Spiritual Gifts: Aligning Ministry and People Source: Bruce Bugbee John.chandler@vbmb.org

Putting the Pieces Together The 3 key components for individuals to move toward gift-driven ministry: 1. Passion 2. Spiritual Gifts 3. Personal Style

1. Passion What do you think of when you hear these names … James Dobson Billy Graham Mother Teresa Colonel Sanders

Passion What wakes you up & pumps your heart? The God-given desire to make a difference via a particular ministry

Some Questions to Discern Passion 1. At the end of your life, where would you want to know you’ve made a difference? 2. What conversation would keep you talking late-night? 3. What would you most like to do for others? 4. What piece of God’s heart has he put into your heart? “What are you doing what others can do while leaving undone that which only you can do?” Take 30 seconds to answer this ….

2. Spiritual Gifts Passion answers the question, “Where should I serve?” Spiritual Gift answers, “What should I do?” Spiritual gifts are the “grace-ability” to do something

Spiritual Gifts are: “Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received.” 1 Peter 4:10 Divine enablement to every believer according to God’s grace For purposes of servanthood For the common good of the body of Christ NT “you” is plural

Spiritual Gifts The “operating system” for grace-full and Spirit-empowered local churches The alternative: operating “in the flesh” Which results in the duck running and squirrel swimming

A Word about lists of gifts No two lists are alike Don’t let disagreement about whether something particular is or is not a spiritual gift cause you to throw the baby out with the bath water

3. Personal Style Our preferred way of relating to ideas, people, and the world around us

The Way You’re Wired Exercise: 1. Write your name. 2. Now write it with the other hand. Can be done either way, but it sure is easier one way

a). How are you energized? My preferences: Focus on goals or relationships? Advancing a cause or creating community Higher value on action or communication? Task accomplishment or people interaction?

b). How are you organized? I prefer … Specific guidelines or general? Settling things now or leaving options open? Following a set plan or working it out as I go? A structured or unstructured approach?

Bottom line … Passion (ie. Children) + Spiritual Gifts (ie. Teaching) + Personal Style (relational) = “What God wants me to do” (Therefore: “God wants me to develop relationships with children through a teacher-student relationship”)

How the Gifts are Used 1. “Serving” – where a gift directly impacts the recipient 2. “Equipping” – where the gift indirectly impacts the recipient because it primarily builds the server Name examples of each …

Equippers and Servers We are primarily one or the other When equippers equip servers to serve, the body of Christ becomes unified, Christ-like, full of grace/truth

Uh-oh! What happens when a “server” is put in the role of an equipper? They do too much of the work, there’s no training, work is constricted What happens when an “equipper” is put in the role of a server? Frustration, tension in relationships, underperformance in ministry, premature departures

Equippers Servers 1. Develop others to serve 2. Fulfilled when they see God use someone else meet a need 3. Passionate about getting everyone involved in serving 4. Work themselves out of a job 1. Serve others themselves 2. Fulfilled when they personally meet need 3. Passionate about doing gifts themselves 4. May leave a hole when they leave this role

Putting the Gifts Together How do we help people get in the right positions to exercise their spiritual gifts? C.A.R.E. Calling Assimilating Retaining Exiting

Calling How do we invite people to come aboard a ministry? Vision: what is the preferable future this ministry trying to accomplish? Is the nursery baby-sitting, or a table-setter for people to experience the church as a caring community?

Then: Identification and Invitation Do you have ministry position descriptions and a list of jobs that need to be done? What is your process for helping people to come aboard? What’s the difference between: Recruiting Invitation? We don’t want volunteers in the church; we want a people called!

Assimilating How do you build your team and assist them on board? What are your processes of orienting people to a ministry? How do you group people so that mentoring will occur? How are we providing training and skill development so that people can be successful in what they are doing?

Retaining How are we enabling people to stay on board? How (and how often) do we express appreciation? Do we intentionally try to help people grow spiritually to the next level in this role? Are we giving feedback that enables them to let them know if they’re on target?

Exiting How can we help people leave a ministry/team so that they are honored, guided to the next chapter, and developed spiritually through the process? Do we assess the overall scope of their ministry? “Care-frontation” Are there unresolved issues? Are people running from something or to something? Can we help them transition into a new ministry?

Conclusion When individuals align … And churches … Passion Spiritual Gifts Personal style And churches … Rightly place equippers and servers C.A.R.E. for people Then gift-driven ministry becomes an owned value in the church!

Experientially Engaged Intellectually Emotionally Convinced Persuaded Personally Aligned Individuals in your church Owned Value www.networkministries.com

Spiritual Gifts: Aligning People and Ministry Dr. John P. Chandler The Ray and Ann Spence Network for Congregational Leadership www.rasnet.org John.chandler@vbmb.org Copy Right John P. Chandler, 2001