learned that one key to doing the job well is having the right tool for the job. You may be able to get by with a substitute, but you can save a great deal of time and frustration by using a tool designed for the task. You can even avoid hurting yourself or damaging the things you are working on. For example, I can drive a nail to hang a picture with a golf club. However, I might damage the wall or hit my thumb. I might be able to sink a putt with a hammer. But is that the best way to go about it? I think you see where I am going. 

 

Choosing the Right Tools for Christian Mission

This principle can also apply to Christian mission. There are many tools that we can use to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. It may be a trip to another place to do some work, the managing of a soup kitchen in the inner city, preaching in the streets, or a number of other things. I meet many Christians who ask how and where their particular church can serve in some sort of mission endeavor. What they are usually looking for is a ready-made program they can use as a tool for a goal they have in mind. However, that may not be the right question. Are they trying to use the right tool for the job? Put it another way, are they asking the right questions about how they could serve? Let’s look at mission for a moment, then we can ask a better question.

 

What Is the Mission of God? (Missio Dei Explained)

First, it is important to remember that mission flows from the mission of God. It is not the church who has a mission from God. It is God who has a church to fulfill his mission. Throughout the Bible, God is a sending God. When we see a problem in our relationships, communities, or the world the first question we should ask is, “What does the Bible have to say about this?” and “What does the revealed nature of God in the Person of Jesus Christ tell us about how to address this?” This will tell us how we should respond.

We see throughout the Scriptures that there is a “centrifugal” nature of God. We see this in the Trinity who is constantly moving outward, touching all of Creation with his self-giving love. God uses prophets, teachers, and witnesses to do so. The Son is the ultimate demonstration of this, in both the One who is Sent and is Sending. God has a design and purpose for all of Creation. We can say that he is ‘on mission’ to accomplish these purposes.

 

Evangelism and Service: Why Both Are Essential for Christian Mission

It is amazing that Jesus, in his great love, invites his followers to act on his behalf: to comfort, to heal, to correct, and to bring freedom. We do this in many multitudes of acts of service that we frequently call “mission work” today. At the same time, God sends his people to proclaim on his behalf: to be messengers of good news in his world. Acts of service done in Christ’s Name and the verbal declarations of his message should always go together. Using our example of tools: it is like a pair of scissors. You cannot have only one side of a pair of scissors and have an effective instrument. Likewise, we must have both service and the proclamation to accomplish the work of Christian mission.

 

How to Prepare Your Church for God’s Mission

Since it is God who has a mission to accomplish, and that mission is lifegiving and complex, we should prioritize asking the right question regarding our participation in it. As I mentioned above, many ask, “What are the instruments around me that I can use to accomplish the work I have in mind?” I want to suggest that the better question is, “How does God want to form and shape me, my family, my church into the instrument he wants for his Mission and the way he wants to accomplish it?”

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Good News: God Is Moving In Asia And Far Beyond (Part 2) by James Loftin

Good News: God Is Moving In Asia And Far Beyond (Part 2) by James Loftin

There has never been a time when God was not moving toward human brokenness and lostness. From Genesis 3 until this moment, gracious God has been on the move. Often, we are oblivious to God’s redemptive work, but sometimes we get a glimpse of his grace and stand in awe. As my wife and I traveled through East Asia for six weeks last summer, we were blessed to see the miraculous movement of God day after day. As I reflected on those experiences, God gave me eight insights regarding his global movement and our partnership with the Holy Spirit. In part I of this article, I shared about the inherent value of every soul, the fact that no darkness is impenetrable, God’s prevenient and ongoing grace, and the importance of indigenous leadership. I pray that these next four insights cause you to think carefully about God, our faith, God’s mission, and the people waiting in darkness.

1) God continues to use imperfect tools. Despite our real limitations – in my case, my age, average intelligence, modest bank account, brokenness and ability to only speak one language – God can and does use any willing vessel. Across Asia, God opened doors for us to share and demonstrate the Gospel. This had little to do with our worthiness or training. It was mostly because we asked God to use us, we prepared well, and we were sensitive to God’s movement during our daily activities. God can and does use all types of personalities and skills. God uses children and senior citizens. God uses broken bodies and professional athletes. God uses anyone who is bold enough to ask God to use them. 

During my week in the remote part of Asia, I was shocked by the way the people responded to me. For the first time in my life, I could somewhat relate to what it might feel like to be a celebrity. Every taxi driver, hotel receptionist, restaurant worker, and new friend reported the same thing: “You are the first American I have met.” My height, white hair, and blue eyes caught everyone’s attention, and I was routinely approached with requests for a photograph. People were curious about my life and beliefs. They wanted to talk with me. In each of those encounters, I was able to pray for a person or family and/or speak a word of blessing to them – either silently or spoken. One day, my presence caused such a stir at an outdoor event with thousands of children that I had to leave. 

As I reflected on the crowd’s response to me that day, I was humbled. An old, mono-linguistic man from a lower-middle class family in a rural part of the United States had found his way to the opposite side of the earth. How did that happen? Why did it happen? Once again, I praised God for continuing to use imperfect vessels like me for his glory.   

2) It’s still time to cry. I cried a lot in Asia. I cried with gratitude and praise as I gazed at vistas that only a majestic God could create. I cried as I looked at beautiful people created in God’s image – although they had no knowledge of the Creator. And I cried over the oppressive darkness in many places. Instead of fighting back my tears, I embrace the sensitivity God has given me. 

When I consider possible reasons that so many lost and hurting people remain unreached, I wonder if one reason is related to the absence of tissue boxes in the sanctuaries of our churches. If the pain in the world does not move us to tears, we will probably not be moved to act in ways that shine Christ’s love. If you can’t relate to this tear-talk, join me in praying what Bob Pierce prayed 60 years ago: “Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God.” 

But this season of sorrow will come to an end – Hallelujah! Light ultimately and completely will conquer darkness as the King of light is fully revealed and his kingdom comes – And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away (Revelation 21:4). And with that confidence, we smile through our temporary tears. 

3) Some things never end. Tears and suffering will cease when Jesus establishes His Kingdom, but some things will never end. Even after we pass through the portal of death, we will forever declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light (I Peter 2:9). The purpose and passion of a Jesus follower is to live, speak and act in ways that point to Jesus. As our lives roll forward, however, failing health and other life realities can lure us into thinking: “My Kingdom impact has practically ended. The younger folks are shining now. It’s time for me to take a comfortable seat and watch the action – and maybe just pray.”

Vivien and I had been in Asia for over six weeks. It had been a wonderful but weary journey, and we were finally on the way to the Saigon airport to fly home. As our driver, “King” navigated the traffic, Vivien and I did what all travelers do when they are on the way home. We checked and double checked our passports. We reminisced about the glories of the journey. And we thought about getting in our own bed. The trip, our mission, was over.

Or was it? After a few minutes, King mentioned that he hoped to get married soon. I encouraged him, but my focus quickly returned to thoughts of home. After a few moments, he broke the silence with these honest and vulnerable words. “But I have a problem.” Amazed that my new friend was being vulnerable with a stranger, I leaned up to hear and see him better as he continued. “My girlfriend and her family are Christians. My parents are Buddhists, and I am nothing. My girlfriend’s family is insisting that I become a Christian before we get married. I think that is unfair.”

Once again, the presence and the voice of God became so clear to me: “Your mission is not over.” I smiled, fought back tears of joy, and asked God to guide my words. For the next forty-five minutes, Vivien and I shared our light stories and pointed our new friend to Jesus. King and I still communicate, and we hope to be at his wedding in 2026. 

Every day that we have breath is a day to share and demonstrate the glory of Jesus. We may not be able to visit another country, but there are countless other ways to point to Jesus. We can serve and proclaim God’s glory in our own area, support others who go far, and we can pray. Today, tomorrow and forever, we point to Jesus.

4) No passports are needed to impact the world with prayer. At several points in our journey, I had the strong sense that someone was praying for us. As I shared my light story and God’s grace with people like Inna and King, I was often aware that we were not alone. Sometimes, I even looked over my shoulder to see who had entered the room. Only then did I realize that the Holy Spirit and a praying friend had joined us. I can’t adequately communicate how the prayers of the saints impacted me as I stood in foreign lands in the face of beautiful people who need Jesus. Prayer is indeed a viable way to participate in the work of God far beyond our own homes.

In Acts 1:8 and countless other places in Scripture, Jesus calls us to move out in the Spirit to impact the world for Christ. Prayer is not the only way to participate in the Great Commission, and it is not a faithful substitute for other steps God has called you to take. But God continues to use the faithful, tear-filled prayers of his children to encourage missionary servants and change the world. So let’s pray! 

As you reflect on these four insights – 

– Which insight best connects with your needs or passion today?

– Which lost, hurting and unreached people has God put on your heart?

– In what ways is God calling you to lift the lamp of Jesus’ love even higher? 

Lord Jesus, thank you for moving with transforming power around the world. May the Church in every nation faithfully follow you in your mission of grace. Amen.

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More Than A Barber by Maxie Dunnam

Wesleyan Accent

More Than A Barber by Maxie Dunnam

Even with modern technology, I like the daily newspaper. I pay close attention to the front page and read the articles there that get attention. Then I turn the inner pages to see what is there.

It was an inside article, but the headline caught my attention:

FORMER ADDICT OFFERS HAIRCUTS TO HOMELESS PEOPLE IN LOS ANGELES.

I couldn’t resist and read the inspiring story of barber Beraldo Gabaldon. He sets up shop near MacArthur Park in Los Angeles and cuts the hair of homeless people for free, wanting to give them a fresh outlook. The 35-year old former barbershop owner came to California from Albuquerque, New Mexico to leave behind 15 years of drug and alcohol addiction and start a new life after getting sober in February.

He has been cutting hair at the park for a month, up to four hours a day in what he calls his “mission to redeem himself and give hope to others.”

I’m sure I will be sharing this story with addicts who seek my counsel, but to even think of being helpful, I will have to talk about the fact that Beraldo had done some of the things becoming sober requires. First of all, he was an addict and needed help. Maybe it was a new community… so he made a dramatic move… Alburquerque to Los Angeles. And there he is cutting hair… serving others. When Beraldo tells his background they relate to him immediately. “You are more than a barber. You’re a therapist. You can talk to your barber about anything. I can guide them to the resources I do know,” he says. “These are the first people I am going to help because I was in their shoes… Maybe a haircut can give the spark to change their whole life.”

Having relapsed several times, Beraldo aims to be a mentor so that his customers do not just end up in jail or undergo rehabilitations and are left to fend for themselves.

His word is a good one not just for recovering folks, but for all: This time I found my purpose and why I want to recover. It’s for me and my family, so they can have a dad, a brother, and have me here to provide, being an amazing father to my kids.” (The Commercial Appeal , 8/24/25)

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Too Fast for Good News by Joseph Seger

Wesleyan Accent

Too Fast for Good News by Joseph Seger

Sitting with people after their surgeries, I often hear their prescription: slow down and heal. Sometimes, it is true the best thing we can do is just trust the same old story. The reality is that we live in an age where real rewards come from capitalizing in the attention economy. Quick searches reveal dozens, even hundreds of ‘get well quick’ anecdotes. The question raises quickly, which authority, which new story should be heeded?

Hurting churches today often have a similar scenario. They want to live and proclaim good news, but cannot move as they desire. Unresolved conflict lingers from a past Board meeting, ongoing feuds simmer among the members, unseen pain or potential block each other from interacting – the list goes on: something happened in the past and the body finds itself in need of healing. The same old prescription rises from the Master through the scriptures to live out the gospel proclamations within. Only now there are more polished ‘relevant’ experts prescribing modern church growth and fixing church problems. Broken things need time to mend. Voices clamor that the time is now to act.

‘Move fast and break things.’ This motto echoed around the start-ups of Silicon Valley for decades and into our current moment. It speaks to the cutthroat world of capitalist rewards, and the businesses behind them, for advancing technology faster than the user can get used to what the market already offers. It’s part of why we have so many platforms with so much information and news that we are ‘infobese’ and incapable of processing all that comes across the screens surrounding us.

This idea has disrupted the business world and spread into daily living.

Consider this often repeated conversation:

It’s so good. You should try it.

Really? You like it that much?

No, I actually haven’t ever tried it, but I heard it is really good.

Oh.

I used to laugh when a version of this exchange occurred. Seeking out a restaurant, product, or experience, someone gives an enthusiastic recommendation. And just when you get your hopes up, you realize they have no experiential authority for the endorsement. It may be that in good faith they are passing along another’s good word. It may be that they have been conditioned by targeted advertising. It often comes from a desire to be helpful, but almost always has an element of pedantic condescension. For if we move fast to an endorsement, maybe we can get some bonus credit, building our perceived authority with false confidence. I have always found it humorous how we can grab and pass along authority with no inherent knowledge of its truth.

At least it was humorous with a food order or purchase. It becomes more gut wrenching as it moves to other social matters.

One of the pervasive fruits of Silicon Valley’s fast movement has been the perfect tool to occupy our frenetic egos – social media. The ‘right’ to influence others no longer has to wait through the long work of education, experience, or editors. It has been freed for all. The more the talent in wielding it means the more the influencer must comment on anything and everything happening to remain relevant. No matter if it’s good or true or relevant or consistent with yesterday. We have to move fast and break things. Even more so when tomorrow comes.

Enter newsjacking.

Newsjacking has always existed, but has become a different phenomena with our current technology. The current oracle, AI, tells us that it is a “real-time PR and marketing strategy where a brand or individual injects its own ideas and expertise into a breaking news story or trending topic to gain media attention and promote itself.” Or to put it in another light, newsjacking is sharing news not to spread that news, but to gain standing or credit on some alternative agenda regardless of the news. It matters not whether people died or succeeded, were freed or held captive – only that this take was seen by more eyes and through ‘my’ lens.

This further floods all social media feeds with hot takes and reactions and memes and…well, it just goes on until the next event worthy to comment upon. No person can process all the information in time to share sound wisdom. With every post, we become more callous to the realities behind the viral moment. A disconnect forms between what is posted and what the poster feels. We become numb to the realities of each story and gear up for tribal fights rather than rallying to those in need or celebrating with the joyful.

Where is the church in all of this?  Calling us from our numbness to be present to the pain and joy of the events around us? All too often it has become another mouthpiece in this infotainment.

In the church’s desire to be relevant it has sometimes forgotten the news it proclaims should be good to be lived. Many churches, and their leaders, want to be helpful, but often desire to be heard speaking ‘prophetically’ or ‘relevantly’ to whatever issue is raised more than wrestling with the news itself. It can filter out its own pain in a desire to have the answer for others. 

Relevancy overtakes authenticity.

Following the news story can lead away from the GOOD NEWS still to be proclaimed.

There are many reasons why the church today has struggled to evangelise its surrounding neighborhoods. Evangelism at its heart is the sharing of good news. In the church, this good news is that Jesus has not only died on the cross for our sins, but that he is the King of the universe who will make all things new. Fleshed out, this means the sick should become well, the lonely should find community, families should become stronger, the addicted should be freed and connected – that all should come to live more healthy and holistic lives. Unfortunately this is not the lived reality of many in churches today.

Some churches today often declare the ‘correct’ theological, biblical, and evangelical concepts without evidence of belief, understanding, or joy to go along with the truths therein. The good news is no longer news affecting us but rather information to be wielded. Sometimes such hope is exported to other fields. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the church struggles to evangelise today.

In our hurry to keep up, some of us in the church have not taken the time to let the reality of the good news sink in. We repeat the good news without knowing it to be good ourselves. We desire to proclaim the fruits without the long, hard work of breaking the soil, tilling it, and being present for the growth necessary for the buds to begin to form. Maybe this comes from decades of living with instant gratification society. Maybe it comes from some bent desire to not have to live in every time or season of life. Maybe we’re stuffed, full, and tired. Maybe there is nothing new under the sun.

Evangelism does not lead to good news in our lives if we do not live by the truth of the gospel. Unexperienced proclamations of goodness, a lack of alignment of action and word, and a desire to use the gospel for worldly ends plagues us throughout the church today. The gospel becomes truncated in its expression because it has become limited in its effect on the whole of our lives. What is shared is sometimes not known, owned, or lived. What is shared becomes dismissed due to the fruit of the community. Trust is lost. Those who hear then flock to other proclamations.

Good news heard should be good news lived.

I will say it again in another way. Part of the church today struggles to share the gospel because it struggles to flesh out the good news within the body. Members attend worship faithfully, but avoid each other throughout the week. Conversations and plans of action can reveal an ignorance of biblical interpretation, spiritual disciplines, the commands of Jesus, and theological application. Hurting people are not offered wholeness through Christ and the community. Examples abound, but a truncated discipleship program has led to lower expectations for the bride of Christ. Church health and well being within allows for the faithful extension of sharing good news beyond the covenantal community. Churches need to care about the lives and situations of those within as they do their neighbors. They need to be healthy before they become places where the good news wells up from within and overflows to the community. Church should be a place where we can rest, have authentic community, and just be before our God we behold.

Consider Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. If one desires self actualization and transcendence, then one first needs shelter, food, rest, safety, belonging, and confidence. The same is true for our churches. If we desire the church to be the Kingdom of God upon the earth and to spread into every community, we need to make sure those within know they have abundant provision from the King, healing from the Master, shelter under the Most High, a Sabbath rest, no coercion within the body, love throughout all of the congregation, unity in Jesus, and an understanding of how the Holy Spirit empowers them for the call.

When we try to share good news that we do not believe, live, or resonate with, it comes off discordant and disingenuous. We sense this with personalities newsjacking on Facebook and Twitter(x). It’s in the back of our mind when all influencers use the latest news story in attempts to be more Instafamous. We see the danger in implanting opinions into the news regardless of whether it is good. We must come to see the problems in proclaiming the Good News without it first being good in our lives.

Good news should give us joy. It makes us cheer and smile, stomp and clap, sing or shout, move and dance. It’s a phone call which incites us to make a dozen phone calls to ensure all know the current event that affects our loved ones. When it resonates within it becomes effortless for it to spill forth.

There is still much hope for the church in our day. Despite the negative claims there remain numerous examples of healthy churches multiplying in the power of the Holy Spirit for the glory of the Father. Still the whole of the Church has yet to fully claim the deeper truths within Paul’s letter to the Corinthians – “God has put the body together…so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” (1 Cor. 12:24-26) We are joined with other Jesus followers. Our shared lives of pain and good news become the place from which we share the gospel to others. If they are not aligned, there will be no growth.

The world continues to manufacture more regardless of our health. It is easy to get caught up in the busyness of the production. Still, God’s mission to the world rests in the church – the multi-lingual, multi-ethnic movement of God inviting all to live in the reality of THE Good News by bringing together the broken pieces of lives needing rest and wholeness in God’s peace and love.

It is worthwhile to remember Jesus’ question to the invalid who had laid at the pool for 38 years (John 5). 38 years of not being healthy with attention turned to repeated proclamations of manufactured good news that did not bring health. 38 years of others passing by without health. 38 years bridged by a pointed question to the good news of health and joy beyond – “Do you want to get well?”

Christianity has been around for nearly 2 millenia and still there are blind who cannot see, lame who cannot walk, neighbors who are not loved, churches who do not love each other and the masses who do not know Jesus. Still, Jesus calls us to his Kingdom come.

Jesus still reigns. The Holy Spirit still moves. The church still gathers and scatters. Times have changed, and maybe move a little faster, but the good news is still good. Can we still ourselves and hear our Master’s call above the unrelenting noise? Does the church want to get well?

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Shalom And Short-Term Missions by Angel Sigui

Shalom And Short-Term Missions by Angel Sigui

The Deeper Meaning of Shalom: More Than Just Peace

Shalom, the Hebrew word of greeting and parting, carries more weight than many imagine. Often translated as peace, many take it to simply mean ‘no fighting.’ In reality, shalom encompasses a set of values that extend beyond a mere absence of conflict. It’s a state of harmony within and without, something we all strive for in our work, daily life, family interactions, and our world. Jesus, the Prince of Shalom, made this pursuit central in the kingdom life. Whether you’re a Christian or not, you likely recognize the value of creating a better world for us and others. Shalom isn’t something we can buy; we have to pursue it actively.

Jesus as the Model for Short-Term Mission Work

When we think about eternity, it’s important to recognize that Jesus came to Earth on a brief mission trip. He exemplified the best approach to engaging in short-term mission opportunities. Key aspects of his time on Earth include cultural adaptation, the principle of incarnation, and lifting people out of their poverty, both spiritually and physically. All these elements contributed to fostering Shalom within the communities and individuals Jesus encountered daily. He did not seek to gain power or dominate the host culture. Instead, Jesus patiently taught kingdom values through both his words and actions.

So, what does Shalom have to do with short-term mission (STM) trips? Let’s break it down.

How Short-Term Mission Trips Foster Lasting Change

As a short-term missions leader, I have heard the phrase, “We thought we were coming to help, but we ended up being helped,” repeated by almost every team I’ve come alongside. Full confession, when I was a participant, I said it too. These trips, often in unfamiliar places, change how we see the world.

One experience in a rural Guatemalan village showed me this. A young mother brought her malnourished newborn to our makeshift clinic, her face full of fear. Had she waited another day, her daughter probably wouldn’t have made it. Our medical team provided nourishment and care for the rest of our time there. By the end, the baby had rosy cheeks and was full of life. The mother’s grateful smile lit up the room. Our team felt profound joy. It was a life-changing moment that showed me the implications of serving others in real, tangible ways. While the mother and the baby were the objects of our care and attention, we all felt profound satisfaction in seeing a miracle take place in the lives of that baby and her mother.

Some people question short-term missions, worrying these efforts are more about feeling good than doing good—a kind of “voluntourism.” But when these trips are done with the right motivation—not for my sake but to partner with God’s mission—along with local partnerships and focusing on sustainable efforts, they create real change. In Guatemala, our clinic worked with local leaders who continued to serve families long after we left, planting seeds of shalom that grew beyond our short stay.

Why Serving Others Brings Joy and Purpose

The STM experience is counter-cultural. Participants pay their way to volunteer, work hard without expecting a paycheck, and look out for each other, not just themselves. At the end of each day, I see team members go to bed exhausted but smiling, grateful for the chance to serve. Westernized cultures often push us to chase wealth, possessions, or the latest gadget. STM trips shift the focus outward. I’ve seen teams pour their energy into building schools, providing healthcare, and giving time and treasure to others. They call their experiences life-changing, rewarding, and joy-filled.

So I pause and ask, what if the key to happiness isn’t in getting that new fill-in-the-blank but in loving our neighbor—actively willing the good of the other? What if shalom is found in serving without expecting anything in return? What if we were created to put our gifts and talents to the service of others, finding harmony in simple acts like helping someone who can never pay us back? What if we leaned into the data of the studies that show volunteering lowers stress, boosts mental health, and builds stronger social ties? 

Finding Shalom at Home: Everyday Acts of Service

You don’t need to cross the world to find shalom. Small acts at home count, too. Find a local place like a rehab center where people are struggling to find their identity after letting drugs or alcohol shatter their lives and their families, and listen to their stories. Tutor a kid struggling in school, giving them the confidence to grow. Or just sit with a neighbor and let them know you care about them, building a bond that strengthens your community. 

When we engage in service, whether through a short-term mission or a simple gesture, we foster shalom. As we actively will the good of the other, harmony takes root in individuals,  families, communities, and beyond. As we look outward, to the other side of the street or  the other side of the world, we repeat the words of the prophet, “Here I am, send me!”

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However We Witness, Witness We Must by Maxie Dunnam

Wesleyan Accent

However We Witness, Witness We Must by Maxie Dunnam

One of the privileges and responsibilities too many Methodist Christians ignore is witnessing. We take the way some Christians do it as the norm and that turns us off. We close our minds to the fact that some may never hear unless we share.  

I was blessed to chair the Committee of the World Methodist Council for 12 years. This gave me opportunity to travel the world and meet extraordinary Christians. One of those is Stanley Mogoba, the first black person to be elected the presiding bishop of the Methodist Church of South Africa.

About the time Nelson Mandela was sent to prison, Stanley met with a group of angry students and sought to dissuade them from violent demonstration. Just for that – trying to avert violence – he was arrested and imprisoned for six years on the notorious Robben Island. Mandela was already in prison there. His life and witness led to break the back of Apartheid, the awful governmental system of racial oppression in South Africa. He and Magoba became friends there in prison.

One day someone pushed a religious tract under Magoba’s cell door. Don’t ever forget: most persons who come to Christ do so not by big events, but by relationships and simple actions, like a person putting a tract beneath a prison cell door. By reading that little tract and responding to the Holy Spirit, lives forever changed. Magoba quoted the words of Charles Wesley’s hymn to describe his experience:

“Thine eye diffused a quickening ray
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
my chains fell off; my heart was free

God showed up, and something unexpected happened.

God who came unexpectedly at Pentecost, continues to show up, in persons, on the streets, in the Church. Some sort of witness shares in the redemptive process. It certainly doesn’t require a printed tract, but, more often than not, it requires some form of witness. That is the task of every Christian. How seriously are you assuming your task?

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The Lost Art Of Testimony by Larry Frank

Wesleyan Accent

The Lost Art Of Testimony by Larry Frank

As a teenage follower of Jesus, I suffered from a terrible affliction. It was an ailment that primarily reared its head in communal gatherings. I was heavily involved in things like Chrysalis and camping ministry. My malady would arise whenever there was a time of testimony…I came to realize that I was suffering from a terrible disease called testimonius-enviousness. I would sink deep into my pew or chair and hang my head as people shared how Jesus had rescued them from teenage drug addiction or alcoholism, from a life of partying and sleeping around. They would share how at the lowest point of their lives, Jesus rescued them and they became followers of His. I really was grateful for what Jesus had done in their lives, but my testimony? It wasn’t that. Make no mistake, the change in me was huge after Jesus found me at a week of church camp when I was 14, but no one was ever going to have me highlight the testimony time. My depression, anxiety, loneliness and broken home didn’t make for a powerfully moving story. 

Okay, I made testimonius-enviousness up. But years of ministry have shown me I am not alone in this diagnosis. And, I really did have testimony envy. 

Now, as an older (and thankfully more mature) follower of Jesus, I see clearly the Holy Spirit’s work within me. I’m so grateful for what Jesus did to find me, and what He continues to do to help me reclaim my true, authentic humanity as I discover my identity as His beloved. I’ve also come to learn that the broader spread of testimony envy marks something unhealthy in our church. I’ve also come to believe that our own “church-culture” created this disorder. Far too often, when we need someone to share a testimony, we look for the most extreme and dramatic stories. I’ve been cured of my testimony envy.

It’s my belief that this culture, while likely well-intentioned, has helped us (especially those of us in the Wesleyan tradition) lose an essential practice–the sharing of testimony by everyday, ordinary followers of Jesus. Hear me, I love hearing how Jesus met people at the darkest points of their lives and brought them into His Kingdom–but sometimes I wonder what God has been up to in their lives since their conversion. My inoculation has also been a great revealer. God is indeed working in all of our lives in incredible ways – often more beautifully and powerfully in the days and years beyond conversion. We’ve just lost the art of sharing those everyday testimonies. It’s time to reclaim this lost art. 

From the earliest days of the Wesleyan Methodist movement, testimony was at the very heart of the community. Wesley and his followers understood that personal experiences of God’s grace were not private matters alone; they were indeed essential tools for discipleship, encouragement, and yes, evangelism. Speaking exclusively from my seat as a church leader in the West, testimony-sharing has been relegated to rare and special occasions or overlooked altogether. It is time to recover a practice of testimony in worship, small groups, and spiritual formation. 

The Biblical and Wesleyan Foundations of Testimony

Testimony is deeply woven into the tapestry of Scripture. After the Samaritan Woman’s encounter with Jesus in John’s Gospel, we read, “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I ever did.’”* Likewise, the Apostle Paul, repeatedly shared his testimony in Acts 22 and 26, using testimony as a tool for evangelism. In the closing pages of Scripture, Revelation 12:11 reminds us that “They triumphed over him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony.” 

John Wesley built on this firm Scriptural foundation by emphasizing testimony from the earliest days of our movement. He saw testimony as absolutely essential for spiritual growth and evangelism. The early classes and bands were marked by the regular sharing of experiences of God’s grace. Even Wesley’s key question, “How is it with your soul,” is more than a polite icebreaker but an invitation to testify to God’s goodness and faithfulness. 

Public testimony was also central to Methodist gatherings beyond small groups. At the Love Feast (quarterly communal meals inspired by Acts 2:46), participants were given opportunities to share how God was working in their lives. Kevin Watson, in his recent comprehensive history of Methodism in America, Doctrine, Spirit, and Discipline, writes:

The highlight of the meeting was a time where members shared ways they had struggled and testified to triumphs of God’s grace over struggles and temptations. The love feast was a communal event that made visible and vocal how God had been at work in the lives of Methodists in the community that might have been more difficult to see otherwise.**

Wesley himself would write in his journal about one of these love feasts. God’s power was made known through the “honest simplicity with which several spoke, in declaring the manner of God’s dealings with them…[and] set the hearts of others on fire, and the flame spread more and more, till, having stayed near an hour longer than usual, we were constrained to part.”***

Testimony was far from a nostalgic practice, Wesley saw it as a dynamic tool for spiritual formation. Testimony was essential for:

  • Encouragement. Believers were strengthened by hearing others’ stories. Testimonies reminded everyone that grace was available and active.
  • Evangelism. For many, testimonies were more effective evangelism tools than theological argument or presentation.
  • Fostering Community. The act of sharing testimonies deepened relationships. The early class meetings were built on testimony. The sharing that happened in the meetings forged a deep bond between participants that aided in their shared pursuit of holiness instead of struggling in isolation. 

How Testimony Faded in the Modern Church

Despite the scriptural witness and importance in early Methodism, testimony has largely faded from modern worship and Christian formation. While by no means meant to be exhaustive, I’ve observed the following four factors that have contributed to this wane:

  • A Shift to More Structured Worship Services. Sermon-centric, attractional worship has eclipsed participatory, spirit-led gatherings in most churches. The act of testimony has often been squeezed out of worship services for the sake of time and more “trained” communicators.

  • A Cultural Discomfort with Vulnerability. In our age of carefully curated social media personas, a good number of Christians are hesitant to share personal struggles. Sharing testimony requires authenticity and a level of transparency, but our culture often encourages only polished, surface-level interaction.
  • A Fear of Emotionalism. Excessive emotionalism has caused many church traditions to be wary, and with good reason. Unfortunately, this has caused churches to distance themselves from testimony, fearing it could become overly dramatic.
  • A Rise of Hyper-Individualized Faith. The Western Church has shifted toward a privatized faith, where personal experiences of God are seen as exclusive rather than communal. This is contradictory to the Wesleyan movement, where corporate spiritual growth is emphasized.

Practical Ways to Revive Testimony in the Church 

I believe it is vital to revive the practice of testimony in the Church. Here are some practical steps to begin to restore this powerful practice: 

  1. Reintroduce Testimony in Worship. Churches can set aside a few minutes in each service for members to share stories of how God is working in their lives. Testimony should not be an occasional event but a regular rhythm. At the Church I serve, we have found that it is quite effective to have someone share testimony when highlighting a recent event, making a financial or volunteer ask, and at baptism services. In so doing, the entire congregation regularly hears testimonies from ordinary people, who, like them, are experiencing God’s grace in their lives. Each follows a basic format that answers 3 questions: What was life like before? What was a turning point? What has been the result? Oh, and by the way, anytime someone is going to share their story, get their permission to record it! Then churches have the option to do something like “Testimony Tuesdays” on social media, featuring short video testimonies of transformation.
  2. Host Testimony Nights and Love Feasts – When I was in high school, one of my pastors attempted to introduce the Love Feast as printed as a service in the book of worship. It was, well…it was bad. Crackers and water, and almost no one said a word. There is a better way to bring back the Love Feast. For example, the Campus Pastor of one of our campuses at Grace Church has revived the Love Feast, albeit without calling it such. Her campus hosts quarterly potluck and testimony nights. She recently told me that they always had a few potlucks a year, but she wanted to be intentional about hearing one another’s experiences with God. So about four years ago, they changed the potlucks from being just about food to being about testimony…with food! Each of their quarterly testimony nights have a theme such as gratitude, or service, or even a current sermon series. Aside from normalizing sharing one’s testimony of what God is doing in their life, she reports that “people get to know each other, find areas that they have in common, discover interesting things, and gain insight into what makes a person tick.” She also shares that deep friendships and even small groups have formed because of these testimony potlucks. This would not be a hard pivot for most churches to make.
  3. Encourage Testimony in Small Groups – Small group leaders should consistently invite members to share their spiritual progress, struggles, and victories. Remember, “how is it with your soul?” is more than an icebreaker. It’s an invitation to testimony. At Grace Church, we begin every meeting with “Glory Sightings” where we see where we have seen God at work since we gathered last. These mini testimony times help us to see God’s continuous work and to share in one another’s successes and struggles.
  4. Teach Testimony as a Spiritual Discipline – Just as we teach prayer and Scripture reading, we should be training Jesus followers how to share their testimony. Not just of their conversion, but of how God is active in their lives right now! The more we teach others how to share testimony, the more they see others sharing theirs, the more of a normalized rhythm it will become. 

Friends, we have the ability to cure “testimony-envy!” When testimonies are shared, we experience that which C.S. Lewis called “the good infection of the gospel” in personal story form:

He came to this world and became a man in order to spread to other men the kind of life He has–by what I call ‘good infection’. Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.****

Testimony is not just a relic of the past—it is a biblical, Wesleyan, and transformative practice that needs to make a comeback! When believers share their stories, the church is strengthened, and lives are changed. The work of God in our lives is preserved best by sharing it in community! If we truly want to see revival in our churches today, we must reclaim the lost art of testimony.

*John 4:39

** Kevin Watson, Doctrine Spirit and Discipline: a History of the Wesleyan Tradition in the United States, 154

***John Wesley, Journal, February 18, 1750, in Works, 20:321

****C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 154.

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Light Stories (Part 3) by James Loftin

Wesleyan Accent

Light Stories (Part 3) by James Loftin

For Those who Believed in Christ as a Child, The Straight Highway

This is the final article in a series on offering help for writing an effective light story. Check out the first one here, and the second one here.

 

If you miss the opening scene of a book or movie, you often will not understand or appreciate the rest of the story. Beginnings are important. That is why I believe it is so important for us to create and use light stories (testimonies) that clearly introduce how and why we BEGAN to follow Jesus. In a prior article in this series, I noted that most conversion experiences fall into three categories: 

  1. Unconscious, “The Straight Highway” – when an individual is raised in a caring Christian environment and cannot remember a clear turning point or conversion moment
  2. Sudden, “The Downward Cycle” – when one has a quick and radical turning to Christ with little or no history of exposure to the faith or positive responses to Jesus’ invitation 
  3. Gradual, “The Hilly Road” – when one has had a number of opportunities to follow Christ throughout their life and makes a series of incomplete responses until finally they yield with total commitment.

I think of these categories as three journeys to saving faith in Jesus. Regardless of what path you took to begin following Jesus, your light story (testimony) can be used by God to change lives. The guidelines for writing  a light story I provided in the first article in this series are most helpful for people who had sudden or gradual conversion experiences. But those who were blessed to grow up in loving Christian homes have a different kind of challenge. How do you describe the wonderful reality of Jesus changing your life when you don’t remember how it all began

Have you ever heard or said something like this: “I don’t have a very exciting testimony. I grew up in a Christian home. I can’t remember a time when I did not believe in Jesus.” Take a moment now to reject that attitude. Every path to Jesus, every conversion, every light story is exciting. From death to life, from darkness to light, from loneliness to adoption into the everlasting family of God. What could be more exciting? However, the blessing of believing in Jesus early in life requires us to think carefully about how we tell our faith story, especially the opening scene.

The task of creating a brief and clear introduction to how and why you first believed in Jesus is particularly challenging for those who travel The Straight Highway. Your entire life was immersed in faith, the Bible, Jesus, Christian community and worship. There is no clear and sudden hundred- and eighty-degree turn in your life. When you entered the family of God, the angels rejoiced (Luke 15:10), but there were no headlines or social media posts announcing, “A Wild Sinner is Saved.” 

In my work with Christians around the world, I have seen hundreds of creative and effective testimonies. These friends put in the work, and they involved friends and family in fine tuning their language. I have included some characteristics of those stories here. At the end of the document, I have inserted some excerpts from actual testimonies. I pray that this information will help you craft your own light story.

  1. The biggest temptation is length and language. The tendency is to write your spiritual biography instead of a brief testimony (see #2). Even if the testimony is relatively short, it is challenging for Straight Highway converts to stop themselves from using insider language: Sunday School, our small group, my youth group, our Bible study, “John 3:16,” sin, and the Holy Spirit (of just “the Spirit”). The reason we use the linguistic shortcuts is because most of our conversations are with like-minded people, people who already know people. That language is fine with your Sunday morning small group, but when you take a coffee break with your colleague Mohamed on Thursday, you must adjust your language. Clarity is the key to an effective witness with unchurched or pre-Christian friends. 
  2. Too many details will distract listeners from the central truth: You said yes to Jesus and He has wonderfully changed your life. By omitting proper nouns (names of schools, churches, people, cities, camps, songs, books of the Bible, etc.), you are not creating a false account. It is incomplete on purpose: to help the listener focus on you and Jesus. 
  3. The witness is not designed to answer every question about the Bible, Jesus and faith. Light Stories communicate our love for the listener, our gratitude to God, and our passion about following Jesus. When the witness achieves that goal, the listener will almost always be curious about hearing more. Don’t confuse this Light Story with a gospel presentation in which key doctrines and corresponding Bible verses are used. In future discussions, as God opens that door, you can share much more about the wonderful ways you have experienced Jesus.
  4. It is beautiful to acknowledge your family as a key way you were introduced to God’s love. That is a great blessing that your listener may not have experienced. But only use 2-4 sentences to describe your family and faith background. Focus on your family’s love for Jesus. Their love and attendance at church is neither clear nor compelling.
  5. Consider a structure like this: “Unlike many people around the world, I grew up in a family that loved Jesus, and they loved me. In this environment, it was easy and natural for me to say yes to Jesus at an early age. You may wonder how a child could choose to believe in and follow Jesus. Certainly, a child can’t understand all the aspects of God and the faith. You are correct. A child cannot understand God —- But who can? When I said yes to Jesus as a child, I gave all I understood about myself to all I understood about God. But that was not the only time I said yes. Over the years, I have updated my faith and commitment numerous times. After years of study, I still have questions that are not fully answered in my mind. My faith today is similar to my faith __ years ago. Today, I give all I understand about myself to all I understand about God.” 
  6. Jesus once encouraged a group of adults to come to him like a child – simple faith (Matthew 18:2-4). What does that mean to you? Trust, humility, love, allegiance or what? How does that attitude relate to the yes you say to Jesus every day as an adult?
  7. Statements like “I have always been a Christian” are not helpful and are inaccurate. Since all of us are born in sin, every Christian has some type of conversion. A better way to communicate might be something like: “I can’t remember a time when I didn’t believe in and love Jesus.” 
  8. Consider an opening like this: I have been following Jesus for a long time. It was not a fast decision. It was a process. Have you ever been outside before dawn when the night was almost black? Did you pause long enough to watch the glow in the eastern sky grow until the light was warm and bright. That is a bit like how I came to believe and follow Jesus.  I do not know exactly when the sun rose, but I know this. The sun is shining on me now. Once I was walking in darkness, and now I’m walking in the light.
  9. Is an agricultural illustration helpful for your message? When I was very young, my parents planted this seed in my life: God is real. He loves you. You can know and trust him. I love my parents so I naturally received that seed. Over the years, family and friends watered the seed. Slowly but surely that seed grew into a plant. That plant – my life – continues to stretch toward the sun, the Son. I’m not sure when it happened, but I know it happened. I accepted the truth of Jesus, and I have committed my life to grow toward his love and guidance. 
  10. Consider telling one story that illustrates what Christ means to you as an adult. When you started believing as a child and that meant things to you then. How does belief in Jesus impact your life now, today?
  11. Some people who came to Jesus via The Straight Highway mention things that their early decision to believe saved them from: shame, consequences of sin that could last a lifetime, stress on their parents and siblings, and missed opportunities. 
  12. Although you heard about Jesus and were active in church as a child, was there ever a time that you wandered away – or thought about wandering (in your passion or your actions)? Choose a time that might relate to most listeners: pain, loss, disappointment, fear, failure, lack of meaning, etc. I have heard testimonies that include some pivotal moment in life: the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, a major illness or injury, a moral failure, a period when they were preoccupied with materialism or some other challenge. How did you encounter Jesus at that point? How did you choose Jesus again? How did that decision relate to your decision to say yes to Jesus as a child?

Testimony Language used by Other People who Grew Up in Christian Families

As you consider how to write your light story, it might be helpful to see the language used by other people with similar journeys to Jesus. The following are excerpts from light stories of people I have known. 

Laralee: “When I was a child, my parents took us to church every Sunday. We learned about God, we learned about the Bible, we learned about Jesus. I learned about Jesus, but I didn’t really know Jesus. I learned the facts, but I didn’t really feel Jesus’ love for me. 

“When I became an adult, I began to want all of the things that I thought were important in life. I still remembered Jesus, but I wanted more. I wanted a good job so I would make lots of money and buy nice things. I wanted to be respected by my family and friends. I thought this was what life was all about. So, I spent my life getting all of these things. But something was missing.

“When I was 33 years old, I went to a new church. I met people there who weren’t living for the things I was living for. They were living for Jesus. Not only did they know about Jesus, but they felt Jesus’ love and loved Him back. And they shared that love with me. They wanted nothing more in life than to live for Jesus and to love Him with all that they had. I could see that their lives were different than mine: better, happier, more fulfilling. I wanted what they had. 

“Eventually, I dedicated my life to Jesus. And for the first time in my life, I felt the love of Jesus, and I knew that I had been forgiven for the bad things I had thought and done. I knew that Jesus loved me, and I started living every day to please him. I know this was what I was made for. I was made to be a follower of Jesus. And there’s nothing in the world I’d rather be.”

Madeline: “Growing up, my parents taught me about God and His Son, Jesus. I said that I believed in God and that I wanted to do what was right. But as I got older, I saw that I was really living for myself, for popularity and success, and not for Him.

“My first semester of college was difficult. Away from friends and family I felt lonely, classes were challenging, and my grandfather and a childhood friend of mine died within two months of each other.  I didn’t know where to turn. I remembered the God I had known as a child. I silently cried out to Him, and asked for help.  

“Shortly after that, a friend invited me to come with her to a small meeting of girls who studied the Bible together each week. I had known about God since childhood, but I never really understood that He loved me and wanted to have a relationship with me. I learned that God wanted me to rely on Him through the challenges I was facing. After many deep and honest discussions with the girls, I decided that I wanted to say yes to Jesus – again. I closed my eyes and just talked to God. I told Him that I wanted to live my life for His purposes, not my own. I had learned a great lesson. Without Jesus, my life was empty and without meaning, even self-destructive.  

“After first hearing about Jesus as a child, I have experienced many challenges in life. But I am so thankful for Jesus. He is a friend that I can trust, and He is always with me.”

Bill: “I first decided to follow Jesus when I was 12 years old, but I did not really understand what that would mean until many years later. I have prayed for God’s help most of my life, but only in recent years have I really begun to understand how good God is. He is the source of all that is good for me, my family and friends. The Bible is the source of wisdom and guidance that helps me know how to live day to day. It also helps me keep growing in my understanding of Jesus’ life for me and all those who follow Him. How can I not follow the One who loves me so much that he would give His life for me?”

Joe: “From the very beginning of my life, my parents loved me and taught me that there is one true God. He created the universe, and he is love. Throughout my childhood, I learned more about God and what it means to follow the Son of God, Jesus. 

“As I got older, however, I began to rely more on myself. I never rejected God; I just forgot about him. I thought that I could control my life. But then my life took turns that were complicated, painful, and scary. I began to realize that I wasn’t doing very well at controlling my life. Although I had learned about trusting God all my life, I was not placing my trust in God as an adult.

“It was my wife’s idea for us to start reading the Bible together each morning. These times of reading, discussion and prayer were like cool waters on parched earth. The more I listened for God’s guidance, the more peace and confidence I developed. It was like I had run into an old friend, someone who saved my life a long time ago, but I forgot to stay in touch with him. Despite my faults and failures, I realized again that God accepts me, loves me and has forgiven me. He is with me always, and that gives me confidence and clarity about the future.  

“My life is far from perfect, but I am so glad that God walks with me every day. I know I will continue to face struggles, but God is with me. And that makes all the difference.” 

A Final Invitation

This desire to communicate Jesus is one fruit of the Spirit’s presence in our lives. But we tend to use insider language when we talk about our faith. These testimonies encourage like-minded church members, but the impact on outsiders is diminished. As much as our church friends may need encouragement, I suggest that the greatest and highest purpose of your testimony is to bring light to darkness, proclaiming the Good News of Jesus to those who have not yet begun to believe and follow Him. That kind of testimony takes hard work and preparation. I pray that this series of articles have inspired and equipped you to create a light story that will be effective with friends who are not from your background and know little about your faith.  

In Matthew 5, Jesus says, “You are the light of the world.” Receive those words and begin to build a taller lampstand for God’s glory and for the good of the world.

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Light Stories (Part 2) by James Loftin

Wesleyan Accent

Light Stories (Part 2) by James Loftin

The Process of Conversion and Choosing Words that Connect

Stories have the power to move people. Authors, the movie industry, educators throughout history, and Jesus have used this method of communication. In my prior articles (here, here, and here), we discussed crafting our testimonies and identifying the three paths most saving faith journeys take. As you begin to create a brief and clear introduction to why you began to believe in and follow Jesus, you quickly discover the difficulty in finding language that is accurate but also effective for your listeners. How do we understand and explain this mysterious but wonderful experience of conversion?

For hundreds of years, theologians, philosophers and sociologists have tried to understand the nature and the process of religious conversion. Many have tried to create names for the various stages or steps of conversion. The reality is that conversion is not a simple linear process like driving from Atlanta to Orlando. An understanding of the various components of conversion, however, does help us better appreciate and communicate the beauty of God’s gift of life. Here are the stages of conversion listed by David Hesselgrave (Communicating Christ Cross-culturally):

  1. Discovery. I received a basic knowledge of God and the Gospel. 
  2. Deliberation. I began to think – How will I allow this information to impact my life?
  3. Determination. I made a decision, quickly or slowly. I believed in Jesus and committed my life to him.
  4. Dissonance. I learned that my new life was in conflict with many of my previous values and habits. I decided to follow Jesus no matter what. 
  5. Discipline. I choose to identify with the people of Jesus in his church and participate in God’s mission.

How do these stages match your faith journey? These stages may involve many years or a few minutes, but each stage is vital for a faithful, authentic, biblical conversion. Regardless of the nature of our faith journeys, God’s Spirit was working with us all along the way. A praying mother, a godly professor, a Christian book, a dramatic play, a loving friend, a chance conversation with  a stranger, or a personal crisis may have played a part in your decision to repent and accept Christ’s lordship (1 Corinthians 3:5-10; John 4:34-38). This is the beauty of God’s prevenient grace as the Spirit leading us to the moment we said yes (justifying grace).

My friend Dr. Robert Tuttle often talked about these touches of the Holy Spirit in our faith journeys. He thought of them as links in the chain of grace in our lives. There may be one link that stands out as THE Link. We may give it a date and refer to it as our conversion. That’s fine, but the chain is long, and every link is beautiful and wonderful. It’s all God’s grace.

Word Choices

In writing a brief and clear introduction to how and why you began to follow Jesus, it is critically important to avoid “Christianese” and “churchy” language. This is more difficult than you probably realize. In general, it’s usually best to avoid any proper nouns – the name of your church or camp where you had some experience such as Emmaus, the Passion Conference, or BreakThru Retreat. Here are some recommendations from friends who have rewritten their own testimonies after listening to the advice of people beyond their own culture, faith, and language groups:

  • Instead of “born again” use something like: spiritual birth, spiritual awakening, come alive spiritually, given a new life, or my eyes were opened.
  • Instead of “saved” use something like: rescued from fear and shame/guilt, delivered from despair, or found hope for life.
  • Instead of “lost” use something like: heading in the wrong direction, separated from God, felt so dark, had no hope, or had no purpose.
  • Instead of “gospel” use something like: God’s message to the world, the good news about Jesus’ purpose on earth or God’s message of hope for the world.
  • Instead of “sin” use something like: rejected God, missed the mark, fell off the right path, rebelled against God’s law, disobedient to God, did not respond to God’s love in a way that honored God, did whatever I wanted to, whatever made me feel good or going my own way with no thought of God.
  • Instead of “repented” use something like: admitted I was wrong, changed my mind, heart, or attitude – everything, decided to turn away, turned around, made a 180-degree turn from what I was doing, obeyed God or followed God’s Word.

Please Borrow My Friends

Many Christians are surrounded by people who live, think and talk in very similar ways. Almost all of their friends and family members identify themselves as some type of Christian. They go to a local church or they used to go. They live in a culture where they hear and see Christian language on a regular basis even outside the church world. Consider the messaging Americans often see or hear on billboards and words heard in television and social media interviews with athletes and politicians. And therein is our challenge when it comes to writing our light stories. In our normal lives, we can use language shortcuts and slang because everyone we know “speaks the same language.”

But if you want your faith story to be understood by people outside your group, you have to adjust. That’s difficult if you don’t have any relationships with outsiders. But you have my permission to borrow one of my friends. As your write and edit your Light Story, imagine that your first opportunity to share it will be with one of these friends:

  • Davis, a school administrator in China. He has had no exposure to Christianity other than the negative things he has heard from his government messengers.
  • Hannah, a medical researcher from Iran who moved to Arkansas. She is a devout Muslim who has never been to a church and knows almost nothing about the faith.
  • Keith, a farmer in North Carolina. Although he lived his whole life in the USA, he only went inside a church one time – as a child. He can’t recall even part of one Bible verse he might have heard somewhere. The only Christian song he recognized was the melody – not the lyrics – of Amazing Grace.

Your Job and God’s

To write an effective light story, we need to understand our own journeys to Christ and be diligent about using language that is understood by people who have not had our faith experiences. It takes hard work, but it is fun and very rewarding. 

To be clear, our job is to share; it is God’s job is to draw and convert people. We have a small but important role in God’s glorious mission of light. Sharing our testimonies with grace is a foundational part of Christian discipleship – regardless on one’s training, geography, vocation or temperament. We are – every disciple of Jesus – the light of the world.  

In the next and final article in this series on sharing our light stories, I will provide specific guidance for those who grew up in loving, Christian homes. This is a great blessing, but it requires us to be careful in our language choices if we want pre-Christian friends to understand our stories. 

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