As a Bible class teacher, you probably feel pretty comfortable telling your students stories from the Bible. Did you realize your students can also learn from your personal faith stories?
Personal faith stories can revolve around one or more themes.
- God is Alive! These stories are about the times in your life when you became acutely aware that God is alive and working in our world today. Maybe it was something in God’s creation that made you realize God is alive. Or maybe you saw God work in ways that could not have been done by humans or attributed to “luck” or “chance”.
- God is wise! These stories are about those times when you realized God is so much wiser than any human. Maybe it was when you disobeyed Him and realized obedience really was the better way. Or it could be when you heeded a Proverb or obeyed His commands and were thankful that you had leaned on God’s wisdom. Maybe it was a time when God answered “no” or “wait” to one of your prayers and you were later very thankful God had not said “yes”.
- God is awesome! These are the stories of the times when you were amazed by God’s creation, wisdom, blessings – anything that left you in awe of God.
- Your Christian Journey. Some Christians call these their testimonies. A Bible class teacher at our congregation, gave us a great template for this type of faith story.
- How did you become a Christian? These aren’t just the facts of your baptism. Rather it is what led you to believe this is what you wanted and needed to do. How did you learn about Jesus? What was your thought process right before you became a Christian?
- What are a few important lessons God has taught you? Obviously, there are a lot of options here. Focus on those times when you really learned something from God that has had a major impact on the way you lead your life. It might be walking away from a sinful situation. Or perhaps it was growing to be the person God created you to be by growing in character or serving others and sharing your faith.
- How is God using your gifts and passions to serve Him and how has it impacted your life? As part of the Church, we have different functions in the body. God gives us different gifts, talents and opportunities to serve Him. What were some of those opportunities? How did you discover and develop your gifts and use them to serve God?
- The Gospel Message. Start with the perfect Eden. Talk about sin entering and the Fall. Share about those Old Testament years full of stores emphasizing the need for the coming Messiah and full of prophecies about him. Talk about Jesus and his life, death and resurrection. Share about the beginnings of the Church and how one becomes a Christian.
You don’t have to have dramatic stories for them to be helpful to your Bible students. They are young without much life experience. Your stories will be interesting to them – even if it is just initially because they are learning something new about you.
If you teach younger children, your stories will be short. Your Christian journey story may be several different stories told over a period of time. Older children may be fascinated by your stories and have lots of questions.
Your personal faith stories should never replace the stories in the Bible. They can, however, help your students better understand how to live the life God wants them to live. It’s worth the time to capture and share them with your students.