Encourage-[en-kur-ij] to inspire with courage, spirit, or confidence.
The enCourage Blog is weekly dose of encouragement in a world that is often filled with bad news. We offer life-giving entries each Monday and Thursday written by gifted women from across our denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). You can subscribe below to have them delivered to your inbox. With hundreds of blog pieces, you can search on a variety of topics in the search bar above to read and share with friends. Christina Fox, a gifted author, serves as our enCourage General Editor. If you are interested in submitting a piece, you can contact her at cfox@pcanet.org.
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Welcoming Others with Gospel Hospitality
BETHANY BELUE | CONTRIBUTOR When I was in my twenties, I was mentored by a woman in the church where I was on staff. What began as a babysitting job turned into a lasting friendship. She was a mom of three small children with a husband who worked long hours. Often, our conversations occurred during dinner and bath time with small children, while folding laundry, or during a walk to pick up a child from an activity. While I met with her regularly for prayer and counsel, receiving much wisdom from her, I mostly remember how she welcomed me into her home and her life. She likely thought that those moments together were loud and messy, while in my heart, I felt seen and welcomed into the mess with her. She showed me (and continues to show me) gospel hospitality. The Greatest Commandment One of the most well-known passages in the Bible is found in Mark 12:30-31: “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” This command speaks two important truths: love the Lord first and love others as yourself. As believers, we are called to not only love the Lord but to love others around us. A very specific way we can do this is by showing hospitality. The Challenge of Gospel Hospitality When we hear the word “hospitality,” we may think only of inviting people into our home. The thought of doing so may create a feeling of panic deep within us as we think about cleaning the house or fixing an elaborate meal. Hospitality can feel risky as we think about letting strangers and even friends in our homes and our lives. But gospel hospitality says nothing about a clean house or fancy meals. In fact, nothing about the gospel is fancy or flashy. The gospel is good news. It is the message of Jesus loving us enough to leave the glory of Heaven and die on the cross for our sins. Everything about this act of Jesus was messy and sacrificial. The gospel says, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Living a gospel-centered life puts others first and gives us the opportunity to show our love to friends, neighbors, and strangers...
The Surprising Relevance of Haggai and Malachi
CHRISTINE GORDON | CONTRIBUTOR Most believers I know don’t regularly quote from Haggai or hang verses from Malachi on their bathroom mirror to be memorized while brushing their teeth. And yet these books sit in the Bible just like Romans or Genesis, important enough to claim a spot in God’s Word. I read through them last year in my annual whirlwind tour of the Bible. And honestly, I didn’t understand much more about them when I was finished reading than I did before I started. With phrases like, “Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel” and “I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated,” these books seemed a little bit like fossils I didn’t have the tools to excavate. But then I began to study them. Turns out, they’re relevant. Wrong Priorities Once I got past the strange names and read some explanation of their context, I found myself relating to God’s people in these books. In Haggai, the people of Judah had gotten their priorities messed up. God called them to rebuild His house, but they were too caught up in their own personal house beautification projects to build the temple. It took God calling out their sin to get their attention. They knew what they were supposed to be doing but were apathetic/too busy/preoccupied. God named their failure. But instead of leaving them in shame, He then promised to be with them as they worked. He stirred their spirits, rousing them to obedience. God’s people built His temple and again had the privilege of coming close to the “God of angel armies” as He’s frequently called in Haggai. We haven’t been called to build God’s physical temple. Instead of needing a building to be near God, God has come near to us in the person of Jesus. By His Spirit, we enjoy His constant presence. But we have been called to build His kingdom so that others might also know His presence and worship Him. We know this, but struggle to put God’s kingdom first. Between children’s doctor appointments, Amazon returns, and work responsibilities, it’s easy for us to have our priorities mixed up like the people of Haggai’s day. The kingdom of God sometimes becomes something we set to the side. We put off the things of God until we feel more settled in all the other parts of life. Giving financially, discipling others, and serving the body of Christ in other ways all take time and planning. We often give that time and attention to other things. We prioritize our own desires and decide we’ll get to God’s kingdom later. We get distracted by all kinds of things – even good things. Weeks or months can pass before we realize God’s kingdom and His call to invest in it has been put aside. But God doesn’t put His people aside....
Why Attend Leadership Training
CATHE CLEVELAND|GUEST If you serve in women's ministry, you may or may not know about the PCA's annual Women's Ministry Leadership Conference, what many affectionately call, "LT." It is not hyperbole to say that the PCA has led the way in providing focused training and resources for women’s ministry and for women who serve in any type of leadership role. You may not know what LT is all about and why you should attend. You might think your role in your ministry isn't significant enough to merit attending or perhaps your ministry is chugging along just fine, and you doubt you'll benefit from it. Or maybe you think you'll be the only one there whose ministry has struggled just to get off the ground. Whatever the state of your ministry, there are important things you can gain from LT as a leader in women's ministry. My favorite definition of a leader is: a person who influences people to accomplish a purpose. There are three parts to this definition: the person leading, the people they lead, and the purpose they accomplish. The action in this definition is to influence. Even if you have a grand purpose, you are not a leader if you have no people you are influencing. If you have the wrong destination in mind, you might have some great relationships, and maybe even conduct some wonderful events, but you are not really leading anyone to a place they should be. There are situations such as the military or law enforcement, where leaders legitimately use some level of authority or force to compel other people to accomplish some purpose even if they would not want to otherwise. But effective ministry leaders influence others to develop proper motivation so that they desire to work towards accomplishing the purpose together....
When a Holding Pattern is Your Homework Assignment
LAURA PATTERSON | GUEST Three years ago, I found myself in a holding pattern over the city of Nashville. Only minutes after the pilot instructed the cabin and crew to prepare for descent, the plan seemed to change. I realized over the next 30 minutes, with no announcement from the cockpit, that we were not landing after all. Instead, we were circling the Nashville airport in a racetrack pattern, suspended at 30,000 feet. For someone with anxious tendencies, combined with the fact that I was traveling alone, I began to feel unsettled. I focused on deep breathing and tried to distract myself. But I knew something was wrong—why weren’t we landing at our intended destination? Perhaps the experience of a holding pattern feels familiar as you settle into the realities of a new school or ministry year. You bought tickets to an intended destination, packed your bags appropriately, and now that you are in the air, you are confronted with the fact that you are not actually in control. Unknown Flight Path As far as I can recall, every past school and ministry year has brought with it a new or ongoing holding pattern. It’s like a spiritual homework assignment set on repeat. And, as a new year of learning and growing is now underway, I find myself wondering how this journey will go...
Clay Like Calling: God’s Glory in Our Weakness
KAREN HODGE | CONTRIBUTOR We stand on the precipice of a new ministry year. Let's gather the team, formulate a stellar plan, whip out a shiny brochure, and rally the women! And while we're at it, let's try to make it bigger, faster, or shinier than last year. Been there and tried that strategy. “Shiny Plan” seems like a bulletproof proposal in September, but by October, cracks began to form in our well-formulated plan. CRACK… You try to recruit women to execute this shiny plan and find that many of them are just "too busy" to participate. CHIP… You put the Women's Connect Event in the bulletin, announce it from the front, send an email, and then wonder why more women didn't show up when you are cleaning up. CRUMBLE…. After teaching a Bible study you spent hours preparing and then receive stinging criticism in the hallway, you hastily vow you will never teach again! SHATTER…. Although you meant to send the shiny plan to the Session ahead of printing the brochures, upon reading it, they suggest that you scale things back to avoid draining the church's resources....
When You Are Feeling Stuck
MEGAN JUNG | GUEST Dead end roads and flat tires. Tired of an age-old habit. Waiting on that person or that thing. Immobilized by fear. Weary of pain. While feeling stuck is a normal and inevitable part of life, it is frustrating, at best. "Stuckness" comes when something holds us down, back, or away from the thing we need or want. Our minds, another person, our bodies, circumstances, sin, the environment, perception, our stories—we live with countless hindrances, harnesses, and hurdles. When we are stuck, we long for freedom. Freedom comes when the harness loosens, the chains fall off, and we cut ties with the weight dragging behind us. We are freed from something and unto another thing. What do you think when you consider the word “freedom”? It can be a word fraught with associations and emotions: ache, entitlement, fear, patriotism, gratitude, grief, and more. How can we face our “stuckness” and experience freedom in light of what Christ has done? We start with freedom in Christ, which informs freedom’s function in the rest of life. Freedom in Christ frees us from, frees us to, and frees us unto....
