Five ways to encourage your Christian friends

Want to help your Christian friends in their walk with Christ? These ideas will help!

If you’re a Christian, you’re in a massive worldwide fellowship of believers, all working together to serve God and love each other.

Part of the joy of being in that fellowship is that you’ll get to make really close friends who share your beliefs! Having Christian friends is one of the most encouraging things for your faith.

So how can you be an encouraging friend? Here are five practical things you can try to encourage your Christian friends in their walks with Jesus. And here's an added bonus - all these things will encourage you, too!

Read the Bible with them

Reading the Bible is how we hear God speaking to us. It’s how we learn about what we believe and how to live out our faith. So what better way to encourage a friend than by opening God’s word with them?

Why not consider asking a friend to have a coffee or milkshake with you and ready a chapter of the Bible together. You could even make it a regular arrangement! Your friend will be so touched and encouraged by your offer to help them engage with God’s word and you’ll both grow in love and knowledge of God.

Pray for them

Praying for your friends is one of the most loving things you can do. When you pray for a friend, you’re talking to the creator of the universe about someone you love – that’s pretty special! Ask your friend what they’d like prayer for and pray for them regularly. God is faithful and he answers our prayers so your prayer for your friend could make a real difference in their life!

Write something to them

Sometimes when you’re too busy to catch up with a friend and see them in person, writing something to them is a wonderful way to encourage them. From a quick text to a long letter, written words can build up and bring joy to your friend.

Why not try texting a favourite Bible verse to a friend? Or emailing someone you haven’t seen in a while letting them know you miss them and are praying for them? Or maybe you could write a nice long letter to a faraway friend sharing what you’ve been learning at church recently.

Worship creatively with them

Worshipping God can come in many forms, so why not find something you and your friends love to do together and turn it into worship? If you and a friend are musical, spend an evening jamming together, playing your favourite songs from church and singing praises to God. If you both love art, you could practice your lettering and write out Bible verses to hang on your walls. Or if you love getting active, you could go for a run together and pray to God together as you look at the wonderful world he has created.

Evangelise with them

Many Christians struggle to find the words to say when they’re trying to share the gospel. So why not encourage your struggling evangelist friend by working together? Talk with your friend about which of your mutual friends you’d like to share the gospel with, and seek out opportunities to do so together. You’ll be able to help each other overcome mind blanks, debrief together and pray together for your non-Christian friends. Just make sure you aren’t too overbearing – you don’t want to gang up on an unsuspecting mate!

What are some ways you like to encourage your Christian friends?