Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Those Spiritual Gifts

Do you know what your spiritual gifts are?

My top three spiritual gifts seem to be:

Prophecy
Exhortation
Teaching

Leadership is probably up there, too. But let's leave that aside for the moment. And I guess you could even add apostle, if you see it fulfilled through cross-cultural missions. No spiritual gift inventory I have seen to date asks questions that would reveal that.

As a missionary, I seek to work within the framework of my spiritual gifts. To do otherwise would be detrimental to the work of God. I also seek to form teams that best utilize their gifts. I think we fall short when we ask men and women to work outside their gifted areas. For example, to ask a person who is a strong administrator, but a weak teacher, to be a church-planter could be a misuse of that person's ministries, as given by the Holy Spirit. The converse would be equally true.

How do you carry out your ministry? What "form" do your teams take?

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