Archive for the ‘Spiritual Gifts’ Category

Spiritual Gifts: A Key Component of Your Ministry Profile

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

Spiritual Gifts: Key Part of PuzzleYour God-given spiritual gifts are a key piece of the puzzle that makes up your ministry profile.  They help determine the direction and effect your ministry should take based on God’s special divine empowerments given for you to serve. 

Read the following Scripture and consider how a good understanding about spiritual gifts helps prevent you from pride and dysfunction in serving the Lord.

1 Cor. 12:7-11 – Spiritual gifts are given by and operative in our lives by the Holy Spirit and are not personal strengths … so don’t take credit for what God does.

Rom. 12:3, 6-9; Eph. 4:7 – Spiritual gifts are distributed according to grace, not merit … so avoid comparisons and competitions with others.

1 Cor. 12:4-7, 12-31; Rom. 12:4-5 – Spiritual gifts vary and are not all given to each person but God will bring unity out of such diversity …. so accept and appreciate one another’s contribution.

Resources to Help You Understand & Identify your Spiritual Gifts:

Online Training about Spiritual Gifts
Online Spiritual Gifts Test
Spiritual Gifts Materials Published by MinTools.com

Posted in Spiritual Gifts | No Comments »

Spiritual Gifts: A Fad or Ongoing Reality in the Church?

Monday, July 13th, 2009

I regularly check the statistics for the MinTools.com site.  What I have found through the years continues to hold true.  The primary keywords people use to find this site are some form of “spiritual gifts.”  Actually, the phrase “spiritual gifts test” is at the top and the online spiritual gifts test is the highest hit page on the site followed by the spiritual gifts list page.

I am glad to see the consistency in these stats because there for a while I was concerned that spiritual gifting had become just the latest church fad.  Key Christian leaders wrote books on it.  Web sites with content on spiritual gifting grew in number.  All that was good for a “shot in the arm” but God’s design for the growth of the Church is the ongoing emphasis and use of spiritual gifts wherein everybody does their part.

From the beginning, teaching on spiritual gifts has been a part of the MinTools.com site.  It is the hub around which the rest of the site has been built.  How can a site designed to equip believers for ministry not include a major emphasis on spiritual gifts?

What about in your church?  Is attention to spiritual gifting just a fad or sporadic teaching emphasis or is it an ongoing reality and priority?  There are  key factors to operating within the sphere of gifting that tend to be present if it is a part of a church’s culture.

Posted in Spiritual Gifts | 2 Comments »

A Place for Near All Spiritual Gifts in VBS

Friday, May 8th, 2009

Daily Vacation Bible School requires a lot of detailed preparation in the months leading up to it.  Then at the last minute comes a flurry of activity to set up and decorate.  During the VBS program, people enjoy a Bible lesson, games, snacks, crafts and perhaps a general assembly time which all require time to prepare.  Afterward comes clean-up and follow-up. 



IF EVERYBODY DID THEIR PART
      . . . VBS would be more effective.

One person, or even a handful of people, cannot do it alone if you want to experience an effective Daily Vacation Bible School. Learn to utilize people according to their spiritual gifting and see the difference it makes.
(Click on the name of the gift for a definition.)

  • Administration: This person could organize the event … recruiting, delegating responsibilities, choosing curriculum, promoting, scheduling, planning the most effective use of the facilities and church grounds, working with the budget, etc. If this person is the director of VBS, he/she would do well to co-direct with someone having the gift of leadership to help him/her think outside of the box, to see all Vacation Bible School could be. People with the gift of administration could also be ones to look for to coordinate specific aspects like crafts, games, snacks, etc.
     
  • Exhortation: This person could be a small group leader whose primary responsibility is discipling and helping people understand the lesson’s application. This person could also teach the Bible lesson or be involved in training staff.
     
  • Evangelism: This person could talk with any people who want to give their life to Christ during the program, maybe an invitation counselor, perhaps giving the Gospel presentation in the general assembly time or final program. This person would also be a good person to have on the follow-up team.
     
  • Faith: This person could pray for VBS before, during, and after the event.
     
  • Giving: This person could donate finances, craft materials, snacks, prizes, or other special needs.
     
  • Helps: This person could assist the VBS Director. This person could serve as a teacher’s helper or assist the coordinator of any aspect of the program like crafts, games and recreation, refreshments, etc.
     
  • Hospitality: This person could be at the reception desk registering students, welcoming people as they enter, or serving as a guide around the facilities.
     
  • Leadership: This person could be the VBS director. This person would do well to co-direct with someone having the spiritual gift of administration to help them deal with all the details involved in executing his/her ideas.
     
  • Mercy: This person could serve on the medical response team to handle any injuries.
     
  • Pastor: This person could be the person to come along side and care for the spiritual needs of the VBS staff.
     
  • Service: This person could do set-up, decorating, serve snacks, craft preparation, make visual aids, clean-up, and so many other tasks that need to be done before and during Vacation Bible School.
     
  • Teaching: This person could present the Bible lesson. This person could also be someone who trains the VBS staff.
     
  • Wisdom: This person could help with budgeting to see practical application of stewardship principles in best utilizing the funding available for the VBS program.

If the Director of VBS does not learn to delegate to a broad base, it could result in:   1) ineffectiveness as certain tasks either don’t get done or aren’t done well,  2) burnout of the faithful few,  and 3) lack of good follow-up because the few are too exhausted once Vacation Bible School is over.

Posted in Spiritual Gifts, VBS | No Comments »

Let’s Get Practical … About Spiritual Gifts

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

I recently received an e-mail from someone whose S.S. class was learning about spiritual gifts but wanted to help people see how to use their spiritual gifts within their church body.  

I really believe there is no substitute for taking the time to tailor it to your particular church setting.  You need to look at your particular ministries, the tasks required to do those ministries, and then determine which gifts are needed to accomplish those tasks.  To do that you must be able to define the different spiritual gifts and then discern what gifts are used in the different ministry areas.  

In reflecting on practical ways to help people see how to use their spiritual gifts within their church body, I thought about the Everybody Has a Part Curriculum, which is part of the MAX Pak.  It concludes with a lesson suggesting  that you end with what is often called a ministry fair wherein you set up displays or booths for each of the major ministry areas of the church, with the ministry head on hand to answer questions.  Students walk around to gain more information on the different ministries, talk one-on-one with the leaders, set up times to observe the ministry in action, etc. 

In addition to possibly having a ministry fair, here are ideas I shared in responding to the e-mail:

  • Make up a booklet of your church’s ministries and list the gifts that are most used within those ministries.  Get as practical as you can in laying out ministry descriptions and the process for getting involved in those ministries.
  • Have the ministry leaders from the different areas prepare for a session to share how people with the various gifts can be used in their ministries.  You could ask them to take ‘x’ amount of minutes to share with the whole group or you could have people go to only the one(s) that best fit their gifts.
  • Plan for testimonials from people with the different gifts to share how God has used them specifically because of their giftedness.
  • Set up one-on-one consultations with class members to discuss possibilities.

These are just a few ideas that have been effective in some churches.  What else has been helpful?

Posted in Spiritual Gifts | No Comments »