Corporate Worship Series: Encouragement

Posted by Jimi Williams on Feb 7, 2011 | 3 comments

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When we think of corporate worship, things like singing, clapping and lifting hands come to mind. But did you know that encouragement is one of the most important elements of corporate worship?

In the first century church, things were a bit different than our culture today. Christians were under intense persecution. As Jews were accepting Christ as Savior, they were being alienated from their families, fired from their jobs and afraid for their lives. As new believers huddled together in house churches, I would expect encouragement to be one of the things desired most.

Today, the church in America is not under persecution. We don’t have to fear losing our jobs because of our faith, but the need for encouragement has never been greater. In a culture that rates us against one another and points out all our deficiencies, it is easy to become discouraged.

Unfortunately, discouragement and not encouragement comes from within the church as well. And what we desire and need desperately from one other is lacking. An encouraging word from a brother or sister in Christ is like water to the soul. A few weeks ago, someone at the Bridge came up to me after the worship gathering and thanked me for speaking with him the previous week. I barely remembered it, but it made a big difference in his life. He was feeling discouraged and our short conversation really encouraged him.

When we encourage one another, we not only build each other up, but we please the heart of God. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, “encourage one another and build each other up”. Let us make the house of God a place of healing for the hurting! The world does a good job at tearing us down. Let’s be counter-cultural and build one another up.

Jimi Williams
Worship Pastor, The Bridge