{"id":839,"date":"2024-03-16T08:22:19","date_gmt":"2024-03-16T13:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/?p=839"},"modified":"2024-04-27T19:24:11","modified_gmt":"2024-04-28T00:24:11","slug":"the-power-of-testimony-in-worship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/the-power-of-testimony-in-worship\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Testimony in Worship"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"vce-row-container\" data-vce-boxed-width=\"true\"><div class=\"vce-row vce-row--col-gap-30 posthead vce-row-equal-height vce-row-content--middle\" id=\"el-0559630d\" data-vce-do-apply=\"all el-0559630d\"><div class=\"vce-content-background-container\"><\/div><div class=\"vce-row-content\" data-vce-element-content=\"true\"><div class=\"vce-col vce-col--md-auto vce-col--xs-1 vce-col--xs-last vce-col--xs-first vce-col--sm-last vce-col--sm-first vce-col--md-first vce-col--lg-first vce-col--xl-first\" id=\"el-0080f22f\"><div class=\"vce-col-inner\" data-vce-do-apply=\"border margin background  el-0080f22f\"><div class=\"vce-col-content\" data-vce-element-content=\"true\" data-vce-do-apply=\"padding el-0080f22f\"><div class=\"vce-text-block\"><div class=\"vce-text-block-wrapper vce\" id=\"el-a4568c9f\" data-vce-do-apply=\"all el-a4568c9f\"><h1 style=\"text-align: center;\">The Power of Testimony in Worship<\/h1>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Priscilla Pope-Levison<\/strong><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"vce-col vce-col--md-auto vce-col--xs-1 vce-col--xs-last vce-col--xs-first vce-col--sm-last vce-col--sm-first vce-col--md-last vce-col--lg-last vce-col--xl-last\" id=\"el-ff853a9a\"><div class=\"vce-col-inner\" data-vce-do-apply=\"border margin background  el-ff853a9a\"><div class=\"vce-col-content\" data-vce-element-content=\"true\" data-vce-do-apply=\"padding el-ff853a9a\"><div class=\"vce-single-image-container vce-single-image--align-center\"><div class=\"vce vce-single-image-wrapper\" id=\"el-a603b4b3\" data-vce-do-apply=\"all el-a603b4b3\"><figure><div class=\"vce-single-image-figure-inner\" style=\"width: 1024px;\"><div class=\"vce-single-image-inner vce-single-image--absolute\" style=\"width: 100%; padding-bottom: 83.0078%;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"vce-single-image\"  width=\"1024\" height=\"850\" srcset=\"https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/hands-1024x850.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/hands-320x266.jpg 320w, https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/hands-480x399.jpg 480w, https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/hands-800x664.jpg 800w\" src=\"https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/hands-1024x850.jpg\" data-img-src=\"https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/hands.jpg\" data-attachment-id=\"746\"  alt=\"\" title=\"hands\" \/><\/div><\/div><figcaption hidden=\"\"><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"vce-row-container\" data-vce-boxed-width=\"true\"><div class=\"vce-row vce-row--col-gap-30 vce-row-equal-height vce-row-content--top\" id=\"el-1ac33e9e\" data-vce-do-apply=\"all el-1ac33e9e\"><div class=\"vce-content-background-container\"><\/div><div class=\"vce-row-content\" data-vce-element-content=\"true\"><div class=\"vce-col vce-col--md-18p vce-col--xs-1 vce-col--xs-last vce-col--xs-first vce-col--sm-last vce-col--sm-first vce-col--md-first vce-col--lg-first vce-col--xl-first\" id=\"el-cb317ed9\"><div class=\"vce-col-inner\" data-vce-do-apply=\"border margin background  el-cb317ed9\"><div class=\"vce-col-content\" data-vce-element-content=\"true\" data-vce-do-apply=\"padding el-cb317ed9\"><div class=\"vcv-row-control-wrapper\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"vce-col vce-col--md-64p vce-col--xs-1 vce-col--xs-last vce-col--xs-first vce-col--sm-last vce-col--sm-first\" id=\"el-a3aa9dcf\"><div class=\"vce-col-inner\" data-vce-do-apply=\"border margin background  el-a3aa9dcf\"><div class=\"vce-content-background-container\"><\/div><div class=\"vce-col-content\" data-vce-element-content=\"true\" data-vce-do-apply=\"padding el-a3aa9dcf\"><div class=\"vce-text-block bodytext\"><div class=\"vce-text-block-wrapper vce\" id=\"el-dabe1dc9\" data-vce-do-apply=\"all el-dabe1dc9\"><blockquote>\n<p>At work, I am more than just a nurse. I am the hands and feet of God. \u2026 I am trying to be family to them. Faith is giving me strength to do that.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The congregational response to this young woman\u2019s testimony, spoken during an online worship service in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, was overwhelming. The people I talked with spoke of being in tears because of her resilient, courageous faith, which she brought to her work in a tactical COVID-19 unit at Dallas\u2019s Parkland Hospital.<\/p>\n<h3>Testimony as a Way to Connect<\/h3>\n<p>During the pandemic, pastors observed their people hungering in unprecedented ways to hear stories of where God was showing up despite unemployment, grief, despair, anxiety, loss, uncertainty, and isolation. To address this desire, many churches, like the nurse\u2019s church, Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, began regularly to include testimonies during every online worship service. When I asked the pastor why testimonies, he gave this response:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>We decided that we would do everything we could to involve the congregation creatively during this COVID period. Testimonies and other kinds of video events were one way to do that. Baptists have a long history of testimony. In decades past, it was a feature of Sunday night worship. People were encouraged to speak to the church about what God was doing in their lives. It gave encouragement and called people to reflect on their faith. In some cases, it was a form of witnessing that led others to faith.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Then, in the wake of COVID-19\u2019s denouement and the desire to return to \u201cnormal\u201d as quickly as possible, many churches left behind the creative expressions initiated to connect us to each other, often with a word of testimony about how God showed up, even in the darkest hour.<\/p>\n<p>From my own experience of the power of testimony in corporate worship, renewed during COVID-19, I became passionate to help pastors and churches find their way to providing a time and space for testimony when the faithful are gathered together. To that end, I now direct a Lilly Endowment funded grant, Testimony as Community Engagement (www.testimonyhq.com), for the purpose of helping churches create a culture of testimony in their worship, which then spills out into God stories shared in the community around them.<\/p><\/div><\/div><div class=\"vce-text-block\"><div class=\"vce-text-block-wrapper vce\" id=\"el-9f01a0a1\" data-vce-do-apply=\"all el-9f01a0a1\"><p style=\"text-align: right;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/resources\/\"><strong>Other Resource Articles<\/strong><\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div><div class=\"vce-single-image-container vce-single-image--align-left\"><div class=\"vce vce-single-image-wrapper\" id=\"el-f5287fad\" data-vce-do-apply=\"all el-f5287fad\"><figure><div class=\"vce-single-image-figure-inner\" style=\"width: 1024px;\"><div class=\"vce-single-image-inner vce-single-image--absolute\" style=\"width: 100%; padding-bottom: 56.25%;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"vce-single-image\"  width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" srcset=\"https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/man-speaking.jpg-1024x576.webp 1024w, https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/man-speaking.jpg-320x180.webp 320w, https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/man-speaking.jpg-480x270.webp 480w, https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/man-speaking.jpg-800x450.webp 800w\" src=\"https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/man-speaking.jpg-1024x576.webp\" data-img-src=\"https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/man-speaking.jpg.webp\" data-attachment-id=\"840\"  alt=\"\" title=\"man-speaking.jpg\" \/><\/div><\/div><figcaption hidden=\"\"><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div><div class=\"vce-text-block bodytext\"><div class=\"vce-text-block-wrapper vce\" id=\"el-500d21d4\" data-vce-do-apply=\"all el-500d21d4\"><h3>The Faith in Story Form<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">Here\u2019s how some pastors in our cohort churches speak about the power of testimony in corporate worship.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">At First UMC Denton, on the town square of a college town north of Dallas, Rev. Don Lee invites people to turn to someone sitting near them in worship and share briefly their response to a prompt. On Easter Sunday, the prompt was, \u201cWhat gives you hope?\u201d On another Sunday, the prompt was, \u201cShare with your neighbor a good moment that is also a God moment.\u201d Folks responded positively and engaged each other in both the traditional and contemporary worship services. Rev. Lee explained that \u201cInviting worshippers to share their story with each other in the context of worship became a powerful experience creating the opportunity to share their testimony in a non-threatening and playful way, reinforcing that testimony can be a natural expression of their life together.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">The sharing of testimonies continued after the worship service. During the benediction, folks were invited, as they entered the fellowship hall, to write their responses on a graffiti wall created on a large, white marker board with the prompt for the day written on it. The graffiti wall extended the testimonies visibly to all who read them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">During Sunday morning worship services at Brock Methodist Church, which sits strategically at a rural crossroads forty miles west of Ft. Worth, worshippers are given an opportunity to share a \u201cGod moment.\u201d The pastor, Rev. John Nader, explains that a \u201cGod moment\u201d is a time when God showed up in someone\u2019s life in a powerful way. He acknowledged that \u201cWhen we offer this time, we have to be intentional in knowing that regardless of our own priorities for worship, we are dedicating this time to God. It is&nbsp;kairos&nbsp;(God\u2019s time) not our time. By opening ourselves to God, God then opens the space for testimonies.\u201d&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: inherit;\">When Christians engage in testimony regularly in the worship service, children and youth, even adults, are catechized in and through the language of faith. In this process, testimony provides a venue for intergenerational learning, because children and youth hear adults telling about their faith in story form. \u201cI\u2019m thinking generationally,\u201d said a UMC pastor in Arkansas. \u201cMany of the people who live authentically well and have a story to tell are older. They\u2019ve grown to a place where they embody their faith stories and have a confidence in themselves and God, so they\u2019re more comfortable.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/div><div class=\"vce-text-block bodytext\"><div class=\"vce-text-block-wrapper vce\" id=\"el-057f3ebd\" data-vce-do-apply=\"all el-057f3ebd\"><h3><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-841 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/men-praying.jpg-171x300.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"251\" height=\"440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/men-praying.jpg-171x300.webp 171w, https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/men-praying.jpg-583x1024.webp 583w, https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/men-praying.jpg-7x12.webp 7w, https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/men-praying.jpg-320x562.webp 320w, https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/men-praying.jpg-480x843.webp 480w, https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/men-praying.jpg.webp 608w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 251px) 100vw, 251px\" \/>Experiments With Testimony<\/h3>\n<p>Bestselling author, Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel, substantiates this point in her book, <em>Tell It Like It Is: Reclaiming the Practice of Testimony<\/em> (The Alban Institute, 2006). When Daniel began to integrate testimonies into the Sunday morning worship service, she noted that children, often restless at first, settled in at the testimony time. \u201cThey [the children] appear to find these moments as fascinating as the adults do. Perhaps they can imagine themselves up there one day, sharing their faith.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Getting a church started with testimony in worship works best, Daniel suggests, as an experiment during a special season, like Lent or Advent, because it involves a finite number of Sundays. In other words, there is an ending date, which encourages innovations and sets people\u2019s mind at ease about the practice of testimony.<\/p>\n<h3>Leaders First<\/h3>\n<p>Testimony in worship can also be launched, in a less conspicuous way than designating a season for testimony, by the worship leaders themselves, including the pastor. Kim Eiffert, Communications Director and Worship Curator with Grace Avenue UMC in Frisco, a suburb north of Dallas, finds<\/p>\n<p>\u201cthat our best response to using testimony during a worship context is when it is modeled from those in leadership. When those leading prayers, leading music and those speaking from the pulpit present an appropriate level of vulnerability, it invites others to do the same. It creates a softness in the space and encourages reflection that connects people with their own stories. Testimony has a ripple effect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When Rev. Charles LeSure, pastor of Williams Memorial CME Temple in Shreveport, LA, gave a testimony during a Sunday morning worship service, he testified that \u201cThrough my trials and troubles, I have reached back and heard what mama always said to me \u2018What God has for you is for you.\u2019 I have experienced abuse, loss, divorce, and I have had triumphs, Masters Degree, Business Owner, School Administrator. Through it all, I have learned that it may not look how I want it to look, but I can\u2019t tell God how to bless me, I can\u2019t tell God when to bless me, but I can thank God for blessing me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hearing his testimony was significant for the laity. It gave credence to the power of testimony. \u201cBecause we heard the Pastor\u2019s story,\u201d wrote Saundra Roberson, \u201cthe trials and triumphs that have shaped his life, we have a deeper understanding of how God has molded him into the person he is today. We also identify with him on a different level, because though he is the spiritual leader of the church, he has also faced some adversaries that he had to trust God to overcome. Sharing testimonies to the entire congregation have affected us relationally. New, stronger bonds have developed.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>An Invitation to Tell Stories<\/h3>\n<p>So how about starting this Sunday to experience the power of testimony in worship? Begin in a simple way by inviting worshippers to turn to their neighbor and respond to this simple prompt \u2013 \u201cShare with your neighbor a good moment that is also a God moment.\u201d And watch what happens!<\/p><\/div><\/div><div class=\"vce vce-separator-container vce-separator--align-center vce-separator--style-solid\" id=\"el-ae81da8b\" data-vce-do-apply=\"margin el-ae81da8b\"><div class=\"vce-separator vce-separator--color-bfc0c1 vce-separator--width-60 vce-separator--thickness-1\" data-vce-do-apply=\"border padding background  el-ae81da8b\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"vce-text-block\"><div class=\"vce-text-block-wrapper vce\" id=\"el-9fdb4fee\" data-vce-do-apply=\"all el-9fdb4fee\"><p style=\"text-align: right;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/resources\/\"><strong>Other Resource Articles<\/strong><\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div><div class=\"vce-text-block\"><div class=\"vce-text-block-wrapper vce\" id=\"el-29f95e04\" data-vce-do-apply=\"all el-29f95e04\"><p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-842\" src=\"https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Priscilla-Pope-Levison.png-300x300.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Priscilla-Pope-Levison.png-300x300.webp 300w, https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Priscilla-Pope-Levison.png-150x150.webp 150w, https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Priscilla-Pope-Levison.png-12x12.webp 12w, https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Priscilla-Pope-Levison.png-320x320.webp 320w, https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Priscilla-Pope-Levison.png-480x480.webp 480w, https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Priscilla-Pope-Levison.png.webp 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Priscilla Pope-Levison,<\/strong> award-winning author, historian, pastor, higher education administrator and professor, has a heart for the ancient yet contemporary Christian practice of evangelism.<\/p>\n<p>In her most recent, award-winning book, <em>Models of Evangelism<\/em> (Baker Academic, 2020), she gathers together her vast experience over several decades of teaching, speaking, and writing into a compelling and coherent one-stop shop for all things evangelism. In previous publications, she unearthed a large cadre of North American women who engaged in evangelism across the country. These women and their accomplishments come to life in two books: <em>Building the Old Time Religion: Women Evangelists in the Progressive Era<\/em> (NYU Press, 2015) and <em>Turn the Pulpit Loose: Two Centuries of American Women Evangelists<\/em> (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004). Over the past five years, she has received two million-dollar grants from the Lilly Endowment for her work to revitalize congregations. Priscilla currently works at SMU\/Perkins School of Theology as Research Professor in Practical Theology and Director of the Testimony HQ Thriving Congregations Grant, funded by the Lilly Endowment.<\/p><\/div><\/div><div class=\"vce vce-separator-container vce-separator--align-center vce-separator--style-solid\" id=\"el-589c0bd8\" data-vce-do-apply=\"margin el-589c0bd8\"><div class=\"vce-separator vce-separator--color-bfc0c1 vce-separator--width-60 vce-separator--thickness-1\" data-vce-do-apply=\"border padding background  el-589c0bd8\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"vce-text-block bodytext\"><div class=\"vce-text-block-wrapper vce\" id=\"el-f3e8d4e1\" data-vce-do-apply=\"all el-f3e8d4e1\"><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">This article orginally appeared on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.churchleadership.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lewis Center for Church Leadership.<\/a><br>Used with permission.<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"vce-col vce-col--md-18p vce-col--xs-1 vce-col--xs-last vce-col--xs-first vce-col--sm-last vce-col--sm-first vce-col--md-last vce-col--lg-last vce-col--xl-last\" id=\"el-bda44034\"><div class=\"vce-col-inner\" data-vce-do-apply=\"border margin background  el-bda44034\"><div class=\"vce-col-content\" data-vce-element-content=\"true\" data-vce-do-apply=\"padding el-bda44034\"><div class=\"vcv-row-control-wrapper\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Power of Testimony in Worship Priscilla Pope-Levison At work, I am more than just a nurse. I am the hands and feet of God. \u2026 I am trying to be family to them. Faith is giving me strength to do that. The congregational response to this young woman\u2019s testimony, spoken during an online worship [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=839"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":865,"href":"https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839\/revisions\/865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testimonyhq.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}