CHAPLAIN CALLS FOR ENCOURAGEMENT

Chaplain’s Comment

Many years ago when I worked in a food manufacturing company, I remember being so fed up because all I seemed to do day in, day out was to crumb loaf after loaf of bread to make breadcrumbs. On one particular day the owner of the company walked past, stopped beside me and said what a great job I was doing and just made general chat. From those few seconds, my heart was lifted and I spent the rest of the day encouraged because the boss had stopped to encourage me. Encouragement is something that is severely lacking in our world, yet there is nothing more powerful in the entire world than words of encouragement at the right time in someone’s life.

I wonder have you ever been caught up in a riot that was started because someone preached the Gospel? In the second half of Acts 19, we read how Paul’s preaching caused such annoyance among people whose business was thriving because they sold silver shrines of the pagan god Artemes that they started a riot in order to discredit Paul and the Gospel. Imagine being a Christian in that town; I suspect morale was at an all time low. Then we read these words:

The bible has a lot to say about encouragement and being encouragers and how encouragement can enhance commitment and desire to keep going.

A team of researchers at the Auckland Institute of Technology, New Zealand, recently put the effects of ‘verbal encouragement’ under the microscope. Twenty people were recruited. For the experiment, they set down in the lab with their arms wired up to a ‘dynamometer’, a machine capable of measuring peak muscle force. After a warm up, subjects were asked to perform two sets of three maximal-effort contractions of the elbow flexor muscle. While doing one set, they were verbally encouraged; while doing the other there was a stony silence. The mean peak force recorded was 5% higher when the subjects were egged on. Other researchers have found similar effects in the past, and on analysis of results it seems there may be independent effects from the stimulus of a noise per se, how loud it is, and whether something encouraging is said. Back in the 1960’s researchers discovered that hypnotic suggestions for being stronger or weaker could influence an individual’s maximum strength by as much as 20-30%. Another study found that speaking louder had more effect.

This may not have much of a practical application for competitive situations, where all participants are surrounded by the same clamour. But for training, the message is that speaking up with plenty of encouragement will be received loud and clear – by the muscles as well as the brain.

As all of us who love Glenavon Football Club know only too well, results have not been going our way recently, and it’s amazing what a good performance and a win can do not only to a team’s confidence, but individual player’s confidence as well. As I have stood on the terraces of Mourneview this year, and more recently the away game to Lisburn Distillery, it was clear to see not only the lack of encouragement, but sometimes active personal hostility, did nothing only reinforce a lack of confidence. As was the case with my boss and the apostle Paul, they both initiated the encouragement which affected the performance. They did not wait to see the enhanced performance before the words of encouragement came and surely the former is the proper way round.

What I am getting at is this. The recent increase in performance of the entire Northern Ireland team is in no small part due to the fantastic support and encouragement of the Northern Ireland fans. They have taken the initiative and the results on the field of play speak for themselves. I believe that if that support and encouragement was given both home and away to our players, then it can only help this club reach the heights and the performances which all of us long to see.

So, I challenge all of us to try and initiate more words of encouragement from the terraces and I know the players would not only appreciate it but respond to it. Lets be encouragers and, as my dear Grandfather used to say, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

William Orr (Club Chaplain)

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