Level 1 ULTREYA WITNESS TALK

Ultreya Level 1 (Basic) Witness Talk

This talk should last approximately 10 minutes (15 at the absolute maximum).

Level 1 - Basic witness talk - usually given by the newer cursillistas (1-6 months at the Ultreya). This type of witness will usually focus on a reflection of where they were, where they are now, how they got there and the joy/sorrow experienced along the way. It is important to occasionally have these types of witnesses for two reasons:

a. It helps the newer cursillistas become an accepted part of the larger community.

b. It helps the seasoned cursillistas to remember the journey that they have been on.

ALWAYS write your talk down – longhand. No matter how comfortable you are, don’t trust yourself to "wing it" or to speak only from an outline.

The witness talk should reveal what attempts the speaker is making to bring about a transformation of an environment in order for that environment to be more of a Christian environment. This talk should awaken a desire amongst all the participants to renew their own efforts at evangelizing their environments.

Great care should be taken to ensure that the witness talk does not become an instructional session. The talk should encourage by example, not by theory.

Witness speakers at the Ultreyas give witness to their growth in living union with Christ so that others may be encouraged to go and do likewise.

Ultreya witness talks should expose cursillistas to a great variety of witnesses so they may encounter a broad range of possibilities for Christian growth and action. The speaker offers concrete examples of how to live what is fundamental for being a Christian in family, neighborhood, place of work and/or with friends. It is sharing in a practical way that should inspire imitation.

A witness talk is delivered as a living experience of what the speaker is or believes. As in all Cursillo talks, a truth is presented and then a living experience from the life of the speaker is witnessed to. A recent example from the speaker's life should be given to demonstrate the validity of the "truth" in a concrete situation. By preparing beforehand through prayer and Palanca for discernment as to what to share, the witness will be natural, sincere and personal. Scripture should be used to relate the truth to life and to the experience itself so the community may penetrate more deeply into the Word of God.

The witness should be a personal sharing of one's:

growing union with Christ,
growing knowledge of Christ,
bringing others to know Christ, or the changing of circumstances so that Christ is better known, loved and served.

The speaker should keep the witness talk short, simple and enthusiastic.

The talk should be so balanced so that it is not:

an emotional high (shouldn't be all feelings),
a tale of an extraordinary event (people can better relate to God working in the ordinary circumstances of life),
irrelevant to life (keep it down to earth),
a propaganda message for his or her own favorite cause or organization,
an outpouring of personal troubles that ends in a call for help.

The person giving a witness talk should be one who is living the truth to which he or she is going to witness. When a person talks about what he or she is living, it is almost always told well. When the Ultreya leaders seek out those who are living the life in grace instead of seeking orators, we will get holy testimony and not oratory. ("When I came to you, I did not come proclaiming God's testimony with any particular eloquence" [ I Cor. 2:1].)

Personalities who dazzle, will entertain either by their eloquence, wit or knowledge. Those who live close to God will reflect Him. A person cannot share what that person does not have. It is important that those who share do so because of the testimony of the life they live and not because it is their turn to share, or there wasn't anyone else to witness.