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Putting Your Spiritual Gifts (and Your
Congregation’s) to Work
Melanie Hill and Darrell HoltzFacilitator: Yvonne Gentile
li.cor.org/resources
Why spiritual gifts matter:1 Corinthians 12:1: “Brothers and sisters, I don’t
want you to be ignorant about spiritual gifts.”
Daniel Pink, Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us: Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose
People thrive (grow, blossom, are energized) as they do what they were born to do, what God has equipped them to do
• Thriving, healthy people = thriving, healthy congregations
•NOT a simple 1 to 1 equation (e.g. gift of teaching = Sunday School!)
Discovering your Spiritual Gifts
•1 Corinthians 12•Romans 12:1-8•Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-16•1 Peter 4:9-11
Who gets them and what are they for?Who receives gifts? All believers – not limited to a few
“superstars”
Why do we receive gifts? Not mainly for ourselves, but for others –build up God’s family, “the body of Christ”
Do they change over time? – what we know is that our perception of our gifts changes over time – the key is to use whatever gifts we are aware of to serve God’s purposes
• Paul listed specific spiritual gifts twice in 1 Corinthians 12, once in Romans 12, and once in Ephesians 4
• Only prophecy/prophet appears in all four lists
• It seems most likely that Paul intended the lists as “for example” lists
• The central point is for you and your church members to use your gifts, not to argue about whose list or definitions are better
•Have people do test in advance•Different at work and at home?•We’re adaptive, but have an innate
comfort zone• Chart – stand and move exercise• Key: styles are not “good” and “bad”
Tips on teaching “Individuality”:
“The truth is not that God is finding us a place for our gifts but that God has created us and our gifts for a place of his choosing-and we will only be ourselves when we are finally there.” Os Guinness
How do we identify our Dreams/Passions?
•Trial and Error
•Centered on a people group
•Centered on a cause
•Centered on a role or function
Questions to think about:• What are your interests? Hobbies?• What world/cultural events, trends, movements
get you excited?• What ones get you frustrated?• When have you felt most alive?• Ask someone else
Tips on teaching Dreams:• Encourage patience• Encourage persistence•Dreams are a key to avoiding burnout
Tips on teaching Experiences:• Takes time—but very much worth it• Underlines the value of our story - witness• Acts out the value of encouragement from other
members of the body of Christ• God can use both “good” and “bad” experiences
Melanie HillGuest Connections Program Director
Darrell HoltzWriting and Adult Curriculum Program Director
li.cor.org/resources