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Tell Your Faith Story to Kids

There are certain rules you should abide by when telling your faith story (also known as your salvation testiomony,) to children. You must organize your talk, write it out, and then practice before actually giving it. The best testimonies are ones that have been written and re-written. (Actually, this is the key to all good writing!)

Brainstorm Your Ideas

Before you begin to write your story, it might be helpful to first have a brainstorming session. In this session, just write down everything that comes to mind about your salvation experience. Don’t worry about order, spelling, or anything else. Just write anything that might remotely fit.

Categorize

After your brainstorming session, categorize the different parts under the three different categories: “What My Life Was Like Before Christ,” “How I Found Jesus,” and “How Jesus Changed My Life.” Strike Out inappropriate subjects, unimportant details, and lengthy stories. Remember, you are speaking to children, and they are not going to pay attention for long. You can have a short version and a long version, but the long version should generally be less than ten minutes in length.

Avoid Lengthy Details

Simplify your story. You may need to leave out some details. You will probably never find an audience that will sit and listen to every last tidbit of your experience. Stick to the main parts of the story that are essential.

Leave Out Inappropriate Details

You can still give a true telling of your testimony without ugly details. If your father molested you every day,you could say something like this: “My home was not a safe place. My father was abusive to me, and he hurt me every day. Maybe some of you know what that is like.” Then move on.

Leave out "Churchy" Words

Avoid using “churchy words” like salvation, blood of the lamb, Holy Spirit, etc.

A One-Paragraph Faith Story Example

One Sunday when I was ten, a traveling preacher visited our church. He said that Jesus had lived a perfect life, died for our sins, and rose from the dead. The preacher said that by believing in Jesus and changing our minds about sin and asking Jesus to forgive us, we could have a relationship with God. He said that people who follow Jesus in this way will live forever in heaven when they die. That day I asked Jesus to forgive me, and I asked him to help me live the way He wants me to. Ever since then I have not been afraid to die because I know that when I leave this world, I will be in heaven with God.

You can formulate your faith story from several different angles and tell it every so often to the same group of kids with a little different slant. Keep it moving and keep it short. Don’t get bogged down in lots of little details.

Practice Out Loud

Practice telling your faith story into a recorder until you can say it just like you would to your best friend. Simplify. Keep retelling it until you sound like yourself. Don’t try to use different words than you would normally use. Don’t memorize it word for word. If necessary, take a note card and write key words on it to jog your memory. Strive for a friendly storytelling style. If you bear in mind the rules of writing your testimony for children and keep practicing, the children in your class will learn from your faith story.