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Sharing an encouraging bible verse with thought and love can be a great blessing to others in our lives. There are so many ways you could do this: in a card, via email or messenger, in person, in song…
Spend some time with your chosen verse asking God to show you what it meant for it’s original hearers and what it means for you and those you are in relationship with. Listen for promptings from the Spirit of God as to who might be really blessed by your sharing of that verse.

I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God."

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Not everyone finds it easy to start a conversation about God and faith with people -it’s much easier to talk about the weather. But for the purposes of this activity you can say you have to do some research for your studies!
Use your phone to text, speak or video call to start the conversastion. Or, if possible, why not arrange to meet in person and do something active together too?

Research and collect a range of artwork and images depicting Jesus from different times and cultures.

Pinterest is great a platform for finding, organising and sharing collections. Once you have an account you can start ‘pinning’ images, quotes and ideas from a huge repository saved from webpages. You can make your collections public or private and you can save images from anything you find on the internet.

Read or listen and respond to Philippians 2:5-11.

Endurance racer Robyn Benincasa said “You don’t inspire others by showing them how amazing you are. You inspire them by showing them how amazing they are.” If we know others believe in our skills and abilities we are far more likely to use them and grow in them. 

There are many ways we can be encouraging to others, with words and actions. Focus on noticing, praising and thanking the efforts and achievements of others however small. Encouragement can be a simple as a smile or as costly giving someone your undivided time and attention. 

Try it for a day -or a week…

It’s so important to create a culture in your groups where it is ok (and normal) to make mistakes. As you focus on being merciful to others you can also model this by admitting your mistakes, and being generous and gentle when things don’t go perfectly. Try it for a day -or a week…