An Encouragement to Encourage

By Andy Young

What the church needs right now more than anything else is encouragement. Oh we need more than encouragement, but we certainly don’t need less. Covid-19 has split churches, divided families and caused Christians to be downhearted and greatly discouraged. A lot of us are hurting, lonely, and isolated, perhaps more than we know or care to admit. The spectrum of responses to this pandemic, many of which have been aggressive towards anyone who dares question or disagree, and many more which have been divisive and disparaging, have only exacerbated the overall sense of gloom. And of course Tiers, lockdowns, and social distancing have played their part in causing the general morale of Christendom (in the West at least) to be at an all time low. Don’t get me wrong. A quick survey of what the persecuted church in places like China and North Korea are facing should gives us a healthy dose of realism. Our lot, relatively speaking, is pretty blessed. And yet many are discouraged. Very discouraged. As obvious as it may initially sound, one of the antidotes to discouragement is encouragement. And I want to encourage you to be encouragers.

The Bible talks about encouragement a lot. Behind our English word ‘encourage’ lies several Hebrew and Greek words that have a wide range of meaning. These include:

to speak, exhort, admonish, console, comfort, calm, call to one’s side, strengthen, instruct, urge forwards, prevail, be courageous, grow firm, to be secure, urgent, repair

One additional meaning is ‘to grow stout’ (Psalm 27:14) – which may provide exegetical support for a ministry of culinary encouragement (aka let’s encourage each other by eating lots of pies and drinking beer together) … is that a hearty “Amen!” I hear from those piling up their plates at the All You Can Eat buffet?!?

Of course it would be seriously remiss not to note first that our Triune God is the great encourager (2 Thess 2:16-17). He repeatedly encourages his people to be encouraged. In fact, taking courage and being encouraged are not a mere suggestion. They are a command from God himself (Joshua 1:6-9, 10:25).

And we are to be encouraged precisely because we have every reason to be so. God’s encouragement to be encouraged is not wishful thinking in the face of a discouraging reality. We can actually be encouraged, despite our circumstances. Or perhaps in our circumstances. Or even better - through our circumstances. (I feel a tangent coming on to Romans 8:37 where we are told we are ‘more than conquerors’ through our trials, but I will resist and leave that for another day). God himself, his being, attributes and redeeming plan can encourage us. Christ as our Saviour, older brother and Prophet, Priest and King, can encourage us. The Holy Spirit in his ministry by and with the Word of God, can encourage us.

The biblical writers don’t just talk about the encouragement we get from God and the gospel, they encourage us to encourage one another. The whole letter to the Hebrews is basically one long encouragement (see Heb 13:22 where the word ‘exhortation’ is the same word for ‘encouragement’). At least 3 times the letter encourages Christians to be encouragers (Heb 3:13, 10:25 & 13:19). And so let me encourage you to be encouragers in two specific ways.

The Encouragement of Presence (not ‘presents’ – that’s a whole other thing, many of which are also encouraging)

Tim Challies wrote the definitive blog post on this a few years ago here. I can but poorly echo his must-read post, which can be summarised as: be there! Simply being there is a ministry of encouragement. Challies specifically refers to being at church. Ensuring you are worshipping with your church family every Sunday. And more, being one of these gold-dust church members who take charge of the small yet essential tasks of setting up/taking down, welcoming, saying hello, singing gustily, listening intently, smiling winsomely (even underneath a mask), chatting to visitors etc.

This encouragement of presence is perhaps more than ever needed. When many of us cannot chat before and after services (due to social distancing rules), and many of the usual ministries of our churches have been curtailed, we can be there. We can turn up and worship. We can encourage each other simply with our presence. And do not underestimate how important this is. No, you have not had a good long chat with the lonely older Christian. And no, you have not been able to invite the new family round for dinner. But you were there. And that always matters more than you will know. And it is always an encouragement.

And even if right now you cannot even be at church, resolve that from the first moment you can, you will be an encourager through your committed presence at church worship.

The Encouragement of Words

It is striking that many of the Bibles’ encouragements to encourage call Christians to use words (1 Thess 4:18). This encouragement is expressed by how and what we say to each other. The truth matters, and transforms our lives. So speaking the truth in love is a vital way in which we can encourage one another.

This is a real challenge right now because we are speaking to fewer people than perhaps we ever have done. Lockdown, social distancing and mask wearing is hardly designed to promote community relations! And yet on the other hand we have ample opportunity and means to communicate with each other. Phone calls, emails, text messages, zoom calls. Dare I even suggest the old-fashioned snail mail of letter writing? Or what about meeting up with someone and going for a walk? All of these are ways in which we can encourage each other by speaking to each other. And we need not have any other reason to do this than simply to chat, talk and build relationships. You don’t need to have a special message to say, or verse of Scripture to share. Just chat. Find out how the other person is doing. Get to know them. Ask good questions. Express appreciation. Give compliments. Share anxieties. Say thank you. Use your mouth and voice and words to encourage.

And here is a novel thought - use social media to encourage others and not just to promote yourself. I recognise that Christians and churches are using social media to advertise their own meetings and ministries. There is of course a place for this. But when was the last time you liked, shared or re-tweeted someone else’s article, blog, vlog, sermon, church service, new book etc.? Social media is rightly criticised for being a bastion of all things malicious. Yet it can do so much good and be used to wonderfully encourage each other. So get to it. Encourage your brothers and sisters.

A blog post on encouragement without even one reference to Barnabas??! This may be the first. It may also be the last. Either way, let’s encourage one another. Let’s find ways to be a blessing to each other. Let’s be encouraged and be encouragers. And who knows? When we are and do, not only will we find that we are encouraged by encouraging others, the world may just look on and wonder at our love and unity, and be drawn to Christ (John 17:20-23).