Sometimes God gives us glimpses of how and why certain things like spiritual gift assessments ALONE can be ineffective in helping God’s people find meaningful ministry.
This past week I did 21 (totally awesome) one-on-one PLACE coaching sessions with new members and not yet members at my church ranging in ages from 27 to 86 years old. These coaching sessions have been amazing experiences as one of my sessions helped lead to a mother and her daughter from Mexico getting baptized and a young man who has been married less than a year asked me to baptize him during our coaching session.
I am looking forward to the 60+ individuals who will be going through the PLACE experience next month at my church where I serve on staff as the Discipleship Pastor. And yes, that I will be coaching beyond the teaching time we provide for those at our church who attend the PLACE experience. I could go on and on about the coaching session, but I want to get to why I am sending this email to you.
The church where I serve on staff partners with a ministry called There’s Hope for the Hungry (thereshopeforthehungry.org). My senior pastor, Dr. Jeff Jackson is the president of There’s Hope for the Hungry. The ministry’s goal is to meet both physical needs and spiritual needs for those ministered to and then partner with local churches where our ministry teams go out Monday-Thursday each week. There’s Hope for the Hungry partners with local churches which allows those who accept Christ or need a church near them to help them grow in their faith.
Earlier this year one of our new members went through PLACE and her highest spiritual gift score was in Evangelism. Based on her coaching session with me I connected her with There’s Hope for the Hungry. She was super excited. She went through the training There’s Hope provides and one of the leaders begin taking her to various churches that we partner with in providing food and sharing the gospel.
Recently I received a call from the person who had been going out with her and training her. She told me that our new member with the spiritual gift of Evangelism was struggling and not effective in sharing the gospel. And our new member with the spiritual gift of Evangelism was discouraged because the spiritual gift assessment said she had the spiritual gift of Evangelism. And the ministry leader let me know that some others we had referred to There’s Hope for the Hungry had also not either stayed with serving or were not effective. Now on the positive side there have been many, many we have referred who have been both faithful and effective in this ministry.
The reason for me wanting to have you read this article is to remind myself and those who use PLACE resources of the teaching principles both in the PLACE Participant Guide and Connection Coach Training Guide. And at the church I serve, I will be reminding those individuals I coach who go through the PLACE experience the principles to discovering their spiritual gifts that were taught during the PLACE teaching time. Also, I will be reminding the ministry leaders who are receiving those who are being referred these same principles covered with the PLACE Participants during the teaching and coaching sessions.
Reminders:
In the Connection Coach Training Guide and our coaching videos the person being coached is reminded that our time together during the coaching session is to look at possibilities for ministry areas, but the decision to serve in a ministry will be determined after the person being coached and the ministry leader get together and determine if the opportunity is the right one. This reminder needs to be done during the coaching session with the PLACE participant and would be helpful in a follow-up email to both the PLACE participant and the ministry leader who is receiving the information from the PLACE coach.
The teaching within the PLACE Participant Guide (p.16) lists 8 principles for discovering one’s spiritual gifts.
They are:
- Believe you have a spiritual gift(s) – I Corinthians 12:7
- Ask God to reveal your spiritual gift(s) – James 1:5
- Teaching by other Christians – Colossians 3:16 – Spiritual gifts assessments are a form of teaching and a great place (no pun intended) to start in the discovery process of spiritual gifts.
- Explore Possibilities – Get involved in ministry – I Corinthians 12:12 – In the situation I mentioned above in the article remember the person may have the gift of evangelism, but their role may not be face-to-face, but could be in a supporting role like prayer, packing food, etc.
- Evaluate your effectiveness – John 15:8 – Remember, no one can evaluate unless they are involved in ministry.
- Expect confirmation from others – Galatians 2:9 – Remember, no one can expect confirmation unless they are involved in ministry.
- Examine your feelings – Psalm 37:4 – Have I stated, remember, one has to be involved in ministry to examine feelings?
- Examine your motives – Proverbs 16:2 – And yes, to examine motives one has to be involved in ministry and serving!
Here is a sample email this past week I sent to an individual completing the PLACE teaching experience and the coaching session with me. I also copied the two ministry leaders I referred this individual to their ministries.
Dear ___________,
What a delight to spend time with you yesterday and talk about helping you fulfill your objective in going through PLACE. You said your objective/purpose was to discover your spiritual gifts and be able to use them in ministry at our church and even beyond our church.
During the PLACE experience we taught the following principles to discovering your spiritual gifts. We taught that the spiritual gift assessment was a good starting place to discovering your spiritual gifts. Beyond the assessment we emphasized that getting involved in ministry and determining whether you were effective in ministry with the spiritual gifts that were your highest assessment scores is imperative. Also, we discussed as you serve you might have others confirm your spiritual gifts or possibly guide you in another ministry direction that lines up with your spiritual gift assessment scores. And finally we talked about when being involved in ministry using your gifts that you would enjoy what you were doing and having motives that were to honor God and serve others.
Also, remember that we discussed that during our time together we talked about looking at the possibilities in serving in __________ ministry and _________ ministry at our church. We also discussed that you and the ministry leaders I referred your name to would determine if based on you and where you are at this time in your life might be a good place for you to begin serving in these ministries. Our discussion revolved around possible opportunities.
In closing remember there are many dynamics based on you and the ministries you are looking to serve in that will determine if these two ministries are a good place for you at this time in your life.
If I can serve you beyond our time together through PLACE and the coaching session please do not hesitate to contact me. And if you feel these areas are not the right place for you let me know and we can get back together and discuss why and where you might desire to serve.
Serving Him Together,
Jay
Dear ___________,
What a delight to spend time with you yesterday and talk about helping you fulfill your objective in going through PLACE. You said your objective/purpose was to discover your spiritual gifts and be able to use them in ministry at our church and even beyond our church.
During the PLACE experience we taught the following principles to discovering your spiritual gifts. We taught that the spiritual gift assessment was a good starting place to discovering your spiritual gifts. Beyond the assessment we emphasized that getting involved in ministry and determining whether you were effective in ministry with the spiritual gifts that were your highest assessment scores is imperative. Also, we discussed as you serve you might have others confirm your spiritual gifts or possibly guide you in another ministry direction that lines up with your spiritual gift assessment scores. And finally we talked about when being involved in ministry using your gifts that you would enjoy what you were doing and having motives that were to honor God and serve others.
Also, remember that we discussed that during our time together we talked about looking at the possibilities in serving in __________ ministry and __________ ministry at our church. We also discussed that you and the ministry leaders I referred your name to would determine if based on you and where you are at this time in your life might be a good place for you to begin serving in these ministries. Our discussion revolved around possible opportunities.
In closing remember there are many dynamics based on you and the ministries you are looking to serve in that will determine if these two ministries are a good place for you at this time in your life.
If I can serve you beyond our time together through PLACE and the coaching session please do not hesitate to contact me. And if you feel these areas are not the right place for you let me know and we can get back together and discuss why and where you might desire to serve.
Serving Him Together,
Jay
I am reminded often that repetition over time equals success. When helping people discover how God has uniquely created them and where He desires to use them let’s remember the spiritual gift assessment is the starting place in the process and not the process. We need to teach and reinforce what we teach continually for others to fully understand how to apply what we teach them.