The role of Testimonies in Current Worship Practice

[Nate Pruitt]

Sometimes I've wondered about times when testimonies were to be given, but that wasn't really made clear. Bland and open invitations like, "Does anyone have anything they'd care to share?" seem to be a wide open opportunity to wax eloquent about any subject regardless of a single mention or inclusion of God in the story. Likewise, the teens at church didn't seem to understand that we were typically expected to give a testimony when we returned from church camp because it was often prefaced with, "And now the teens will tell us about their week at camp." This typically resulted in a lot of "umming" and an irregular amount of saying things were "good" while talking about games, swimming in the lake and camp meals.

[Susan Unger]

Two testimonies within the first few days of my trip to the altar made indelible impressions on me, in opposite ways. In one, a "dear old saint" of the church took advantage of the opportunity to praise the Lord that her grandchildren were finally living with their father where they would be safe and raised in a godly home....with her son's former wife sitting across the church, mortified and holding back tears.

Though not as horrifying and cruel as that, I know that some folks can use extended testimony time to talk too much. One retired [Baptist] pastor used every single Sunday and Wednesday evening testimony time to give guilt trips to the rest of us for not witnessing as much as he did. I still feel scarred all these years later. I don't think any of the adults had a clue of the negative effect that this man's words had on me, a child in the congregation.

Now, a short testimony [few words or few sentences] like what we had in church last Sunday would be good. Enough to encourage but not enough to damage.