The immense value of encouragement

Sometimes the right words, said at the right time, can change someone’s life. Encouragement has the power to really make a difference to people, yet it is a rarer thing than it should be.

Christians live in a world that is not our home, a world full of discouragement. We feel the pressure of our own sin and limitations. We find work a struggle this side of the fall. We are limited by our physical abilities and health. The news we watch is full of negative images and much of the content of the conversations we find ourselves in is complaining about things. There is little wonder that encouragement can be so powerful when used well.

The Bible describes one of the main functions of our worship services as being to encourage one another (1 Cor 14:31, Heb 10:25). The book of Acts describes the ministry of Paul and his co-workers in their missionary journeys often as “encouraging the brothers” (Acts 14:22, 16:40, 20:2). The message of the gospel and the hope we have for the future are things that are known to encourage believers (Phil 2:1, 1 Thess 4:18). Our meeting together, whether formally or informally as Christians, should be marked by mutual encouragement.

The stand-out example of this in the New Testament is Barnabas. His parents named him Joseph, yet everyone called him Barnabas which means “son of encouragement” (Acts 4:36). While we don’t know all that much about his ministry, he was a faithful co-worker to Paul and others and universally respected and appreciated by all. Encouragement marked the man enough for it to become his name.

Do you think your church fellowship is marked by encouragement? Do you find yourself encouraged when you go to a church service by the formal content and the informal conversations? It is easy for sinful people to fall into being critical of everything, and even for preachers to be in a mode of only telling people to be better. We need more than this.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that we critically accuse others of not being encouraging to us! We need to move the culture of our churches. It starts with us. There is much that we can do to encourage other Christians. Let me give you some ideas:

1. Be a regular church attender who uses their gifts to serve others. Just being faithful in serving tea and coffee or welcoming or singing is encouraging to others.
2. Go out of your way to be encouraging to individual believers. Ask about their lives. Write a little note to thank them for something. Send a text to tell them that God loves them and is using their service.
3. Be specific with your encouragement. It is much better to say that you found their service leading helpful because they explained the gospel clearly and prayed with depth and thoughtfulness than to say that the leading was ‘good’.
4. If you are a preacher or lead a Bible study group, don’t just tell people off. Sure, we all need correction. But we also need the encouragement of knowing that Jesus died for us, that the future hope we have is real, and that our sins are forgiven. Don’t forget encouragement in your zeal to correct.

Encouragement is rarer than it should be, and it makes a big difference. Even one person actively looking to encourage others in a group will change the feel of that group. Church leaders rarely hear encouragement, even when things are going well. Who can you encourage today?