Friendship Evangelism Pt 2 - Leader

FRIENDSHIP EVANGELISM – Part 2

YOUNG ADULT CELLS MAR 2006

FRIENDSHIP EVANGELISM

Leader’s Notes

IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS LESSON IS A PRACTICE SESSION FOR THE MEMBER TO WRITE AND SHARE THEIR 3-MINUTE TESTIMONY. COMPARED TO PREVIOUS LESSONS, THIS LESSON IS MORE TEACHING STYLE (THAT IS, MORE INSTRUCTIONAL STYLE). THIS IS BECAUSE IT’S LEARNING OBJECTIVE IS MORE SKILL BASED. NONETHELESS, PLEASE THINK THROUGH SOME OF THE ISSUES FACED WHEN SHARING PERSONAL TESTIMONY AND PREPARE TO DISCUSS THESE ISSUES. HOWEVER, THIS LESSON NEED NOT BE BORING OR ONE-SIDED. USE ROLE PLAY TO LIVEN UP THE LESSON AND ENSURE THAT MEMBERS PARTICIPATE. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS LESSON DOES NOT HAVE PRE-EMPT DIFFICULT QUESTIONS RAISED BY OUR TARGETS AFTER WE SHARED OUR TESTIMONIES. AS LEADERS, YOU SHOULD HAVE SOME ‘READY ANSWERS” TO SOME DIFFICULT QUESTIONS THAT YOUR MEMBERS MAY ASK REGARDING EVANGELISM.

Learning Outcomes: Understanding, Skill Objective: At the end of this lesson, you will be able to: • Write a three-minute personal testimony for evangelistic purpose. • Practise sharing your testimony to someone in the cell.

YOU SHOULD HAVE ALREADY PREPARED YOUR 3-MINUTE TESTIMONY AND PRACTISED SHARING IT BEFORE GOING TO THE CELL!

FOCUS (5 mins) Ask members how many of them have ever led someone to Christ? Ask them to share their experiences on what they do or say in order for the person to accept Christ? Ask if that person is still in church? Tell members that last week we learnt that friendship evangelism is the most effective way to win our friends for Jesus Christ. Today, we will give an easy handle on how we can we can evangelize our friends, namely through our personal testimony.

YOU MAY HAND OUT THE NOTES AT THIS TIME.

II. The First Step in Friendship Evangelism (2 mins) Briefly summarize the information on the member’s notes.

III. How to Prepare a 3-Minute Testimony (8 mins)

Briefly run through these blanks. Explain if you have to else most are self explanatory. The main bulk of the time is to let the members write their personal testimony and practise sharing it.

1. Ask

the Lord to give you wisdom and guidance as you write. (James 1:5,6) 2. Follow a 3-point outline: “My Life with Christ.” I. Life before knowing Christ II.How you came to know Christ (be specific) III.Life after you received Christ (changes He has made and what He means to you now.)

You will need to explain this 3 point outline a little bit more.

If you come from a Christian family and does not recall any conversion experience, follow the below outline: I. Any specific crisis situations in your life or family? II.How did knowing Jesus make a difference in that situation? III.What does knowing Jesus mean to you in your everyday life?

3. Begin

with an interesting attention getting sentence and close with a pointed conclusion. Include relevant, thought-provoking, secular facts and experiences. (That is conclusion should lead to some questions for our friends to ponder on.)

4. Write

in such a way that others will feel associated with you in past and present experiences.

5. Give enough details to arouse interest. 6. Use at least one, but at most two Scripture verses. 7. Edit carefully and rewrite as necessary before the final draft. 8. Choose something characteristics of your experience that is

of general Member’s Notes page 1 of 3

FRIENDSHIP EVANGELISM – Part 2

YOUNG ADULT CELLS MAR 2006

interest to non-Christians. Build your testimony around a theme, for example, success, life’s best, money, dreams of the future, God’s plan for me, what I want most of life, desire to help others, etc.

9. Emphasize how the Lord make a difference in your life. 10.Remember, the same Christ lives in you, whether you trusted Him early or later in life. Do not be concerned that your testimony be exciting, just that it be interesting.

11.Be realistic. Christ does not eliminate all the problems of life, but enables you to live them out with peace and confidence.

12.Be positive, not negative, from start to finish. 13.Give your testimony in a group situation the

same as you would to an

individual.

IV. Pitfalls to Avoid (5 mins)

1. Making

statements which reflect negatively on the Church and other organizations or people.

2. Preaching at people. Use your natural speaking

voice. This is a testimony,

not a “preachimony”.

3. Using stereotypes. 4. Speaking with such little volume that you cannot be readily heard. 5. Speaking in glittering generalities or using words that are strange to non-

Christians. Terms like “salvation”, “saved”, “born again” and “sin” etc needs to be explained.

6. Using

poor posture, or exhibiting nervous habits (especially with your hands).

7. Talking as you move to and fro in your seat. 8. Being long-winded. (Adhere strictly to the time schedule). V. How to Share Your Testimony Effectively (5 mins)

1. Share

your testimony with loving enthusiasm in the power of the Holy

Spirit.

2. Speak loudly and clearly in a natural, relax tone of voice. 3. Avoid mannerism when you speak, such as rubbing your

nose, jingling

coins in your pocket, swaying etc.

4. Avoid arguing and other high pressure methods of getting a “decision” for

Suggestions for Part IV and V. Instead of filling up the blanks which is quite boring, you may use a mahjong paper and write 2 columns, things that hinder and things that help you share your personal testimony. (ask members to cover their notes so they will not try to guess the blanks.) Instead of just brainstorming, you can do role-play. You may use your own personal testimony or the sample testimony (do not just read) and demonstrate to the members how sharing should be done. Thereafter, ask members to note down what are the positive and negative things they see. You can ask a member to do a negative demonstration of sharing personal testimony. Prepare him or her before the cell so he/she knows how to act out all the faults in sharing testimony. Just give the answers to the blanks and complete part IV and V.

Christ.

5. Smile often. Ask the Lord to give you a happy, radiant countenance. 6. Memorize your testimony and practise it until it becomes natural. 7. Gauge the openness of your friend. If he is interested to know

more,

proceed to share the Gospel.

8. Pray

for your friend as you shares and ask God for insights to issues pertaining to him/her.

Member’s Notes page 2 of 3

FRIENDSHIP EVANGELISM – Part 2

YOUNG ADULT CELLS MAR 2006

V I. C o n cl u si o n 1.) Give them time to write their personal testimony (estimate: 10 mins) 2.) If you run out of time, ask them to write their testimony as homework and present to cell two weeks from now. (Next week PNP – no cell). 3) Ask one or two persons to do a role play of sharing their personal testimony. 4) Use the grading sheet provided to grade them and offer your comments for them to improve. 5) Challenge them to do friendship evangelism with a friend (their target) 6) Tell them that YA ministry have $5 Starbuck voucher that we want to give out for people to do invite a friend for a drink with the purpose of sharing the gospel. 7) Ask how many would like a voucher? For every voucher, the member must turn in the attached “friendship evangelism” form. They must at least share their personal testimony to their friend. 8) There is no need for the member to go to Starbuck for a drink. Other place is also ok. As long as they have at least share their personal testimony, they can keep the Starbuck voucher for their own use. (So, it is sort of incentive, but of course, they will still incur cost as they are expected to buy a drink for their friend on top of their own drink.) 9) Return the completed form to Andrea Chan, our evangelism coordinator. 10) Thanks.  0.5

Member’s Notes page 3 of 3