8 Reasons Why You Need Regularly-Scheduled Testimonies in Your Worship Service

I believe strongly in regularly (that is, once a month or once each quarter) using testimonies in a church’s worship services. Here’s why:

1. You can do them now via video. This reason may seem superficial, but it’s not at all. I’m more inclined than ever to do testimonies now because video allows you to re-record if wanted and edit for length as required. You couldn’t do either one when our only option was to hand someone a live microphone.
2. We need to hear about God’s miracles. When we sit among believers, we’re surrounded by miracles of the grace of God. If we never know their stories, though, we don’t know the miracles God has worked.
3. Life stories put flesh on the gospel. Preaching is fundamental and necessary, but life stories illustrate the gospel in powerful ways. Hearing what God has done in rescuing an addict, repairing a marriage, or calling a family to missions can be life-changing.
4. Testimonies can be strongly evangelistic. Andrew went to tell Simon Peter about Jesus (John 1). The woman at the well told her story to the people of Samaria (John 4). Paul laid out his testimony to King Agrippa, from his upbringing to his then-current ministry (Acts 26). Nobody can tell the story like the person who’s lived it. 
5. We need to get to know each other. As a church grows, it’s more and more difficult to know the members. Regularly scheduled testimonies help us to put names on faces, and thus strengthen our fellowship.
6. Hearing others tell their stories teaches me how to share mine. If you hear enough of the stories, you’ll begin to know how to put your story together. So, the testimonies become an equipping tool as well as an encouragement.
7. Video testimonies capture the attention of a video-oriented audience. Many of our church members have grown up watching everything from video games to school lessons. Grabbing their attention with a video recording might help them be more attentive to us when we teach or preach.
8. They give you a resource for your website. Let not only your church body, but also your community hear the stories of what God’s doing in your congregation. 

So, where do you start? First, pray for direction. Second, find somebody in your church or community who can help you do inexpensive video recordings. Third, enlist some folks whose testimonies you know. Teach them how to share their testimony concisely and clearly (no more than about 3 minutes). Fourth, record those testimonies. Fifth, use one each month for the next three months, and see how the Lord uses it. Finally, put in place a process to keep recording and using testimonies of current and future members. Build a library of God’s grace to use in the future. 

If your church uses video testimonies, tell us how you do it.