We've Got Gifts
5/06/02

I have run into the attitude in congregational life that perhaps the pastor, church musicians, or even the fix-up guys have gifts that are helpful to the church, but that the average person sits in the pew and fulfills a support role.  This ignores God's promise that each member will receive gifts of grace to share with the body.
 
I have also run into members who have had some contact with the charismatic movement or a Pentecostal church, who when they hear the phrase "spiritual gifts" immediately think of speaking in tongues, prophetic utterances and other unfamiliar phenomena.  These persons are not always sure that they want a spiritual gift.
 
I believe that we have all been given spiritual gifts to help the faith community fulfill its ministry to its members and the broader world, and to help us mature in our own spiritual life.  A number of writers point out that a spiritual gift might operate through a talent or ability, but it is separate from and should not be confused with talents and skills.  Bill Easum makes the distinction this way: "Natural talent is what we do to accomplish something; a spiritual gift is what God does through us to accomplish something."  Jan Linn writes: "Gifts belong to the church, not to individuals.  We are instruments of gifts. We do not possess them."
 
Effective ministry teams or groups are dependent on persons discovering their gifts and committing them to use.  A theme I've stressed during our transformational process is that spiritual gifts are not rare mystical experiences, but the everyday gifts of service that God has given us for each other.  If one's gift is to be the big toe for the congregation, and that gift is not being used, our body is going to be unbalanced and hobbled.  We need a variety of gifts shared in our ministry and I know that God gives each congregation a healthy mix of gifts that prepare it for its particular calling.  When we discern our gifts and put them in service, we become the missional community God is calling us to be.
 
I have found that the individuals who grasp this spiritual concept and begin to think of their own ministry as the exercise of spiritual gifts, quickly become leaders in the spiritual and structural transformation of the congregation.  So preach it, teach it, pray it, and model it.
 
Loren Olson - First United Church, Little Falls, MN