Seek Biblical knowledge by studying the Scriptures related to spiritual and gifts and the church.
Take a Spiritual Gift Analysis and try short-term experiments to confirm the Spiritual Gift analysis.
Ask people you know and trust to tell you what spiritual gifts they think you have.
Reflect on experiences to determine which spiritual gifts seemed most effective and satisfactory.
Study spiritual gifts by research and interviewing knowledgeable persons.
The Challenge to be S.T.A.R.S. for God
Knowing & Using Your Spiritual Gifts
We hunger for love. God made us for love. Our happiness is determined by how well we love. Through the gospel we find in Christ, “the way, the truth, and the life” to meet our love needs; and by our love relationship with Christ we are motivated, empowered, and gifted to share the gospel with others so in salvation they can also experience the joy of soul-quenching love. God’s strategy for us to accomplish this is through our knowing and using our spiritual gifts, I Cor. 12-15.
What Are Spiritual Gifts?
Spiritual gifts are God endowed aptitudes & abilities for the uniquely effective purpose of gospel work by Christians. The Greek word for spiritual gift is charismata, which means grace gift. Talents are also God endowed, but they may or may not be translatable into the unique focus of Christian ministry. Spiritual gifts are brought alive in people as each person believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. Every Christian possesses at least two spiritual gift (usually three to five which forms a cluster) but no one possesses all the gifts. All of us, however, are given an aptitude for understanding each spiritual gift, and as needed, to use them as secondary gifts. (Most of the spiritual gifts are listed in three primary passages - Romans 12:3-8; Ephesians 4:11-13; I Corinthians 12-14).
The fulfillment of knowing & using one’s spiritual gifts requires time. Time well invested comes by the STARS approach of: 1.) Seeking biblical knowledge by studying the Scriptures related to spiritual gifts & the church; 2.) Taking a Spiritual Gift Analysis and trying short-term experiments with particular responsibilities to see if the required cluster of gifts fit you; 3.) Asking people you know & trust to tell you what spiritual gifts they think you have; 4.) Reflecting on experiences to determine which spiritual gifts brought you the most satisfaction & effectiveness; 5.) Studying spiritual gifts by researching available sources and interviewing knowledgeable people.
Re-discovering Spiritual Gifts
Through the years, most Christians in general and Baptists in particular have shunned spiritual gift language because of the stereotypical association of charismata with extremism. Fearing that if one talked of grace-gifts, then it meant that person: spoke in tongues, was spiritually arrogant, and probably under the influence of a cultic group. This caricature caused fear which produced prejudice and hindered Christians from discovering their God-given & biblically based potential. For a stretch in my life, I was shackled by this fear.
Then I began to quest for more in my own spiritual experience and for the people of whom I was pastor. Like many in such a quest, I turned afresh to the New Testament for guidance. Then I unlearned my prejudices about spiritual gifts by understanding that I Corinthians 13, the favored chapter on love used typically for weddings, is actually a practical revelation about spiritual gifts being empowered by love.
Then, while serving as a seminary professor in church history, I taught through the full span of Christian History by noting what characteristics enabled churches to grow spiritually and numerically. Among the characteristics was a strong lay ministry of believers using their spiritual gifts. Following is an overview of the major spiritual gifts.
GOING FORWARD
Subsequently, as a church family, we will help everyone to know their spiritual gifts and use them in the ministries of Trinity Baptist Church. Members may take a Spiritual Gift Analysis online at www.trinitybaptist.org or printed copy at the TBC offices then we will add the info to our database which will help the Ministry Matching Team and other ministry coordinators to place people in ministry that releases their giftedness and passion. Our gift based approach to ministry will expand our effectiveness and joy.
Through the 21st century, God challenges us to reach new levels of New Testament ministry by following the commission of Ephesians 4:12-13. The Apostle Paul explained that pastors & teachers were to “prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
"No eye has seen..." I Cor. 2:9-10... As we allow God to work through our giftedness, the world is changed-the Trinity family, making a gospel difference, one person, one application at a time. For such a time as this, you are called out to be among the S.T.A.R.S. for God.
Pastor Les