The sound was honestly louder than I anticipated it would be. 150 Ozark Christian College students milling about talking to each other. No one yelling or screaming. But the din of 75 “inside-voice” conversations can be surprisingly louder than you’d imagine.
It wasn’t aimless talk. It wasn’t gossip. It wasn’t politics.
Rather, it was intentional conversation between young people speaking words of life to one another.
The setting was OCC’s Formation in Scripture Retreat, where we were participating in a worship service centered on our identity in Christ.
And what exactly were these students doing? They were “Barnabassing” each other.
Barnabassing? Wait, what?! What on earth does that mean?
“Barnabas” was the nickname given to a man named Joseph (Acts 4.36) and means “Son of Encouragement”. We had asked the students to live out Paul’s command from 1 Thessalonians 5.11 to “encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”
And that’s exactly what they were doing: Walking around the room, saying the life-giving, Barnabas-type words to people that you don’t typically take the time to do. Maybe it’s someone you know well and have very specific words of encouragement to speak to them. Maybe it’s someone you only know in passing, but you see Jesus in them and want to let them know.
The room was full of happy tears and laughter and hugs as students expressed the Jesus they saw in one another. It was a beautiful time of worship, devoid of the distraction and negativity and constancy of the outside world.
Why do we so often miss these opportunities?
Is it because we’re too self-occupied?
Is it because we’re too easily distracted?
Is it because of the reality that the world is really good at tearing down rather than building up? Really good at critique and sarcasm and lies and slander and hurtful words and all the things that bring pain and insecurity and loss of identity, rather than lifting up?
For whatever reason, tearing down seems to come more naturally for many of us than does building up.
But what if we didn’t settle for that status quo? What if we tamed our tongues (James 3) to speak life-giving words to people we encounter?
Funny enough, it was a man who’s not even a Christian that spoke words of encouragement over me earlier this week. I thanked him for doing so. His response? “The power of life and death is in words. You can speak life over something or you can speak death over something. So often, we only speak up when we’re complaining. We need to speak up more when we’re ready to encourage.”
WOW! The man is a Barnabas-er and he doesn’t even know it!
So that’s my encouragement to all of us: In a dark world, bring light through the life-giving words of “Barnabassing”.
What does that look like?
It could be random, just as you encounter people throughout the day.
It could be the intentionality of a handwritten card or a text.
It could be a coffee meeting just to catch up during which you say, “Ya know, I’ve been meaning to tell you this….”
And why do we “Barnabas”?
Just to make people feel good about themselves? No.
Rather, there is a watching world in desperate need of hope. We are the bearers of that hope. We can choose to keep it inside or we can encourage. I know which option I’m going with.
So go, and be a “Barnabasser”!
Isaac Schade
Isaac Schade is a member of our Christ’s Church family, currently serving on staff at our Impact partner, Ozark Christian College. He is also married to Maggie Schade, who serves as our Community Impact Minister here at Christ’s Church.
Isaac is pictured here with his wife, Maggie, and children, Paxton and Poppy.
