An incredible aspect of spiritual gifts is that they are completely equitable. The Holy Spirit bestows gifts to all of God’s children in every location, demographic, and circumstance. God empowers equally— everyone has worth and a contribution to make. To encourage you to explore and empower spiritual gifts throughout your ministries, I asked Janet Logan share her experience teaching spiritual gifts in an unlikely setting and the empowerment that resulted from that in today’s post.
Empowerment for the least of these
For three years I volunteered to teach life skills at a transitional living facility in downtown Los Angeles. Most residents entered through the court system. All were getting back on their feet after years of difficult, troubling life experiences. Classes like Introduction to Spiritual Gifts and Living Life as God Intended were permitted to have their place among the life skills of anger management, parenting and sober living.
Ten people showed up for the first Spiritual Gifts class. As we introduced ourselves we realized that all of us had been raised in the church and went to Sunday School. This common bond of our early relationship to God made it easy to begin a discussion of spiritual gifts. Each person called to remembrance the dreams and visions they had for what they wanted to do with their life before trouble showed up. As they made their way through the four weekly classes they seemed to regain a long ago-lost sense of hope that their lives could still amount to something.
Success in life does not have to be tied to education or holding down a job, especially with damaged bodies and minds. Spiritual gifts are of the spirit and the spirit is apart from the physical, mental and social. Because of the supernatural ability given by the Holy Spirit, they can know and do God’s will.
One or two people gave examples of how they used their spiritual gifts in homeless encampments; others spoke about meeting a need on bus rides. God-given life purpose can be manifested anywhere through the work of serving others with the gifts resident within.
'Success in life does not have to be tied to education or holding down a job, especially with damaged bodies and minds. Spiritual gifts are of the spirit and the spirit is apart from the physical, mental and social.' —Janet Logan Share on XSimple steps to empowerment
Simply put, people begin to see that faithfulness in serving others from their gifted areas results in empowerment and fulfillment. Four simple lessons enable students to know more about God’s will for their lives and tap into the spiritual gifts given them.
Week One
First, present what a spiritual gift is, why we need to understand them, what principles to keep in mind as we study them, how many are found in the Bible, how to discover my gifts, and gives time for students to complete a spiritual gift discovery assessment.
Week Two
Next, cover what people or people groups they want to bless (i.e. immigrants, veterans). We discuss the three strongest gifts that emerged from the composition of this particular class. Instruction includes a description of the gift, Scriptures where the gift is mentioned and action steps to help develop the gift.
Weeks Three and Four
Use this time to present more instruction on various gifts. Look into issues and causes that individuals are passionate about and guidelines on how to use gifts most effectively.
'God-given life purpose can be manifested anywhere through the work of serving others with the gifts resident within.' —Janet Logan Share on XResources
Living Life as God Intended– Proven to be effective in a variety of process groups, this five-week course is designed to help you get back on track with life. Not just any life—but a life worth living. This simple and easily contextualized study comes with a Participant Booklet and Facilitator Guide. Download for FREE today!
Finding the Flow- Transformation takes place in small groups. If your small groups aren’t making the impact that they should, it time to regroup and invest in your leaders. Finding the Flow is an excellent book to place in the hands of small group leaders. Covering essentials like fostering a safe environment, conflict/resolution, and how to ask questions that invite open response, Finding the Flow could be the key to growing disciples in your small groups. We also highly recommend the Finding the Flow Small Group Leader Training. Covering everything from asking good questions and active listening listening to conflict resolution, this is a ready-to-go kit for Small Group Leader Training. The downloadable leader guide, powerpoint presentation, and participant guides make it easy to adapt training to online meetings as well.
Photo by Owen Lystrup on Unsplash