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Equipping the saints: Methodists find spiritual gifts keep on giving Mary Jacobs, Apr 17, 2009
2009 DESIGN PICS PHOTO
Tapping into spiritual gifts starts with listening to God’s leading. That approach, church leaders say, ties volunteers to ministries that invoke their passion.
By Mary Jacobs Staff Writer
The Church and Society Committee just limped along at First United Methodist Church in Tempe, Ariz., until Kathy Schock worked her magic.
Two women who attended her class on identifying spiritual gifts stepped forward and became the committee’s co-chairs. Now, Ms. Schock says, the committee is “just unstoppable.”
The group expanded the church’s homeless ministry, started a “helping hands” ministry to tackle fix-up projects at elderly members’ homes, partnered with a local school to provide back-to-school items for low-income kids and organized a mission trip taking bags of Christmas gifts to children in Mexico.
That’s a testament to the power of spiritual gifts, Ms. Schock says. In the class, the two women had identified “mercy” and “compassion” as their spiritual gifts. And until then, they hadn’t connected those gifts with their church work.
“When we work within our gifts, we’re working within God’s plan,” Ms. Schock said. “And when we work in God’s plan, we can’t be stopped.”
First UMC Tempe discovered what more and more United Methodist churches are learning: Spiritual gifts can energize and mobilize a congregation. Putting people in touch with their spiritual gifts can empower leaders, make passionate volunteers, spur youth and children to get involved, and even help homeless people to get off the streets.
In fact, the practice of “identifying leaders through gifts assessments processes” emerged as a common distinctive in a recent survey of United Methodists churches that have been highlighted as models of effective discipleship.
The concept of spiritual gifts isn’t new, however. Passages in Ephesians and Corinthians identify 20 spiritual gifts ranging from “administration” to “interpretation of tongues” to “wisdom.” The Bible teaches that all followers are given extraordinary abilities to serve God’s kingdom. But until recent decades, most mainline Protestant churches shied away from notions of “spiritual gifts.”
“In the 1970s, more United Methodist clergy could tell you what their Meyers Briggs personality type was, but couldn’t tell you what their spiritual gifts were,” said Tom Albin, dean of the Upper Room Chapel.
Mr. Albin suspects that some have equated “spiritual gifts” with charismatic Christianity, with its emphasis on miracles, healing and speaking in tongues. But the biblical catalogue also includes gifts such as encouragement, leadership and compassion.
In recent decades, he says, Methodism has reclaimed a “theology of the Holy Spirit,” by way of influence from neo-charismatic movements, like Aldersgate Renewal Ministries, and evangelical groups like the Willow Creek Association. That emphasis, he says, is consistent with the denomination’s Wesleyan roots. John Wesley preached about the power of the Holy Spirit that “can still bestow extraordinary gifts, the charismata, where the gospel is preached with power, and men are alive to God.”
“We haven’t been quite as afraid of the Holy Spirit as some other mainline denominations,” Mr. Albin said. “I think it’s been a source of spiritual vitality.”
Among Christians, a recent national study by the Barna Group showed that the notion of spiritual gifts is most familiar to non-denominational Protestants, 78 percent of whom are aware of the concept. That’s compared to mainline Protestants (68 percent) and Catholics (54 percent).
Of those who called themselves Christians and had heard of spiritual gifts, the most common gifts were teaching (9 percent), service (8 percent) and faith (7 percent). However, many people who claimed knowledge of spiritual gifts weren’t necessarily thinking of the same gifts named in the Bible—they cited gifts like “a sense of humor,” “happiness” and “clairvoyance.”
For Sugar Hill UMC in Sugar Hill, Ga., a process for identifying spiritual gifts has helped re-energize long-term members.
“People get stuck in a job at church and feel as if they’ve signed up for life,” said Mari Lane Brooks, Sugar Hill’s pastor for growth and congregational care. “Taking the gifts inventory gives them confidence to try something new, to better use their strongest gifts.”
Sugar Hill also uses the approach to assimilate new members, who take a “spiritual gifts inventory” when they join the church.
“We give them a list of openings categorized by gifts, so each can find a place to serve that is congruent with their gift,” said Ms. Brooks.
A similar process has empowered young people at First UMC in Canyon, Texas. At an annual retreat, fifth and sixth graders take an assessment modified for young people, and leaders use the results to help steer kids into teams focusing on art, drama, hospitality and “tech” ministries.
“Our kids learn that God has given everyone a gift for his kingdom,” said Lee Ann Love, the church’s children’s director. “And when they become adults, this will not be a new concept for them.”
At First UMC Tempe, new members either attend a spiritual gifts class or meet one-on-one with Ms. Schock to get matched with a ministry that fits. Class participants read the book, Serving from the Heart, and take the book’s 80-question, self-scored test to find their own spiritual gifts. About a third of the church’s 370 regular attendees have taken the class.
Tempe’s pastor, the Rev. Dave Summers, jokingly calls Ms. Schock his “spiritual gifts guru.”
“Her class has blessed the church,” he said. “Every year, people move into some expression of ministry that is transforming for them, in ways I could never have done just by talking to them as a pastor.”
Stacia Doty says she was transformed. After taking the spiritual gifts assessment four years ago, she started a healing ministry at First UMC Tempe and began the process to become a candidate for ordained ministry.
Her lesson learned: Spiritual gifts represent something much more powerful than interests or talents.
“God provides the gifts,” she said. “All I have to do is surrender. As I’ve watched God work through the healing ministry, I began to realize: ‘I can’t. But God can.”
Ms. Schock’s husband, Charles Schock, an attorney, is another church member who found his ministry niche in her spiritual gifts class. “He is often asked to serve on committees because he has legal knowledge,” Ms. Schock said. “But every time he’d be in charge of a church committee, he wouldn’t get anywhere with it.”
In the class, Mr. Schock uncovered “helping” as one of his top gifts. As a result, he began running the church’s Habitat program and later became a Stephen Minister. Now, he’s thriving.
“When you’re working in your gifts, you don’t burn out,” said Ms. Schock. “I feel a frustration when people are just placed in jobs in the church based on what it looks like where they should be, instead of getting to know the needs of a person.”
The Rev. Deb Smith, director of best practices for the General Board of Discipleship, says that her research for the denomination’s Romans 12 Project confirms the power of working with spiritual gifts. The project surveyed 200 churches identified by bishops and other church leaders as models for effective discipleship. More than a quarter of those churches reported having some kind of gifts discovery process for new members.
“I think this indicates a move from just filling slots and putting people on committees to nurturing people to become who God wants them to become,” she said. “Churches that are intentional about forming disciples are also intentional about looking at who the people are in a deep way, as children of God who are gifted in specific ways, rather than as some target demographic.”
Another reason why more churches are focusing on spiritual gifts: the abundance of curriculum materials now available on the topic. The denomination offers a short, online spiritual gifts assessment tool at http://www.gbod.org/strengthen.
Also, Ms. Smith says, many people have taken personality and aptitude assessments—like the Meyers Briggs—on the job.
“They have that mindset that there’s something unique about each of us, and the next step is how to use that in Christian ministry,” said Ms. Smith.
And everyone has a gift to offer, Ms. Schock says. She has taught her spiritual gifts class to dozens of men in the church’s Potters House homeless ministry.
“One of the homeless guys felt he had nothing to offer the world at all,” she recalled. “Then we found out that he writes, and he’s good at that.”
Many “graduates” of the spiritual gifts class were able to get off the streets. Others grew more confident about sharing their faith and bringing other homeless men to the church.
“It works because it’s part of God’s plan,” Ms. Schock said. “We all have a special place in the body of Christ.”
Mr. Albin puts it this way: “When someone operates within a spiritual gift, you can run and not grow weary, because you are doing what you were created to do.”
There’s some variation in how Christians catalogue the Bible’s list of spiritual gifts. Here’s the list of spiritual gifts according to the United Methodist Church, based on Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, 1 Corinthians 12:27-31 and Ephesians 4:11-12:
2009 DESIGN PICS PHOTO
“People get stuck in a job at church and feel as if they’ve signed up for life,” said Mari Lane Brooks, Sugar Hill’s pastor for growth and congregational care. “Taking the gifts inventory gives them confidence to try something new, to better use their strongest gifts.” 
