Many churches have classes about spiritual gifting to help people understand the special divine empowerments God provides to enable them to effectively serve. It’s particularly good when that teaching gets beyond providing definitions to showing the bigger picture of how everybody has a part in the health and growth of the Body (Eph. 4:16).
Looking for a lesson plan to do that? Check out the Everybody Has a Part Curriculum.
We do even better when we help people identify the spiritual gifts they’ve been given. That can be done as part of a class or through other discipleship and/or mentoring efforts.
Looking for a spiritual gifts test?
Get Beyond Defining and Labeling Spiritual Gifts to Actually Using Them
Knowing about spiritual gifting and being able to label our gifts is good but it isn’t enough. As a church, we need to plug people into ministry in ways that line up with the spiritual gifts God has given them.
Begin by knowing what spiritual gifts best suit the ministries in your church.
- Need help with that? Check out the Ministry Handbook: Spiritual Gifts in Use Resource.
Strategically plan ways to communicate gifting needed for the various ministries and recruit accordingly.
- Include spiritual gifts most suitable as part of a ministry description, particularly useful when recruiting.
- Occasionally hold ministry fairs, distribute handouts with this information, and use any other means of communication.
- Take time for personal consults to help people find their best fit in ministry.
Be intentional in following up with people.
- Confirm that the person is gifted in accordance with test results and serving in a place that truly fits.
We’ll take this time and effort when we grasp God’s design for the Body and His intent for everybody to do their part. It can no longer simply be about filling positions but rather an ongoing emphasis, and even expectation, of serving in accordance with the way God has gifted us. That takes a culture shift.