As a minister, I am occasionally called upon to share the story of my call to ministry. I am happy to do this. At the end, I like to remind people, “YOU have a story.”
I occasionally find myself in conversation with someone who is skeptical about matters of faith. From time to time I have been challenged to prove the existence of God or the truth of Christian teachings. These are matters of faith, which means I cannot prove anything. Instead, I can share my experience of God and the difference those experiences have made in my life. In other words, I share my story.
When I was a teenager, a regular feature of youth events was the ringer who would be brought in to share his or her story. It usually involved a speaker who was raised right, did wrong, suffered dire legal consequences, became a Christian, and everything changed for the better. I began to ask myself, “Do I have a story to share?” Nothing in my experience came close to these kinds of stories of people coming to faith in Jesus. I thought I didn’t really have a story worth telling, but I was wrong.
One of the vows we United Methodists take when we join the church is to support the ministries of the church with our witness. Think of a witness’ job in a court of law. He or she is not supposed to convince a judge or jury or anything, but to share what he or she saw and heard. In other words, a witness shares what he or she experienced. A witness shares his or her story. So I ask, what is your story? You might not think you have a story, but you do. How has God worked in your life? Make no mistake – your story is important! You have a story to tell and you never know when telling it might make a difference in someone’s life.
Yours in Christ,
Thomas W. Smith