More often than not, though, the program leader will have a problem finding someone from the congregation to share an inspiring experience with the church. There are two possible reasons that could account for this.
First, the members do not have such experiences. Second, they are too shy to come up front and share the experiences they do have.
One way to deal with both problems is through this simple activity.
PROGRAM IDEA: Group Testimonies
Objective: To encourage the congregation to share their personal experiences as a Christian.
Materials Needed: None
Mechanics:
Divide the congregation into as many small groups as reasonable. Ours did well with four. Instruct each group to gather experiences from the members for each of the following categories:
1. Answered Prayer
2. Helping Others
3. Witnessing to Others
4. Conversion
5. Overcoming Temptation
You could also add other categories or come up with an entirely different set of categories. Give the group about ten minutes to gather these experiences. Time pressure is sometimes necessary to motivate the members to volunteer their experiences. Also, dividing them into smaller groups will encourage them to contribute. Plus, there’s the assurance that he/she won’t be the only one to do it.
At the end of the allotted time, have the group representatives come up to share their experiences with the bigger congregation. It’s also advisable to set a time limit for each group to present. The adult males at our church had more than five representatives, and we only then discovered that the “quiet” ones have a lot happening in their lives that are worth hearing!
At the end of the afternoon, we heard at least 20 different experiences from our members, most of them sharing for the first time.
Optional: Have the entire group come up front at the beginning of their turn to sing a hymn, serving as intermissions between the mini-speeches. We did this at our church so the non-representatives could still take part in the larger program.
I hope this helps your AY Program plan for this coming Sabbath. If you do use this program idea, do share how it goes. I would very much love to hear from you.
God bless!
Check out other AY program ideas in this blog by clicking here.
Tried this last Sabbath and it was a blessing. For a twist we has members retell the testimony of another member and persons from other groups had to guess whose testimony it was. We enjoyed listening to the stories and after the program persons approached me to tell how much of a blessing it was.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this idea.
Praise God! Things truly become better when shared. I hope to hear some of your ideas as well, maybe we can share those with others. :-)
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