Fanning the Flame #13 — Like a Kid in a Candy Store

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, ¹³ till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,  but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.  Ephesians 4:11-16

My assignment as part of the Fanning the Flame team is to be the spiritual gifts coordinator for our church.  This means giving as many members as possible a spiritual gifts assessment, and then having a conversation with them about their gifts and how they could be used to build up our congregation and community. This will start with the team, and this month two ladies have completed the assessment.  As I reviewed their gifts and their passions, one lady told me she loved gardening.  ‘When I go into a landscaping store in the spring, I’m like a kid in a candy store”, she said, “I get so excited, and I want to choose everything.”

Well, I’m like that kid when it comes to spiritual gifts.  I get the biggest kick out of seeing how God created us: the amazing talents, interests and passions He gave.  We’re like different flowers in the same garden, learning to bloom and grow together in beautiful patterns. I’m looking forward to helping people discover and put their gifts to work.  Great things happen when God mixes with us, and we mix with others.  Pray that at St. Paul’s we learn to appreciate all the gifts — our own and those around us. We can spread the sweet aroma of Christ to the environment around us.

Discovering Your Gifts

You can probably tell from some of the posts you’ve read this month that a key to spending your time creatively and usefully is identifying your personal spiritual gifts.  The Bible tells us that we each have one or more gifts which are needed to build up God’s kingdom.  Since I love to read and study, I thought I’d mention a few books that deal well with this topic.

In this book, 27 spiritual gifts are defined and discussed.  It also talks about gift mixes (because everyone usually has a number of gifts) and what gifts are not (natural talents –important also, but not the same thing).  It’s very Biblical and is a good place to start in understanding the topic.

This book guides you through making a spiritual profile and plan for your individual gifts.

Both are available through Amazon and other booksellers, and probably at your local library as well.  I hope some of our readers will try one of them, and let us know on the blog how they help you.  If you’ve already read/used one of them, please let us know that, too!