1. Encouragement: Opening Reflection and Meanings

• Acts 4:36-37-- “Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement) sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.”

  I’ve been reflecting on the Barnabas text for myself in my context. What if my congregation started a “Barnabas Club;” would the members be inclined to urge me to join and even give me a new nick-name to go with it?” That is, do I consistently encourage or give care to others in such a way that they are blessed and tend to take up the role of encourager to still others? Do I use my words, presence, resources and influence to meet the needs of others? Barnabas did. He cared enough to offer practical encouragement to others, principally to the poor and disadvantaged, that the 1st century family of faith nicknamed him “son of consolation” and found him trustworthy as a spiritual leader. This “Barnabas Club” is a way for me to face myself with the question, “Do I lead by caring; do I provide, support, inspiration and encouragement to others?”

• 1 Thessalonians 5:11-- “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”

  Over the past three decades, I have enjoyed the opportunity as supply preacher or interim pastor in scores of churches. I have taken that responsibility seriously and tried to bring encouragement and challenge from the pulpit or in Bible study or key leadership groups. I have often become an “exhorting Elder” from this word of Paul to the Thessalonian congregation, in words such as these:

  During this season when you are without a known and trusted pastor in the pulpit, against all prevailing tendencies and forces rise up to be the church of the living Christ in this place:

  • Encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
  • Be at your very best in your place in the midst of this very special congregation.
  • Give personal attention to the mission of Christ for His church, for indeed it belongs to you.
  • Stand your watch on the wall; it’s your watch to protect the well-being of the congregation.
  • Take care of each other, your hopes, struggles, and needs; let no one feel as an orphan.
  • Do the work of Christ faithfully: sing, teach, minister, and evangelize those seeking the Lord.
  • Support the congregation’s practical and spiritual life: pray, lift, love, attend, give, go, bring others.
  • Pray for that good day when a pastor comes into your midst to love and lead you and finds you to be a strong, caring and faithful congregation.

  So, by words and behavior, stories and example, instruction and exhortation I attempt to give encouragement, to be an “encourager” for a day or for a season.

• Encouragement as a Test of a Servant Leader: I often find myself reflecting on the concept of servant leadership advocated by its most eminent modern proponent, Robert K. Greenleaf. Is not trust-building one of the primary components of servant leadership? Greenleaf’s stated concept seems to be a worthy test of what it means to build trusted leadership through encouragement:

  The servant-leader is servant first—to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. . . . The best test, and difficult to administer is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit, or, at least, not be further deprived? (Servant Leadership, pp.13-14)

• Meanings Today for Terms of Encouragement: There are several words that we use to express elements of encouragement. From several resources, let’s revisit our usage of related terms:
  • Courage (noun): the state of mind or condition of being brave, bold, even fearless; to act upon or stand for your convictions; to be steadfast in the face of pain, difficulty, or danger.
  • Encourage (verb): to inspire with courage, to give spirit or hope, to hearten; to spur on; to stimulate; to foster or give, help, support, or patronage.
  • Encouragement (noun): the act of encouraging or the state of being encouraged; the expression of approval and support; the act of giving hope or support to another; acts or words of praise, support, comfort, endorsement, even challenge or exhortation.
  • Caring (verbal form): to be concerned about another person, to be thoughtful, to make provision for another; to wish or desire the best for another; to be watchful or be responsible for, to attend to the matters of another, sometimes at the cost or trouble of the one who cares.
  • Hope (noun): a belief that something desired will in fact happen or be obtained; a desire that something cherished with anticipation will occur; an expectation with some confidence that some good will occur, such as one “hopes for a promotion.” Hope is often held out by another person by word, deed, or behavior; a by-product of trust.
  • Inspiring (verbal form): to fill with an animating, quickening, or exalting influence; “His courage inspired his followers.”--to produce or arouse, to inspire confidence in others: “She inspired me to take up the Room in the Inn ministry.”--to guide, control, or communicate as by a divine influence: hymns that inspire the congregation to worship: “The sermon lifted my spirit from discouragement to a new hope.”

2. Courage and Encouragement: A Biblical Viewpoint

Please note: The following comments are adapted with permission from the Zondervan Dictionary; they introduce the central thrust of the New Testament message. Reflection and Application are offered to encourage you to pull that message into your space and ministry role. How do you respond to this central understanding of the active role of encouraging among the members of a congregation? Let’s start with a thesis text from the earliest recorded Scripture.

• A key text: “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” --1 Thessalonians 5:11
  
  With such a guarantee, the Thessalonians are now equipped to “encourage one another and build each other up.” As in 4:18, parakaleite (“encourage”) has more a consolatory than a hortatory meaning. Here is an unconditional pledge to strengthen even the weakest in faith. It can also build up another Christian. Oikodomeite (“build ... up”) was later to become one of Paul's favorite ways of writing about growth in the church (Eph 2:20-22; 4:12). Paul is quick to acknowledge progress along this line: “just as in fact you are doing.” Yet he also looks forward to even greater attainments (cf. 4:1).
  
• Encouragement, Comfort in the New Testament
  
  • The NT terms “tharreo” and “tharseo” most directly mean to be of good courage, to take heart. In the NT the form tharseo appears 3 times in Matt. and Mk., and once each in Jn. and Acts; tharreo occurs 5 times in 2 Cor. and in Heb. 13:6. To be courageous means to take heart, (in the KJV “to be of good cheer”) to be of good courage, used today in much the same way.
  • In Mk. 10:49 the companions of blind Bartimaeus address him with the expression, tharsei, take heart. He may take heart because Jesus is calling him and offering him help. Elsewhere the imperative is found only in the mouth of Jesus.
  • In Matt. 9:2 the paralytic whose sin Jesus forgives is to be of good cheer, as is the woman with an issue of blood whom he heals (Matt. 9:22; cf. Lk. 8:48 v.1).
  • In Matt. 14:27, when the disciples are frightened by his appearance on the lake, the word of comfort is strengthened by the addition of me phobeisthe, “fear not.”
  • In John 16:33, in His farewell discourses of the Fourth Gospel, Jesus commands the disciples, whom He is leaving behind in a world full of tribulation: “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (KJV Jn. 16:33). In Acts 23:11 a similar word of comfort is given by the risen Lord to the apostle in prison.
  • In 2 Cor. 7:16 Paul uses the word tharro to express the confidence which he has in the Corinthian church. But in 10:1-2, the same word is used of the boldness with which he is determined to face those who oppose him in Corinth (openness).
    
• Other New Testament Terms and Texts

  The NT uses other terms to present the rich meaning of the kindred words, courage and encouragement, translated as: encourage, cheer up, console; encouragement, comfort, consolation; and encouragement, consolation, alleviation. Examples include:

  • The first example of the use in early Christian literature is in 1 Thess. 2:12, where it is used, as at 5:14, in conjunction with parakalein, to exhort (cf. also v. 3). Paul reminds his readers (“for you know,” v. 11) that when he visited Thessalonica (v. 1), he exhorted and encouraged them. He also indicates the content of this encouragement in the words: “to lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory” (v. 12). Paul undertook the task of encouraging the people in this way with complete devotion (“Like a father with his children,” v. 11) and person to person (“each one of you,” v. 11). In 1 Thess. 5:14 the apostle urges the brethren (i.e. the whole church and not just their leaders) in Thessalonica, to encourage the faint-hearted.
  • The second example is that encouragement is an expression of love. Together with participation in the Spirit and heartfelt sympathy, it forms one of the foundations of church life as lived out in the sphere of Christ (Phil. 2:1). This applies also to the special circumstances at Corinth. There it is the prophets (or more exactly, those who exercise the gift of prophecy) who build up, encourage and console the church. “He who prophesies speaks to men for their upbuilding [oikodomen] and encouragement [paraklesin] and consolation (paramythian)” (1 Cor. 14:3 f.).
  • Courage, boldness, the verb, tolmao, means to be brave, risk, dare; and another form, tolmeros, means confident, bold, audacious. Expressed is a basic sense of doing or bearing that which is fearful or difficult with patience, submissiveness, courage, and daring, or bravery--even rash or foolhardy. Moral and physical courage are both involved in Matt. 22:46, meaning combining both “did not have the face to” and “did not have the gall to.” It has the strongest sense of “putting oneself at risk” in Rom. 5:7, and a weak but similar sense in Rom. 15:18; 2 Cor.10:12; 11:21, where it is little more than a conventional politeness: “to venture to.” (See also Rom. 12:8; Rom. 15:4-6; Heb. 10:25; Heb. 12:5.)

3. Encouragement as Caring, Trust-Building

Another way to learn how to lead through encouragement is to look at encouragement through the skin and skill of several contemporary researchers and practitioners. Reflecting on the concepts of these leaders may help you, both to understand and consistently practice encouragement:

• Best Leaders Practice Encouraging the Heart
  (from James Kouzes and Barry Posner, The Leadership Challenge, pp. 239-258)
  According to the extensive research of Kouzes and Posner, “the leadership challenge” is best defined as leaders at their best pursuing five key practices expressed through ten commitments. The fifth such major practice, “encouraging the heart,” is developed in two commitments: 1) recognize contributions: linking rewards with performance and 2) celebrate accomplishments: valuing the victories. Selected examples of such encouragement are summarized here as they relate to encouragement:
  • Leaders at their best encourage the heart of their followers to carry on, even though the work is long and hard. Getting extraordinary things done in organizations is hard work. The climb to the summit is arduous and steep. Leaders encourage others to continue the quest. They inspire others with courage and hope. (p. 239)
    
  • The word “encouragement” has its root in the Latin “cor” meaning “heart.” When leaders encourage others, through recognition and celebration, they inspire them with courage—with heart. When we encourage others, we give them heart. And when we give heart to others, we give love. (p. 270)
    
  • Leaders give heart by visibly recognizing people’s contribution to the common vision. (p. 239)
    
  • Best leaders express pride in the accomplishments of their team members. (p. 239)
    
  • Leaders in their own way are cheerleaders with content and substance; they find ways to celebrate team accomplishments. (pp. 239, 271-272)
    
  • The leader is sustained with courage by staying in love: love of people who do the work, with what they produce, and with the customers they serve. (p. 239)
    
  • Successful leaders have high expectations, both of themselves and of their followers, a powerful force into which people fit their new reality. (p. 242)
    
  • Best leaders create social networks and support for people on their team and for their own personal worth-while-ness; such supporting networks will also serve the authentic needs for organization accomplishments. (p. 273)
    
• Trust as Emotional Strength Expressing Encouragement
  (from –Robert K. Cooper, The Other 90%: How to unlock Your Vast Untapped Potential for Leadership and Life, p.47)

Trust is an emotional strength that begins with a feeling of self-worth and purpose that we’re called to extend outward to others. The warm, solid gut feeling you get from trust— from counting on yourself and trusting and being trusted by others—is one of the great enablers of life. . . . We trust others when two crucial qualities are present in the relationship. First, we must feel that they understand us: that they know who we really are and what really matters to us. Second, we must feel that they care about us, and that they will weigh our true needs, interests, and concerns when they make decisions.

• Courage, Resolution and Steadiness as Attributions of Leadership
  (from John Gardner, On Leadership, pp.51-51) Ability to stay the course:

Clearly a leader needs courage—not just bravery of the moment but courage over time, not just willingness to risk, but to risk again and again, to function well under prolonged stress, to survive defeat and keep going. . . . “They never give up.” It is not possible to overstate the value of steadiness in leadership. Individuals and groups who wish to align themselves with a leader find it hard to do so if the leader shifts position erratically.

• Elements of Trust as Practices of Encouragement
  (from David W. Johnson, Researching Out, p. 85, 89; also see the glossary) of this college social psychology text:

• Trust: perception that a choice can lead to gains or losses, that whether you will gain or lose depends on the behavior of the other person, and that the person will likely behave so that you will gain rather than lose.
• Openness: sharing information, ideas, thoughts, feeling, and reactions to an issue.
• Sharing: offering your materials and resources to others to help them obtain their goals.
• Acceptance: the communication of high regard for another person and his contributions and statements to a joint effort.
• Support: communication that you recognize another person’s strengths and believe she is capable to handle a situation or task.
• Cooperative intentions: the expectation that you and the other person will help each other.
• Trustworthiness: expressing acceptance, support, and cooperative intentions.
  
• Components of Supportiveness that Build Trust
  (from Dale E. Zand, The Leadership Triad, p. 116)

“Effective leaders understand and employ three components of supportiveness that build trust: acceptance, tolerance for disagreement, and constructive use of people’s openness. People trust leaders who accept them as they are.

• Caring Leads to Moral Leadership
  (from Leonard O. Pellicer, Caring Enough to Lead (3rd Ed.)

  “It’s better to know some of the questions than all the answers.” That is Pellicer’s claim in the first chapter, followed by questions, such as: what is a leader? why should leaders care about caring? what do I care about? and, can I care enough to do the little things? Although his lessons were originally developed for teachers in the classroom, they have significant weight for those of us in the congregational ministry of Christ. Through questions, stories, good humor, and illustrations, Pellicer examines what it means to be an effective, caring leader who develops meaningful bonds with staff members to establish common core values. . . . [He] demonstrates the relationship between caring leadership and moral and ethical choices and expands on the power of caring leadership to transform schools.

4. Ministry Reflections, Practices, and Trust-Building Actions:

Encouragement most often takes place in small, continuous, and consistent ways. From a review of best practices discovered and reported by students of leadership, and from my own years of experience, observation, and misadventure, I want to share selected ministry practices that make a difference in a leadership that cares. You may also want to add to the collection, assess your practices, or plan your actions toward encouragement that builds trust.

___ Courage: Living your life with courage is an essential component of encouraging others. “Encourage their hearts.” There are times to be confident, brave, outspoken. It takes courage to be steadfast, to stand the test of time. “Be a believer” in the midst of the congregation and with team leaders. “With God’s help, we can do this together.”

___ Friendship: Develop and sustain friendship with members and co-workers; to make friends, you must be a friend by affirmation, by knowing names, likes, dislikes, hopes and hurts, what matters and what is just fun. Mutual friendship is based on trustworthiness, openness, trust, respect, and understanding.

___ Storytelling: Tell your own real stories, and listen to those of others. Through storytelling, you are showing mutual openness and interest; enjoying presence by listening, laughing and crying together; nurturing and passing on shared heritage; and learning the lessons of the past and current experiences.

___ Caring: Really care for people; stand alongside to comfort and console: to share, support, help in time of need. Look out for them and their best interest; guard against destructive confrontation and competition. Create a healthy atmosphere. Make the church-place a healing place in times of disappointment, struggles, and grief.

___ Hope: “Sustain hope” in the progress, direction, and future of the congregation. Hope is a state of being lived out in consistent acts. Keep hope alive even when things are not going well in the work of the congregation.

___ Inspiration: Inspire others, by example and practices, even when things are difficult. Serve others as a “cheerleader.” Be positive, optimistic and enthusiastic about mutual goals and tasks. Attempt the difficult task, claim the opportunity.

___ Challenge: “Exhortation” is one of the biblical meanings of encouragement. It involves instruction and vision, and call to action. Announce, “This is our time to discover new horizons, improved methods, enlarged resources, and new beginnings.”

___ Empowerment: Share mutual goals and efforts toward achievement. Involve others in decisions, efforts, responsibility, and accountability. Encourage creativity for others to achieve their goals; allow for risks and failures.

___ Team-building: Practice cooperative intentions: choose the right people for your team; be explicit about assignment and expectations; build enduring connections within the congregation. Casey Stengel is quoted: “It’s easy to get good players. Gettin’ ‘em to play together, that’s the hard part.” Also, encourage by reducing destructive confrontation or competition.

___ Recognition and reward: “Make heroes of other people.” Build a positive reward system including acceptance, appreciation, award, and celebration. Communicate a positive sense of achievement and well-being. Ellen Castro writes: “Build trust by honoring others--because it is the right thing to do as well as a sound business practice; it creates a greater sense of self-worth.” --from 52 Ways, p. 42

5. “Encouragement and Trust in the Workplace”

(Adapted from SkillTrack Volume 7.2: Trust-Building: The Leadership Essential, 2003 (pp 47-48), A Study Abstract by Lloyd Elder from the Electric Library: Public Personnel Management: “Trust in Employee/Employer Relationships: A Survey of West Michigan Managers.” The benefit of this abstract is to support the thesis that encouragement and support of other people is a key and integrated component of trust-building. Acts of encouragement have their own place in trust-building; but they are also like strands of fibers in the whole of a valued fabric. The survey reported here sought to measure the place of trust in employer/employee relationships.

Reflections and Lessons: When you read the full research survey, or even this abstract, you may readily concur that the elements of trust expected in the workplace should be that much more experienced within a congregation. As Christian ministers, let your reflection wander over spiritual and practical lessons, such as:

• We minister to constituents that live most of their waking hours in the workplace, such as those surveyed, or at least in comparable roles.
• A substantial understanding of expectations and values in the workplace could make more effective our ministry to people.
• The significant findings of this survey have many valuable applications to your congregation’s ministry, structure, and relationships.
• Making your own assessment may enhance your service to current members; also inform you of more authentic and effective ways to reach out to your community.
• The congregation must give attention to receiving new members, but should also consider the essentials of satisfaction and retention of the ones now in its family of faith.

Process and Findings: Now, let’s look at the process and the findings of this survey effort; I have added reflections along the ways. A survey instrument was sent to the vice president of Human Resources of 426 companies employing more than 50 employees in six contiguous Michigan counties. Of the 426 company officers, 376 received the instrument; 143 responded, representing a statistically significant return of 38.03%. Summary of survey results:

1. Trust is the essential ingredient, the core of all human relationships. It holds people together and gives them a feeling of security. Trust is a fragile thing; it is generally earned and grows at a painfully slow pace; but it can be destroyed in an instant.
2. Respondents view trust as a belief in the integrity, character, and ability of others (93.5%); followed by the perception that trust is a feeling of confidence and support shown (91.2%).
3. Four major factors breed trust or determine the level of trust in the workplace: (1) open communication (96.4%); (2) greater share in decision-making (90.4%); (3) sharing critical information (87.5%); and (4) true sharing of perceptions and feelings (85.4%).
4. Leadership is primarily responsible for building trust; it “trickles down” into the whole organization. If trust is misused by the leaders toward employees, it will also be by employees toward one another and toward administration.
5. Six main advantages of trust in the workplace are clearly discerned and strongly supported: (1) improved communication; (2) greater predictability, dependability, and confidence; (3) a reduction of turnover; (4) openness, willingness to accept criticism non-defensively; (5) repeat business; and (6) reduction of friction.
6. An organization's ineffectiveness is largely the result of distrust, losing out on the advantages listed above. However, a climate of trust (1) leads to more trust (96.3%); (2) brings credibility (96.2%); and (3) leads to effective decisions (91.8%).
7. The primary disadvantage of building a climate of trust is the fear of those in company management positions of losing managerial authority.
8. It may be surprising that trust is not a function of any one popular style of leadership or management; but there is a reciprocal relationship between communication and trust.
9. A basic formula may be crafted for Good/Lasting Relationships as GR=TXCXP: Good Relationships = Trust x Open Communications x Perception (of true feelings). If any one of the three factors is missing, the true result is zero (1x1x0=0), trust and its benefits are lost to the employees, management, and the organization.

For Your Reflection and Application: What are the major values of this survey to Christian ministers who want to know, understand, and respond to members in the congregation?

• To increase your understanding of the workplace of your members.
• To understand how your members may want to function within the congregation.
• To provide clues toward a congregational strategy for trust-building.
• To glean specific ways to nurture encouragement and support within the congregation.

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©2008 servantleaderstoday.com; hosted and copyrighted by Lloyd Elder & Associates, Inc.
For full citation of referenced works, see Bibliography/Links at www.servantleaderstoday.com
Adapted by Lloyd Elder, Th.D., Founding Director, Moench Center for Church Leadership