This information was last updated
June 2011. Dear friends,
Each summer for the past six
years or so, I have spent over two weeks on an agricultural showground with
approximately twelve thousand other Christians from across the country and from
around the globe. The festival is called New Wine and time is spent each day in
worship, in seminars and in the fellowship of the campsite. It particularly
appeals to charismatic’s!! Children are very well catered for in different
venues for different age groups and many children have told me that it’s
the best week of the year! Steve and I work at the festival leading one of the
children's
venues.
Preparation for our venue, The Fridge (the coolest place to be on the
campsite!), is well underway. We have our theme sorted, activities are being
planned and volunteers are applying to be on our team. Each volunteer has to
sup-port their application with two references and it was whilst I was reading
these that I started to think about encouragement. Some of the things written on
the references were so encouraging but the per-son about whom they were written
may never know what was said about them…
He leads worship in a sensitive manner, I have confidence in him, if I was picking a team I would definitely want him to be part of it. Intelligent, friendly, determined when necessary, helpful, gentle, one of the biggest and brightest smiles I have ever seen.
These comments and others had me asking myself what our congregations would be like if we were quick to encourage rather than stay silent or even criticise. Often we think good things about each other but we stop ourselves from sharing it. Scripture tells us to be encouragers as part of our spiritual life. In the Old Testament, encouragement was needed to so that the Israelites could hold their ground in difficult moments and so that they could move forward and take new ground from their enemies. Similarly, in the New Testament the early believers needed encouragement from other believers so that they could face the persecution that surrounded them. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 says “encourage one another and build one another up”. In my work with children I can see the difference that encouragement makes. I was supervising a game of badminton yesterday and I could see an improvement in one of the seven year old boys. A few weeks ago he couldn’t get the shuttlecock over the net, this week it went over most times he served. I called over to the lad that I could see how much he had improved and I could physically see him roll his shoulders back and stand up taller. He served again more confidently.
So how about we make June a month when we are quick to encourage, quick to build up and quick to point out people’s successes, talents and strengths? If you are al-ready someone who encourages, great, please carry on! I wonder if there will be a difference in us in a month’s time, if we will stand up taller and live more confidently. I also wonder what people outside of the church would make of a church that was quick to encourage?
Yours for His kingdom,
Lisa
This information was last updated
June 2011.