NOTES ON WITNESSING
Remember that a public testimony and a private testimony will differ slightly. When sharing one-on-one you will probably have some interaction from the one you are sharing with. Whereas public testimony will have you in front of a crowd who will be merely listening.
Therefore, your public presentation may need to be a bit more dramatic to achieve the same effect.
There are two types of testimony that you can share. A testimony is only really what God has done in your life. It can be your salvation story, or something God has done for you. It could be a healing, financial blessing (be careful with this one remembering their poor situation), Gods provision of work etc. It is good to have various testimonies to share depending on the situation you are in.
Your testimony for morning street meetings needs to be no longer than 2-3 minutes at a maximum. You must write it out on paper and rehearse it and trim it down until it is that length. In the morning visits time restraints will not allow us to waffle on. You should break your testimony down into three areas.
1. What you were like or what the problem was (10% of time)
2. How you met Jesus or how he solved the problem (45% of time)
3. What the result was (45% of time).
Keep it simple emphasising JESUS
Remember you can be as innovative as you like or dramatic as you like in your presentation. If you have a funny story against yourself that shows God working, that's fine. The Filipinos love stories with action.
You may also be asked to do a testimony at a night meeting. These meetings will last a couple of hours so your testimony can go for about 7-8 minutes.
Remember you have an interpreter so times will double. So, you will need a short 2 to 3 minute testimony and an extended 7-8 minute testimony. Always remember your interpreter and keep you sentences to 5-6 words.
Using an interpreter can really work to your advantage. It gives you a break to catch your thoughts and you can add emphasis by your wording and breaks.
1. Definition: a witness is a person who shares by their attitude, words, and actions what Jesus has done in their life.
Matt 5:13-16 We are salt and light
2. Why should we witness? (a) Jesus commands us to Mk 16:15, Matt 28:18
(b) It benefits us Ps 11:30 Dan 12:3 James 5:20
3.Who should we witness to?
(a) to family Mk 5:19
(b) to neighbours Acts 1:8
(c) to the world Mkl6:15
4. When should we witness?
We should be prepared for every opportunity. I Pet 3:15 and Col 4:3-5
5. How do we witness?
In the power of the Holy Spirit Acts 1:8, Acts 4:29-31
Our witness should be in attitude, words and action. This should be both negative (i.e. things we stop doing, and positive (i.e. things we start doing).
6.God's Role and Our Role in witnessing.
God's role:
(a) God presents opportunities Col 4:3
(b)The Holy Spirit brings conviction Jn 16:8-11
Our role:
(a) Always be prepared I Peter 3:15
(b) Do not be ashamed of the gospel. Rom 1:16
Practical Guidelines
There are 2 types of witnessing situations - active and passive.
(a) Passive - people asking you questions
(b) Active - you speaking your testimony with wisdom into peoples' immediate needs.
SIMPLE EVANGELISTIC PREACHING NOTES
"I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes..."
The Gospel is the good news that can be remembered by using 4 Scriptures from Romans.
1. 3:23 All are sinners
2. 6:23 The result of sin is death and loss of relationship with Father
3. 5:8 While we were in this position Jesus died for us all.
4. 10:13 All who call upon God will be saved.
Basically when preparing a message we need to keep in mind three things
PROBLEM
SOLUTION
CHOICE
Once we have this truth we can relate to any story.
There are at least five different types of story.
1. A biblical parable e.g. The prodigal son Lk 15
2. Bible stories eg Blind Bartimeaus Mk 10:46
3. Jesus description of himself "I am.. light, way, life.
4. Everyday object lessons e.g. bridges
5. Create a story. Adam & Eve sins, origins.
PRESENTATION OF MESSAGE
Firstly you must have it clear in your mind what the objective or goal of your message will be. In this case it is for people to accept Jesus. So everything you say and do should be directed to reaching this goal. Keeping this in mind saves the waffle.
There will be four parts to a basic message:
1.The natural story
2.The key to link natural to spiritual
3.The spiritual meaning
4.The challenge to act or receive
First choose type of story e.g. Blind Bartimeaus
You then read the passage as many times as you can and get the feeling and emotion of the scene.
The depth and feeling of the story will come out the more you know it.
1.TELL THE NATURAL STORY
The basic points of this story are:-
1. He is blind
2. He hears about Jesus
3. He gets the opportunity to call out to Jesus
4. He is not put off by those around him
5. He leaves his coat and responds to Jesus call
6. His response in faith brings sight
In this story we see Bartimeaus has a PROBLEM
Jesus comes along with the SOLUTION
Bartimeaus calls out he makes a CHOICE
2.THE KEY SENTENCE IS TO LlNK NATURAL TO SPlRITUAL
"We are all like Bartimeaus - we may not be blind physically but sin in our lives blinds us and separates us from God."
We can see here that whatever story we are relating be it death, leprosy, deafness or paralytic. These all represent SIN that separates us from GOD, Therefore substitute in the KEY sentence whatever the condition.
3.THE SPIRITUAL MEANING
We now follow the natural story through again and substitute the spiritual meanings.
1. He's blind Rom 3:23 & 6:23
2. Hears of Jesus Rom 5:8
3. Calls out to Jesus Rom 10:13
4. He leaves the past behind (coat) REPENTANCE
5. Responds to the call FAITH
4.THE CHALLENGE TO RECEIVE
God doesn't want us to stay blind and ignorant of the wonderful plan he has for our life. That's why he sent Jesus. We only have to call out to the Lord to be saved.
Calling out involves REPENTANCE and FAITH.
Repentance is leaving behind and turning away from those things that offend God. Faith is turning to and trusting in Jesus to save you.
This is more than just knowing about Jesus but is actually inviting Him into your life to be in control. Jesus is calling you now you can respond by raising your hand.
At this point some will raise their hands, you may have to personally challenge others around to personally accept.
FINISH
You then finish by saying "I am now going to ask my brother I sister (interpreter) to lead you in prayer where you will actually ask Jesus to come into your life." Quote Rom. 10:9
The bible says "Confess with your mouth"... so I want you to repeat this prayer after him /her. We get the interpreters or Filipino team leader to lead the prayer as it can get quite confusing relating prayers via interpreter.
SUMMARY
These points are a guideline only and need to be adapted to each person's individual style.
REMEMBER
People will always remember the last thing you say so the challenge is the most important area and the one where the devil will try and disrupt. You must have this section off-pat and rehearsed so you will naturally fall into it.
APM FOLLOW-UP NOTES
It has always been an integral part of the strategy of Australian Philippine Missions to provide a balance between the equipping of the saints and the outreach to the lost. The equipping of the saints entails full training and instruction, and impartation from mature leaders in the things of God. This is combined with the opportunity to impart these learned skills in a practical way, in this instance, the outreach to the lost. There is a vast difference between winning a person to the Lord and discipling them. Paul states in Rom. 1:16, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes:" Jesus says that we are to "make disciples of all nations." Matt.28: 19
Many evangelists, and outreach crusades, are involved in preaching the gospel and praying for the sick, leaving the follow up work to the local church. We have found through experience that this method has a number of failings. Firstly, the local Filipino will respond favourably to the western evangelist, but then will want nothing to do with the follow up by the local pastor or church worker. Secondly, we have found that most local churches, need specialized training and assistance in follow - up, and discipling programs. We have tried to assist in this area by having our local representatives visit in the months leading up to a crusade, to train and encourage pastors in the application of these skills. The first problem however, i.e. the transition from the initial commitment, to being birthed into the local church remains the hardest task. We have countered this problem, in the time available to us, by the following strategy.
1. Selected areas of outreach must coincide with local church involvement and activity.
2. Increase the level and frequency of contact with the new convert.
3 Involve the local church worker in the follow-up contact.
POINT 1
Whatever area of outreach is selected it must involve the co-operation of the local area pastors and churches. It is understandable that a local church and pastor will invest more enthusiasm, time, and effort to the people that may in the future, be part of their church.
POINT 2
We have tried to eliminate the mystique of the western evangelist. We need to show them that any difference, is not in the colour of our skin, but in our relationship with Jesus. This is done by:
(a) more personal contact at the street and night meetings, not being aloof
(b) following morning home visitation involving one on one personal contact.
(c) follow-up church service where practicable in the area church.
POINT 3
The local church workers must be involved in all levels of point 2. This commences from a joint effort in point (a) with an introduction and more involvement of the local church worker in (b) to a mere guest role of the evangelist at (c). The whole point of the extra contacts with people is to introduce the local worker gradually into the life of the new convert. This eliminates the previous cold canvas follow-up visit the day after a crusade by the local worker with a high percentage rejection rate, especially if there is involvement of any opposition e.g. "Defenders of the Faith."
HOME VISITATION
The morning after the night crusade, the team will return to the same area. The pastor from that area will have divided all the decision cards according to location. This localising will save time in walking from home to home. You will be accompanied by your interpreter and a local church worker. The purpose of this visit is twofold:
(a) to reinforce the persons previous decision. This is done by following through a basic follow-up information sheet (see attachment) and answering any questions.
(b) to introduce the follow-up worker to the individual or family, and in any way foster this relationship.
POINTS TO REMEMBER
* When coming into a home, remember, you are ambassadors for Christ. Your attitude, words spoken, and friendliness all add up to how you are perceived.
* The majority of homes you visit will be one room shanties, with little furniture. People will be hospitable, and offer you maybe the only chair, accept this graciously.
* There are plenty of follow up sheets available, so make sure everyone in the room has one so as they can follow what you are saying.
* At the conclusion of the sheet, give time to challenge the people in the room to make a decision for Christ. There will be many occasions, when only one of the people you are sharing with was at the crusade. Sometimes even the new convert will get a better understanding with this presentation, and want to pray again, especially after their questions have been answered.
* Pray for everybody who wants prayer, and as you leave, pray a blessing over the family and the house.
* Remember we want to be seen as bringing a blessing to the home and village.
* Never get into an argument. The sheet you are following is very straightforward, so just refer back to what the bible says. Don't win the argument, and lose the person. If they have any wrong beliefs they can be addressed by the church over time.
* You have approximately 30 mins per stop. * Be natural in your presentation. You will adapt the presentation to your own style.
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