Senior Testimonies Encourage Younger Youth

It’s May. Seniors will soon be graduating and moving on in no time at all. But, wait! Wouldn’t it be great to have them leave something for the rest of the youth that will be back next year?

For the past 3 months, we have been having the seniors at our youth group giving their testimonies. It’s been a really powerful thing as these seniors shared about their lives before, during, and after they accepted Christ. Almost every week they have been sharing the students get really focused in because they want to hear what they have to say.

Testimonies are very powerful because it’s about our personal experience with God. They share the story about how God had reached down and got involved in our lives and they are so unique to each person that it’s so cool to hear about how God got a hold of each students’ lives.

You still have time! I know that graduation is coming fast, but you still have time to have your seniors give a testimony to the other students. I would even encourage this to happen right in your place of youth ministry and not just in front of the church.

Here’s what I would suggest to coach your students on before they give their testimony:

• Give Them an outline to follow: Nothings worse than listening to someone go from A to Z to outer-space and back. Know what I mean? You can help them by giving them a brief outline to follow. I suggest having them share about 3 things: 1) Life before Christ, 2) Salvation Experience, and 3) Life after Christ. These things will help them stay on task and make it easier for the students to follow.
• Meet with them: Make sure they are able to do this and willing to do this. Even ask them to share their testimony with you if you don’t already know it and give appropriate feedback with them. Don’t really want to have someone share that is not capable enough to share. I have to add that I don’t mean they need to be smooth talkers as Moses certainly was not, but rather are they going to be so nervous that they can’t share . Or maybe you find out that they don’t really know the Lord and so they shouldn’t be giving a testimony.
• Be prepared to say something before and afterwards: A testimony is shared, God’s spirit moves, and students are crying and you don’t have any plan on how to follow up with them - Yikes. I think it’s good and wise to have some type of quick intro though this part really isn’t too important. Sometimes just saying their name and what kind of food they enjoy is a fun little way to start them off. But definitely be prepared to do some follow-up after the testimony. Affirm the things that were shared about Christ and make an invitation to the Gospel. Have some other leaders ready and on board for response.