Christian testimony is a sign of God's life in our midst. If there is no testimony to give, then there is an absence of God's abiding life, an absence of the Holy Spirit and an absence of people fully committed to Jesus Christ. If God is at work, then we will have experiences to describe, stories of God's supernatural involvement with us. That’s how Rev. Chuck Irish, founder of St. Luke’s in Akron, OH and the former Episcopal Renewal Ministries begins his remarkable teaching on Giving a Testimony.

I was enormously impacted by Chuck’s teaching when I was pastoring a church near St. Luke’s about 20 years ago. Perhaps it ploughed into me so hard because my own testimony was so big…and yet, at that time…so hidden.

I met Jesus through the testimony of a Japanese missionary who came to a small country church when I was a boy. Something about his testimony set my heart on fire. He shared with our tiny congregation how his life had been changed by knowing Jesus. His words were simple, direct. I was a sinner…but now I have the joy of the Lord every day. I don’t know what sins I was being convicted of at 9 years old, but I knew that I did not have his joy and that I wanted it. The missionary stepped away from the pulpit, grabbed a microphone, and began to sing. I have no idea what he sang, but the room was soon filled with the joy of the Lord and I began to wiggle in my seat.

Presently, he laid down his microphone and asked, Will any of you be wanting to join me, to come here and meet Jesus? Like a kitten being lifted by the scruff of my neck, I felt myself being lifted straight up. I climbed over the pews in front of me and staggered to the altar rail where I fell to my knees just in time to receive this man’s sturdy hands on my crew cut head. I confessed Jesus that day, and my life has never been the same.

When I met Chuck Irish years later, I was still a Christian, a pastor in fact. I was at the lowest point in my life. I had just been arrested, spent time in jail. I struggled with addictions, infidelity, and had fallen so far from any real relationship with God that I had become completely dependent on my own strength get through a pastor’s day. I was unhappy; struggling with almost every part of my life. In desperation, I cried out to the Lord. By his mercy, he sent a woman to our parish who introduced me to the Holy Spirit. For the first time in many years I felt the Lord drawing close to me and with his help, began the road to recovery. That woman was a member of Chuck’s congregation, and it was through her that I met Rev. Irish and first heard his teaching on Testimony. Once I heard it, I decided that for the rest of my ministry, I would make my testimony the cornerstone of my ministry.

With such a sinful life behind me, I was destined to be successful; odd how that works. Being a witness for Christ has allowed me to experience that great joy I saw in the missionary preacher many years ago and to be a light on a hill for others. I know now what he knew then, that any time we lay our dirty laundry before men and glorify God we accomplish great things. We remind ourselves and others of our own sinfulness and God’s amazing love, and we offer something the world needs so desperately, hope. From Chuck’s teaching: Jesus told the apostles that they would become his "witnesses" after they received the baptism in the Holy Spirit [Acts 1:8]. Once they had, Peter and the eleven stood before the people in Jerusalem and said, "God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact [Acts 2:32]." When people are transformed by God's life, they now have something to communicate; they are witnesses at the ready.

When I look at our American Church today, I see a body struggling to get by just as I once did; dependent  on its own strength and failing to humble itself so that God may be exalted.. We have become so reliant on clever programs, worship theatrics, and empty promises of worldly riches that we have forgotten that we have a testimony…that God has changed us, is changing us. Chuck says: It is easy to establish a religious institution that has the right creeds, the right liturgies, and the right leadership, but which has little or nothing of God's life. Ministries and gifts help change this, for through ministries God's gifts are imparted. When we receive something from God, there is a testimony to give. When many of us are receiving from God, there is a greater testimony to give and a greater assurance of God's life among us.

In my estimation, the greatest evangelistic teaching any church can offer its members is how to prepare and give a testimony.

What the world is looking for is hope. To quote a recent presidential candidate, they are seeking, Change we can believe in. You have what they are asking for. It may be hidden away, but we can each take it out and polish it up, so that we will …always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks" that they give the reason for their hope in Jesus Christ [1 Peter 3:15]. Are you ready?

If you are interested in learning how to give your own testimony, write me at amiamission@yahoo.com for a copy of Rev. Irish’s teaching.