Spiritual Gifts: Distractions, Dangers, and Discovery

Last Updated: February 16, 2022 Contact: Brad Snyder

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Through Ephesians 4:1-16 we’ve seen that God has called his church to be united in Christ by giving each of us different Spiritual Gifts to build up the body so that together we would grow into maturity in Christ! God has given each of us gifts and he has given each of us to one another in the church so that we would all be equipped for the work of ministry.

This resource is to help you discover how God has gifted you and where you can use your gifts to serve the body, but first there are three distractions that can keep us from really understanding what our gifts are for, and three dangers that can come when we misuse our gifts.

Distractions – Dangers – Discovery

Distraction 1: Becoming overly focused on labeling and defining your gifts.

Some people want to get very specific to name and number the gifts and yet we don’t see a complete list of clearly defined gifts in the New Testament. Rather we see categories or types that describe how the Spirit moves and works through his people to serve the church.

Individual and corporate introspection is important to discover the unique ways that the Holy Spirit has gifted you to serve the body, but we can’t become more about defining what gifts you have, than the actual purpose of our gifts.

Distraction 2: Failing to consider the church body’s needs.

When we overly focus on the particular ways God has gifted us, we can forget the whole reason we are given gifts in the first place! The goal of our gifts is for the body to be built up, our calling no matter our gifts is to equip and build up one another’s faith! Therefore, if we don’t do that, then our spiritual gifts are for nothing.

Rather than only focusing inward to discover our gifts, we need to look outward at the needs around us, and as we do, we will often consider how to meet those needs in ways that flow from how we are gifted.

Distraction 3: Considering some gifts as spiritual and extraordinary and others as natural and ordinary.

The same Holy Spirit is at work in and through each believer empowering every gift. The Holy Spirit is God, therefore, He is not bound by the natural order of creation, he rules over it! But if he rules over the natural order, that also means he can work through it! Don’t assume the Spirit is not at work, just because things seem to be happening by ordinary or natural means!

When we consider how God works throughout the Bible, He glorifies himself and blesses his people by working through both natural and through supernatural means!

The Holy Spirit works through all the gifts in natural and supernatural ways, in ways that seem ordinary and ways that seem extraordinary.

I have experienced this often through the gift of teaching. The ordinary and natural way that the Spirit works through me comes through a great deal of prayer, study, and thought as I write, edit, and prepare what to say. While that is the ordinary way the Spirit works through my gifts, sometimes he moves in an extraordinary and supernatural way. When in the midst of preaching a thought will come to mind that I had not prepared.

Afterward I may hear from someone that what I wrote as I was studying on a Wednesday afternoon was particularly impactful for them, while someone else will say that what most impacted them was what came to my mind in a moment after I prayed for God to guide me toward what he wants to say.

So in which way was the Spirit at work? Both! The Spirit doesn’t just work through our gifts in miraculous supernatural moments, and the spirit doesn’t only work through our gifts in ordinary natural means.

Now, for 3 Dangers that can come if we misuse our gifts.

Danger 1: Placing a higher value on the Gifts of the Spirit than the Fruit of the Spirit.

As you discover ways that you are gifted, it is so easy to let your gifts define your godliness rather than how you are growing in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The fruit of the Spirit tells us how we should use our gifts no matter what they are!

Few things are more destructive to the church than exalting Christians to leadership based on their giftedness rather than their godliness. The qualifications of elders and deacons that we read in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 focus much more on character than on giftedness.

Our Spiritual Gifts exist so we can help grow Spiritual Fruit in other believers so that all are mature in Christ!

Danger 2: Thinking that not having a gift is an excuse to avoid what God has called all believers to do.

Nearly all of the gifts listed in the New Testament are also things that all Christians are commanded to do. All Christians are called to be hospitable, to serve, to give, to teach one another, to share their faith and evangelize. It is a danger to our walk with Christ to think we have an excuse to avoid those things if we aren’t gifted to do them.

Rather, not being uniquely gifted to do something that God has called us to do, should move us to seek out those who are gifted in order to learn from them and grow in those areas. When you are weak or struggling with something do, look around to the church for those who are gifted, because Scripture tells us that he has purposefully gifted others in the church around you to help you grow into maturity.

Danger 3: Judging yourself according to other’s gifts and judging others according to your gifts.

It is easy to project our gifts, strengths, and the things we are passionate about on everyone else and judge them for not being and doing all the things that we are specifically gifted at. But if we do that then we take what was specifically given to us so that we can serve and build up others, and we use it to tear them down.

On the other hand, its also easy to project other people’s gifts, strengths, and the things they are passionate about on yourself, and judge yourself for not being able to do all the things that they are specifically gifted at. Which takes what God has gifted the rest of the body with to build you up, and turns it into something to tear yourself down.

This is the danger that Paul warns us of in 1 Corinthians 12. He describes the church as a body with many members or parts and he says that the foot should not despise the fact that it is a foot and look at the hand and think that since I’m not a hand and can’t do all the things that a hand can do, I don’t really belong! We can’t disregard or despise our gifts, because of how God has gifted others. Paul then goes on to make the point that we can’t disregard or despise other people’s gifts, because of how God has gifted us. He says that the eye can’t look at the hand and say I don’t need you! Because God has made the parts of the body that aren’t often noticed or celebrated to be indispensable!

Discovering Your Gifts

Spiritual Gifts are not merely personality traits or skills. God created those things and he uses them, they obviously affect what you enjoy and what you are good at, but Spiritual Gifts don’t come from who we are, they come from who God is! 1 Corinthians 12:7 calls our gifts a manifestation of the Spirit given for the common good.

That means that Spiritual gifts are not really things that God gives us, they are a part of God giving us himself by his Spirit. Our God is so great and so glorious that his fullness cannot be embodied or expressed by any single one of us, we need the multifaceted gifts of the whole body to learn and grow into maturity in Christ!

Only Jesus is omni-gifted, none of us are self-sufficient to do the work of ministry that God has called his church to. So our Spiritual Gifts are how the Holy Spirit works in and through each of us in different and unique ways for the good of others so that together as the church we can grow his body and display his glory.

So as we discover and use our gifts, we must know that if our gifts are a manifestation of the Spirit, then they must function and serve the same goal as the Holy Spirit himself, our Helper who points us to know, follow, and glorify Jesus! If we are using our gifts rightly, then they must serve others and point them toward Jesus rather than ourselves!

Spiritual gifts are given to each person, but they are given for the church community as a whole, so that we will no longer be immature little children who are tossed about by every false doctrine or deceitful teaching we hear. We grow into maturity in Christ as a church, as every member is equipped in our gifts and ministering to one another.

Following is an overview of different types or categories of Spiritual Gifts described in the New Testament to help you understand what the gifts are, how Jesus perfectly displayed all the gifts he gives, and how the gifts can be used to serve the church.

Apostleship

Ephesians 4:11 and 1 Corinthians 12:28

What is this Gift: This type of gifting should be distinguished from the office of Apostle that functioned for a unique purpose in the Early Church. The office of Apostle was appointed directly by Jesus, they were witnesses to the resurrection, and were given as the first church leaders entrusted with the gospel and sent out to make disciples and plant churches.

So as an office that exercised authority over all the church and that was entrusted to write Scripture, there are no longer apostles today. But in the meaning of the word as those who are sent out to plant churches and to start and oversee ministries, there is an apostolic like gifting is clearly needed and at work today.

Jesus Perfected: We see this gift most perfectly in Christ because apostle simply means, One who is Sent and as Jesus says in John 20:21 “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” -John 20:21

How This Gift Builds up the Church: While the church no longer has Apostles who were eyewitnesses to the resurrection and who write inspired Scripture, as a church we do need those with gifted to be be sent out to plant new churches and start new ministries.

How to Use this Gift at Veritas: We need people who are passionate about being sent to launch new community groups and to start new ministries that meet the needs of our community. We pray for those with this gift to plant future congregations and churches.

Prophecy

Ephesians 4:11, 1 Corinthians 12:10&28, and Romans 12:6

What is this Gift: This gift should also be distinguished from the office of Prophet that God appointed people to be his mouthpiece or spokesperson. Prophets in the Old Testament were used by God to speak his perfect and infallible word to his people.

Since the the inspired words of Scripture are complete and sufficient, that means since we are not adding books to the Bible, in that sense there are no longer prophets like that in the church today. No one is gifted in a way where they can claim to speak for God with equal authority as the Bible. But while there is no longer the office of prophet, the New Testament tells us that there are those with a prophetic gifting, yet everything they speak, must be tested against and submit to infallible word of God.

Jesus Perfected: Jesus repeatedly know what was in people’s minds and hearts and often spoke of things that would come to pass, but the gift of prophecy is not really about predicting the future, but proclaiming the truth. So while Jesus was far more than a prophet, he was the greater prophet that Moses promised would come. He did not only speak the truth, in John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life!”

How this Gift Builds up the Church: Those with a prophetic gifting, don’t speak the infallible word of God, but they are gifted to speak from God’s word. The gift of prophecy is a gift to speak God’s truth to his people with Holy Spirit guided insight, to confront the sins and idols in the church and the wider culture.

Sometimes this gift can be a supernatural work of the Spirit when a particular verse or truth comes to mind when we are talking to or praying for people that directly impacts what they are going through or that gives clarity to a question or struggle they are facing.

Prophecy is also a gift where the Spirit can work through deep and consistent study of God’s word and God’s world. Those with this gift are given insight and understanding to the sins and idols and brokenness in culture, in order to speak the truth of the gospel in a way that confronts, corrects, and calls people to repentance and faith.

How to Use this Gift at Veritas: This a gift that the church needs, because we need people steeped in the Word of God who can see through lies and speak truth! Serve in your Community Group, and get involved in the Veritas Learning Ministries .

Words of Wisdom and Words of Knowledge

1 Corinthians 12:8

What is this Gift: Words of Wisdom is the ability to speak wise, godly perspective to people and situations with an emphasis on practical application for how the gospel changes how you live. Words of Knowledge is the ability to remember and share Biblical truth in a way that helps people understand the gospel and know what to believe.

Jesus Perfected: The crowds recognized Jesus’s words of wisdom and knowledge throughout his whole ministry. After he taught in a synagogue in Nazareth they said: “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him?” In 1 Corinthians 1:24,30 Jesus is called the wisdom of God. But he wasn’t merely a wise religious teacher, he actually possessed all knowledge, in John 21:17, Peter Says “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”

How this Gift Builds up the Church: Believers with these gifts build up the body by sharing their gifts to understand and learn. Those with the gift of knowledge might be more into knowing, believing and sharing true doctrine and information so that others remain faithful to the truth and aren’t deceived. While those with the gift of wisdom might be more focused on helping others apply the truth to how they live in God glorifying ways.

How to Use this Gift at Veritas: These are gifts that we need humbly at work in our prayer ministry, community groups, and ultimately we all need friends who can share knowledge and wisdom in our lives.

Teaching

1 Corinthians 12:28; Romans 12:7

What is this Gift: Teaching is the ability to not only understand and communicate biblical truth, but to do so in a way where people learn and grow in their faith.

Jesus Perfected: While Jesus was far more than just a religious teacher, he was the greatest teacher ever to live. In Matthew 7:28 after the Sermon on the Mount the crowds who had been listening to him “were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.”

How this Gift Builds up the Church: Christians who have this gift, are passionate to see people know and love God more. Whenever they learn something from God’s word, teachers have a unique ability to explain it to others in a way that is easy to understand to they can believe the truth rightly.

How to Use this Gift at Veritas: Not everyone who is gifted at teaching in the church is called to preach from the pulpit. Teaching is a gift that should be used to build up the body through everything we do, from one on one Discipleship, counseling, leading a community group, teaching in the kids ministry, or being equipped to teach Classes in the Learning Ministry.

Evangelism

Ephesians 4:11

What is this Gift: Evangelism is similar to Teaching, only instead of teaching believers it is a gift to reach and teach non-believers. Evangelism is the gift of explaining the message of the gospel in a clear and compelling way that addresses the doubts and answers the questions of those who don’t yet believe and calls them to faith in Christ.

Jesus Perfected: Jesus made it clear that this was his purpose in coming when he said in Luke 19:10 that he came to “seek and save the lost,” Jesus did not just seek out the religious and the righteous, rather he constantly pursued sinners and those who were far from God.

How this Gift Builds up the Church: Evangelism is something we are all called to do, so those with the gift of evangelism are simply those who are uniquely effective at introducing people to Jesus! Those with the gift may not always enjoy evangelism, but they will feel a burden to share the gospel to the lost and make disciples. The gift of evangelism isn’t a gift of fearlessness or of knowing all the answers, Paul asked the church to pray for him to be bold in Ephesians 6:19 and clear in Colossians 4:4. Evangelism is a gift where the Spirit works through you to pursue the lost, so that they hear and believe the gospel.

Some might use the gift of evangelism, by speaking to large crowds; others might focus on equipping and encouraging others in the church to better share the gospel to unbelievers; and others might simply take the initiative with those they meet to tell them about Jesus and patiently answer their questions.

How to Use this Gift at Veritas: Those with the gift of evangelism are so important for the rest of the church to live out its mission. If you are gifted in evangelism invite non-christians to church and community group, plan outreaches, organize evangelistic Bible studies, serve in the Kids Ministry, or to just take someone with you to go out and meet people to tell them about Jesus!

Discernment or Distinguishing between the Spirits

1 Corinthians 12:10

What is this Gift: The Gift of Discernment is the ability to recognize what is true and right and from God and what isn’t. Being able to distinguish when the Holy Spirit is at work and leading people toward Jesus and when they are being deceived and led astray.

Jesus Perfected: Jesus is the only one with perfect discernment, in Matthew 4 he sees right through Satan’s lies and temptations. He discerns the false motives and pretenses of the scribes in Matt. 9:4 “knowing their thoughts, said, ‘Why do you think evil in your hearts?’” But most importantly, he will perfectly judge everyone before his throne, discerning each person’s heart to distinguish the sheep from the goats.

How this Gift Builds up the Church: This is a gift the church needs in our context where anything spiritual or that someone agrees with is attributed to God and everything that they disagree with is called evil! People with this gift discern bad theology and recognize false teaching. But it is also a gift that can be destructive and divisive, when its used in prideful and fault finding manner.

How to Use this Gift at Veritas: If you are gifted in discernment then you need to remember what the gift is given for. Discernment is given to build up the church to be united by faith in Jesus not to tear it down because of disagreements on personal preference.

Pastor, Shepherd, & Exhortation

Ephesians 4:11, Romans 12:8

What is this Gift: The gift of pastoring or shepherding shouldn’t be confused with the office Pastor in the church. Those who are gifted to pastor or shepherd come alongside other believers, particularly those who are struggling, to lead them toward Jesus, to disciple them to grow in the gospel, and to encourage them to persevere in the faith. All who are called serve in the office of Pastor should be gifted as pastors or shepherds, but not all who are gifted as pastors or shepherds need to hold the office of Pastor in the Church.

Jesus Perfected: Jesus is the perfect model of a pastor, he is called the Good Shepherd who lovingly leads his sheep toward green pastures and still waters.

How this Gift Builds up the Church: The gift of pastoring and shepherding is the complement to teaching, where once a teacher has explained the truth, pastors walk alongside people to guide them to live in light of it.

The church needs shepherds and those with the gift of encouragement and exhortation to help and care for those suffering through trials, struggling with sin and temptation, doubting their faith so they don’t drift from Christ. Without shepherds, the church becomes a place where people may know about God in their heads and yet not love him with their hearts or live their lives in light of the gospel.

People with this gift overflow with care and empathy and patience because they love to make disciples, and the path to making disciples is a long and hard road.

How to Use this Gift at Veritas: If you are gifted with pastoring and shepherding, the greatest way to serve the church is by discipling people in your Community Group, volunteer with our youth and student ministry to help them own their faith and learn how to follow Jesus.

Faith

1 Corinthians 12:9; 13:2

What is this Gift: Every believer has faith in Jesus by God’s grace, but some are uniquely gifted with faith that sees what God can do even in the most difficult of situations. Those with this gift aren’t merely optimists or positive thinkers, they step out and trust God to accomplish what he has promised even when it seems to be impossible based on their circumstances.

Jesus Perfected: One could argue that Jesus could not have faith because he is God, and since he knows all things, he can’t really have faith. However, regardless of that, Jesus demonstrated what a life lived in perfect faith and trust in the Father looks like. Ultimately we see what radical faith that trusts in God looks like as Jesus laying down his will in the Garden of Gethsemane and says, “not my will but yours be done.”

How this Gift Builds up the Church: And that is what the church needs. People with the gift of faith are an incredible blessing to the community because they keep the church focused on and trusting God even in times of difficulty and tragedy. When you are struggling and failing in your faith… God has gifted you with others around you with the gift of faith!

How to Use this Gift at Veritas: If you have the gift of faith, use it to serve and edify others through the prayer ministry at Sunday Gathering and by praying for and encouraging your community group.

Gifts of Healings and Working of Miracles

1 Corinthians 12:9

What is this Gift: Like all the other gifts Healings and Working Miracles flow from the Holy Spirit himself, they are not superpowers that we wield or control. These gifts are answered prayers for healing and supernatural acts of God’s grace to meet the needs of the church and glorify Jesus. These gifts are given to point us toward the perfect future of God’s Kingdom.

Jesus Perfected: In Matthew 4:23 Jesus traveled through all Galilee and healed every disease and every affliction. He worked many miracles showing God’s power over all creation, in Mark 4:39 Jesus commands nature by calming a storm at sea, he walked on water in Mark 6:47-50, and he fed over 5,000 people with a couple of fish and 5 loaves of bread in John 6:1-14. Jesus is the perfect display of a healer and a miracle worker, not just just in his power to do so, but in how he healed and worked miracles humbly, not to draw attention, power, or wealth to himself.

How this Gift Builds up the Church: These gifts bring a lot of confusion and concern, because they have so often been used in very unchristlike ways, where the they are used to bring power and wealth to the person rather than to humbly serve the body and glorify Jesus. Those who have this gift simply have a burden to pray for and care for people who are sick and they pray bold prayers for God to show up and work in seemingly impossible situations?

Gifts of healing should not be limited to just physical illnesses, but they should also trust God to bring healing in mental, emotional, and spiritual brokeness. Christian in healthcare should also recognize this gift as the Spirit works through them to heal and preserve life.

How to Use this Gift at Veritas: If you think you have this gift, serve on the prayer team, join the Elders on Hospital visits, volunteer in the Mercy and Service ministries, keep track of prayer requests for your Community Group and share them with the group to encourage others to pray.

Hospitality

Romans 12:13; 1 Peter 4:9

What is this Gift: Hospitality is the gift to welcome strangers and guests, regardless of their background, into your home, church, or community with self sacrificial love as you have been welcomed by Jesus.

Jesus Perfected: Jesus is the greatest host who welcomes his enemies into his family. In John 14:2 Jesus says that “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” Jesus shows hospitality not only in preparing our eternal home, but also in the practical details of life. His first miracle was at a wedding feast where he turned water into wine, so the celebration could continue. His hospitality to welcome, feed, and care for the poor and the stranger, foreshadows the eternal wedding feast when he will welcome us into his family to be with him for eternity.

How this Gift Builds up the Church: The gift of Hospitality isn’t the gift of throwing the fanciest dinner party, or having the nicest house. Hospitality is the gift welcoming and serving those who are in need, particularly those who are relationally far from you and far from God. The church is called to be hospitable in everything it does, so those with this gift help to make sure that everything the church does, considers how to welcome outsiders into loving relationships. The church needs this, because often the front line of mission is a dinner table or a living room with a cup of coffee.

How to Use this Gift at Veritas: Those who have this gift can help lead the Connect Ministry to be far more than setting up and greeting so that people are truly welcomed and connected to the church body. Those gifted with Hospitality can also serve by hosting a Community Group, opening up their home to non-believers, and by becoming a host family for My Village!

Giving or Generosity

Romans 12:8

What is this Gift: Generosity is the gift of joyfully and consistently giving beyond what is comfortable of your money, time, and resources to meet the needs of others.

Jesus Perfected: Jesus is the ultimate giver. Though he possessed everything he didn’t cling to anything, He left the comfort and riches of heaven to live in poverty with us. He gave give his righteousness for our sin, his riches for our poverty. Roughly 25% of Jesus’ preaching ministry dealt with the stewardship of our money and possessions.

How this Gift Builds up the Church: This gift is essential to the health of building up the church, because a church really cannot thrive and grow without being generous. While we are all called to be sacrificially generous, those with the gift teach the rest of the body the joy of treasuring Jesus more than our things.

How to Use this Gift at Veritas: If you have this gift, the best way you can serve the body is not only to give sacrificially yourself, but to encourage others to become good stewards and to find their joy in giving rather than receiving.

Administration

1 Corinthians 12:28

What is this Gift: Administration is the ability to organize systems, structures, and to direct resources and people so the church body is built up and faithfully fulfills its purpose.

Jesus Perfected: Administration is not something we often think of when we consider Jesus’ ministry, and yet he taught and trained his followers, organized his ministry by choosing the inner 3, the 12, and 72, and he delegated responsibilities to the disciples, sending them out to do ministry 2 by 2 in Luke 10. But ultimately Jesus is the King who reigns over all things, who brings order from chaos, and upholds the universe with the word of his power!

How this Gift Builds up the Church: This gift is essential for a healthy growing church, not just to develop strategy and reach goals, but to ensure that resources are stewarded well, that ministries are effective, and that people don’t fall through the cracks. Those gifted in administration love to see pieces come together so that things function well so they are particularly a blessing when it comes to helping the different gifts in the church to work together in ways that serve the needs of the whole church body.

How to Use this Gift at Veritas: If you are gifted in administration your gifts can be used anywhere, start by graciously looking for where there is a lack of organization, and ask the staff, deacons, and elders who direct ministries how you can help.

Leadership

Romans 12:8

What is this Gift: Leadership may often be more focused on the big picture and less about the details as Administration. The gift of leadership has a clear vision for how a particular church or ministry can fulfill what God has called them to do. Leaders are gifted to oversee, exhort, and give direction so that all the different people with their diversity of gifts can come together and work toward a common goal.

Jesus Perfected: During Jesus’ ministry we see how he lead in that while he could have accomplished everything on his own, he called people to follow him, so that they could join him and fulfill their calling. The Prophet Isaiah says of Jesus, that the government shall be upon his shoulder, displays what true leadership is like as he sacrifices himself to serve those he leads.

How this Gift Builds up the Church: The gift of leadership while it may be recognized while someone is young in the faith, is one that should be tested and developed slowly, particularly so that a person’s leadership responsibilities don’t out pace their character and maturity. Those who are gifted in leadership must have the humility to recognize their gift as a way to serve others rather than a means for others to serve them. Gifted leaders will often have people following them, so to build up the body they themselves must be following Jesus!

How to Use this Gift at Veritas: The leaders of a church or ministry must be united in where they are leading, so if God has gifted you with leadership, know where is God leading you and where you can fit in with where he is leading the rest of the church. Talk to your community group leader about becoming an apprentice, or a congregational elder about the process of becoming a deacon.

Service, Helping, & Mercy

1 Corinthians 12:28; Romans 12:7;8

What is this Gift: Service is the gift to joyfully come alongside someone in their need and struggles to help them. Similarly, the Gift of Mercy is to have unusual degree of compassion for those who are mistreated, oppressed, or facing difficult circumstances. Those gifted with service or mercy seek to help others through their suffering and struggles despite their background or sin in order to provide for and care for them particularly when they don’t deserve it.

Jesus Perfected: This is why Jesus came, in Matthew 20:28 he says, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” While mission to serve ultimately lead him to the cross to die as a ransom for our sins, it effected every moment of his life and ministry, even to dress like a servant, and kneel before his disciples and wash their feet. (John 13:1-20)

How this Gift Builds up the Church: A Church without members gifted in service and mercy isn’t a church anyone will want to be a part of for very long. We all need people with extraordinary, supernatural passion to serve in ordinary and natural ways! Those with this gift are often drawn to and pursue relationships with the people who are struggling and suffering that everyone else would prefer to avoid. Rather than seeking their own recognition or praise, they step into people’s needs like our Helper the Holy Spirit has come into ours.

How to Use this Gift at Veritas: If you have this gift, get involved in our Service, Mercy, and Justice ministries, serve with JW Reason Elementary, The Refuge, My Village, or become an advocate to connect with and support those who are in need of emergency financial assistance. Use your gift to discover the hidden needs in the communities around us and help your community group find ways to serve.

Questions to ask yourself and other to Discover your Gifts

• What problems, needs, or burdens am I drawn toward? What needs or weaknesses in the church do I most naturally notice and desire to serve?
• What ministries and callings am I most passionate about?
• What do I enjoy doing?
• What do others in the church, particularly those who are closest to me enjoy me doing?
• What ways have I particularly been best at building others up to grow in their faith?

As you discover your gifts make your goal to build up the body and to grow Spiritual Fruit in others. If you are growing in love for others and your passion is to see the rest of the church grow in Christ, you will have no trouble discovering gifts and finding opportunities to do that! At Veritas, we need your gifts and you need everyone else’s to grow as a church where every member is doing the work of ministry to build up the body of Christ to Maturity.