Having the right ministry focus & equipping involves many factors that all must be done in the power of God to His glory out of love for Him and people.
Your 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.
Spiritual Gifts Empower You For Ministry So They Must be a Key Component in Ministry
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:
Your walk with God is central to effectively serving the Lord. It is a most integral piece of the puzzle that makes up your ministry profile as it motivates you and helps to keep you on track.
What the Bible Teaches About Your Walk with God
Read the following Scripture about walking with God and consider how it helps you in ministry:
2 Cor. 5:7 – Walking by faith enables you to think big, to step outside of the box and take risks.
Gal. 5:16-26 – Walking in the Spirit helps you keep in step with God rather than operating out of the flesh and yields the kind of heart qualities that will help you maintain the right kind of attitudes, determination, and relational integrity needed in ministry.
Eph. 4:1-7 – Walking worthy of the calling you received leads to the kind of humility and oneness needed in ministry as you realize grace levels the plain.
Eph. 5:1-2; 2 Jn. 1:6 – Walking in love exemplifies a sacrificial spirit as seen in our Lord Jesus, making you willing to go beyond simply what is “expected” of you.
1 Jn. 1:5-2:2 – Walking in His light generates a life of integrity and authenticity that people look for in Christian leaders, teachers, and ministry workers.
1 Jn. 2:3-6 – Walking as Jesus walked provides a pattern and a standard to follow.
3 Jn. 1:3-4; Ps. 86:11 – Walking in truth keeps you faithful to Him and not pulled in every direction, feeling the need to please people or follow the latest fad.
If you want to connect with and motivate people, you must tap into their needs and what interests them. A good starting point is to look at their age developmental characteristics. You can make even well-known stories and truths relevant.
Example of How to Make Well-Known Truths Relevant Using the Christmas Story
(Click to check out children’s nativities in our affiliate store.)
In adding nativity sets to the children’s ministry section on the Christmas Ministry Resources page from our affiliate stores, I found quite a variety — fabric, finger puppet, stickers, magnetic, puppet glove, plastic/PVC, soft and squeezable, vinyl clings, and wooden. I wanted to include nativities that could be used in children’s classes, or in the home, that would serve not just as touchable decorations but also visual aids or learning tools.
If I were to look for nativity sets for adults, I would add resin, glass, ceramic, metal, porcelain, along with possibly other kinds of materials.
Just like you will find some nativity sets constructed more suitably for toddlers, some for older children, and others for adults, so we must consider how to communicate in relevant ways to the different age levels.
Think about people’s developmental needs as we approach the holiday season. How can you present this Jesus in the manger in ways that are relevant to them?
1) Early Childhood: They need a sense of security as they look to people to care for their needs while beginning to exert a degree of independence and initiative.
Present to them this Jesus who came to earth as a baby, loved by God, and who grew up gaining favor with God and man and showed others love. If they feel His unconditional love they will learn to open their hearts to Him.
2) Grade School: They need a sense of success or competence in this industrious age level marked by curiosity, skill development, and performance.
Present to them this Jesus who came to earth as a baby but who grew in wisdom and did many wonderful things, the best of which was salvation. If they study His life through His Word, they will become equipped to do good in life, to reach their potential in Him through His power.
3) Junior High: They need a sense of stability in this period of uncertainty with all the changes going on within them.
Present to them this Jesus who came to earth through a most peculiar set of circumstances and was not always understood as He grew and did the Father’s will. He kept doing the Father’s will regardless of how hard it was and how He felt. If they learn to trust Him, He will help them navigate this turbulent time.
4) Senior High: They need a sense of identity as they transition into adulthood.
Present to them this Jesus who came to earth as a little baby though fully aware He was God. As He grew, He did not let ego or peer direct His decisions but the Father. If they discover who they are in Him, they will come to realize that it isn’t about what others think of them but what God thinks.
5) Young Adults: They need a sense of belonging and intimacy as they build relationships and learn to cope in a big world.
Present to them this Jesus who came to earth because God so loved the world and wanted to reconcile people to Himself. Jesus knew His purpose, sought to accomplish His goals, yet remembered the people around Him and built relationships with them. If they keep a relationship with Him their top priority, others pursuits will fall into place.
6) Middle Aged Adults: They need a sense of purpose as they begin to wonder if their life is really making a difference.
Present to them this Jesus who came to earth, with humble beginnings in the manger but didn’t stay there. Rather, He went on to make a difference. If they line up with Him, they too will live abundant and productive lives to the very end.
7) Senior Aged Adults: They need a sense of satisfaction and contentment, of fulfillment, with their lives, that they are leaving a legacy.
Present to them this Jesus who came to this earth to make a difference and so for the joy set before Him endured the cross, did not revile when reviled, but rather offered love and forgiveness. If they continue to walk in Him, they too will live a life of integrity that others can look to as a role model. If they have failed to walk faithfully, they can receive grace and forgiveness even now with Jesus’ challenge to “Go and sin no more.”
You can run any truth through these age level needs to increase relevancy. If you don’t think too much about the difference these factors play in your students’ understanding and motivation, perhaps the Age Level Characteristics Resource from Ministry Tools Resource Center would be useful to you.
I’ve already started a teacher training session with a circle response activity wherein I asked everyone to communicate in one word or noise how they felt about teaching. Replies ranged from “ugh” to excited. What I discovered is that responses often stemmed out of one of the following:
1) how they were gifted
2) how they were recruited
3) how they perceived God would use them
How They Were Gifted: If a person did not have the gift of teaching, exhortation, prophecy, or perhaps pastor, they tended to feel insecure, afraid of failing, and frustrated. However, those who had these gifts, especially the gift of teaching, tended to find themselves with a renewable energy that converted into an excitement and passion about teaching.
How They Were Recruited: If arm-twisted into teaching or made to feel guilty if they didn’t, more times than not, even if spiritually gifted to teach, they tended to lack enthusiasm and even begrudged the time they had to invest into teaching. If nabbed in the parking lot, they tended to have a low view of their role. However, those who were approached in a serious manner and were given time to pray about their decision, tended to perceive teaching with more of a priority and sense of purpose. They tended to be more enthused and willing to invest time and effort into it.
How They Perceived God Would Use Them: If just doing their time with hopes something good might come out of it, they tended to display some apathy, having a spiritual lethargy. However, if they truly believed that God would use them to make a difference in people’s lives, trusting God to not let His Word return void (Isa. 55:11), they tended to find joy and have a sense of anticipation every time they entered the classroom.
The PowerPoint Presentation, Rediscovering the Joy of Teaching, addresses this point, showing how JOY comes through an anticipation of what Jesus will do through you as you invest into other people’s lives, keeping a proper perspective of your place and purpose in teaching.
If the needle on the gauge of your feelings toward teaching is pointing more toward “ugh” rather than excitement, perhaps this resource is for you. It can be used by individual teachers or in a group. You do not need to have the PowerPoint program on your computer if you download Microsoft’s free viewer.
What Do We Do About these Feelings about Teaching?
For those of you who are in leadership, remember these points as you recruit. Look for people who are spiritually gifted to teach. Take great care in the way you recruit people that you are communicating the importance of the task. And, be sure to emphasize the ultimate purpose and potential of them teaching.
For those of you being sought after to teach, look for your best fit in ministry based on your spiritual gifts. Do not let someone pressure you into teaching without spending time in prayer. Know if it is something GOD wants you to do. If it is, depend on Him to use you to make a difference in people’s lives.
For those of you already teaching who do not feel very good about it, trust God to work through you, even if teaching is not your best fit or if you are not doing it for the right reasons because of how you were recruited. Work toward a better fit in ministry when the time is right. It is about God’s will and timing, which could be a temporary placement in teaching.
For those of you already teaching who do feel good about it, praise the Lord yet be careful. Stay alert, standing firm in the Lord and His mighty power. The enemy is like a roaring lion looking for those he can devour. All that he must do is to rob you of your joy to render you less effective.
Our walk with God is a critical component of ministry. It’s at the core of serving. If we struggle in our walk, our ministry will not reach its potential effectiveness.
When Our Walk with God is at the Core of Serving
Our walk with God refers to more than what we do. It also involves our hearts. To love the Lord and then to love others (Matt. 22:36-40) tops God’s priorities. Everything else we do pales next to that.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. (1 Cor. 13:1-3)
The use of our spiritual gifts needs to flow out of our love relationship and walk with Him for apart from Him, we can do nothing (Jn. 15:5). Jesus spoke those words in the context of abiding in Him.
Because Walking with God is a Core Component of Serving, Nurture Your Walk
As a site about equipping believers for ministry, it’s important to not only deal with spiritual gifts and ministry areas and issues but also to emphasize our walk with God. To this end, you’ll find resources on various aspects of our walk with Him. And, you can benefit from the Walk the Walk Devotional series.
Walk the Walk Devotionals Download Bundle
The first Walk devotional I wrote extends the invitation, Let’s Walk the Walk, giving a more general presentation of what it is to walk the walk.
Walk in Wisdom let’s us know that we do need to be careful, discerning, and alert as we walk with Him through life.
And, Walk Even When It Hurts reminds us that God provides what we need to keeping walking even when life is hard.
Are you nurturing your walk with God? To maintain life and energy in serving and not just get the job done … to be spiritually effective and not just productive …. you must guard your walk with Him!
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.
Spiritual Gifts Need to be an Ongoing Reality in the Church
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? (Click image to learn about downloadable spiritual gifts curriculum and resources.)
What’s the Emphasis on Spiritual Gifting in Your Church?
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, one of which is that you consistently recruit based on spiritual gifts.
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