Ministry of Exhortation
A practical application via small things around us

Written: 16 April 2006
Disclaimer: I haven't do thorough editing process for this article. Thus grammatical, structural or spelling errors are expected...

1. Definition

The term `exhortation' is usually interpreted as pure `advising'. However, the meaning of exhortation extends beyond that. Let's take a look at several translations: In Greek, the term `exhortation' is called `parakaleo' (comforter), a similar word with the Holy Spirit: a comforter. In Indonesian, the term is called `menasihati' (to advise). In English, the term can be translated to `encourage' or `advise'. To be precise, I will adopt the definition of `exhortation' as in dictionary.com, especially the 2nd definition:

1. The act or an instance of exhorting.
2. A speech or discourse that encourages, incites, or earnestly advises.

Therefore, the `ministry of exhortation' is defined as a ministry for encouraging, inciting, or earnestly advising fellow believers, to point him / her back to Jesus Christ. It is not merely `teaching', not just showing the other believers what they must do, but also to help them to do it.

2. Scope of this writing

Exhortation is mentioned many times across the New Testament, from Jesus's words and especially from Apostle Paul's in his letters. The discussion about this subject can be very broad, and therefore I should set certain constraints for this writing:

1. First constraint is that the object of this ministry is fellow believers only, as it is difficult (even though not impossible) to exhort non-believers using biblical statements, e.g. ``God will make a way'' to a desperate non-believer who is unable to see a way out of his / her problems, ``God will never leave nor forsake you'' to a broken-hearted non-believer who has just been dumped by his / her girlfriend, etc.

2. The second constraint is that in this writing, I will only discuss how to practically conduct this kind of ministry in our life. Another angle of discussion can be found in [2].

3. It is true and it is very logical that before one is able to conduct ministry of exhortation, a form of ministry of listening (or observation) should be done first. How to exhort others if you don't know their struggles or don't see their shortcomings. Thus, the third constraint is that I assume you already have the ability to listen or observe other's needs or shortcomings.

3. Benefits and Difficulties

In Romans 12:8, Apostle Paul, the one who popularized this ministry, encouraged that those who has the gift of exhortation to exercise it with humility. The benefit of ministry of exhortation is simply this: That Christian living will be much better and will be a good testimony for others if we express our love to one another via this ministry.

However, when I ponder this verse, I realized that it is not easy to conduct this ministry.

When you are exhorting, you may run into these difficulties:

1. Giving `too much' advice will make you disliked by people you advise as the effect of exhortation will diminish over time if repeated too often (make him / her either faint-hearted or hard-hearted to your advise).

2. Giving `wrong' advice may end up hurting those whom you want to exhort. In fact, anyone who is being advised will get a sense of `discomfort' as that people need to change (this seems to be a 'contradiction', as exhortation is meant to be comforting, but this happens).

3. Giving `wrong' encouragement can actually discourage rather than encourage.

Ministry of exhortation also carries danger to the exhorter himself / herself. The dangers include:

1. Self Pride (exhortation can be misused for getting noticed, i.e. the hidden agenda),

2. Hypocrisy (you don't practice what you preach),

3. Imbalance (only advising without comforting or vice versa).

Such difficult ministry can only be done when the exhorter himself / herself are in good shape, i.e. good personal relationship with God. Moreover, the exhorter himself / herself, as a human, will be unable to perform it at all time as he / she will one day need to be exhorted too.

4. Learning from Apostle Paul

Knowing these difficulties, I spent some time to conduct simple research on how to conduct this ministry in a practical manner. I studied the way apostle Paul conduct this ministry via his letters. And these are what I learnt:

1. Paul actually listened (heard) or observed the condition of the churches addressed in his letters.

2. He praised what is to be praised in that particular congregation,

3. But he also encourages congregation while in hardship (e.g. persecutions) and pinpoint errors to direct the congregation towards a better condition.

4. Paul wrote very carefully. He usually write safe statements, e.g. in forms of: if A then do this, else if not A then do that. For those who are not familiar with mathematical logic: the union of {A} and {Not A} is basically the whole possibilities. Thus such kind of statements are safe statements.

5. He exhort congregation with wisdom, by speaking the right thing, at the right moment, with the right motive. While we may not have the privilege to attain his level of wisdom, this indirectly imply that ministry of exhortation should be done carefully.

6. He exhort using encouraging biblical verses (God's Word), or his own encouraging statements which are biblical.

5. Practical Tools

However, we are not apostle Paul and I know that not everyone has the gift of exhortation. However, by learning Paul's ways, I suggest several things that many of us can use to take part in this ministry:

1. Biblical Verses

God's Word carries a lot of power. Therefore, it is very good if you can remember important verses that you can call to mind to exhort yourself (or others) at certain situations, e.g.:
 

2. Encouraging Songs

Research shows that human soul can be soothed using appropriate songs. Christian songs basically can be classified as praise & worship songs, which more to vertical side and songs `to encourage us', more to comfort or strengthen the faith of us, believers. What I meant in this case is the Christian songs `for encouraging believers', e.g.:
 

3. Short Messages

Simple biblical messages (even though not biblical verses), which can be communicated via direct speech, sms, msn, etc, can surprisingly be an effective tool to exhort others... e.g.:
 

6. What's Next?

Now after all have been said, I exhort you, the reader of this page, to try practicing this ministry of exhortation to your friends, families, relatives, cell group members, perhaps to missionaries that you know too, etc. Either by using some tools that I've listed above or use your own style.

Get ready, as you will never know when you will be required to this ministry. For me, I will read the Bible more thoroughly and remember more verses, listen to more encouraging songs, and write more encouraging messages...

May God give you wisdom as you speak to exhort others... I believe that Christian living will be much better and will be a good testimony for others if we express our love to one another via this ministry =).

BTB

7. Disclaimer Again...

I am still learning and will continue learning how to apply this ministry effectively to serve my brothers and sisters in Christ. :)

References

1. NIV Study Bible
2. http://www.consideringchrist.org/page271.html