Adrian is preaching on Sunday but I thought I’d still blog the cell outline, in case it is helpful for those not at their cell group this week.

 

1. Use the Spiritual Gifts (Gifts Matching) worksheet and the Spiritual Gifts Guide to clarify your understanding of Spiritual Gifts.  The aim is for you to get a really good idea of what each gift is for.

 

The exercise is straight forward.  Look at the first line on the worksheet: Administration.  Then go to the Guide and look for “Administration”.  Administration contributes the things in the “description” lines

…understand what makes an organisation function, and the special ability to plan and execute procedures that increase the church’s organisational effectiveness.

So in the “Contributes” box summarise that for yourself – let’s say you can write

“make’s things happen well”.

Finally look down the right hand column for the right matching  description which in this case is “B”.  That letter goes in the third box.

Check out your answers with each other.

 

2. Answer the questions on the worksheet  Spiritual Gifts (Gifts Assessment). This is likely to be the most significant part of the whole process. Answer the questions by completing the table on the final page.

 

The Guide is an extraordinarily good record of how gifts function and practical advice on how to exercise them.   On the Assessment Sheet you can then total down the column. You will be very encouraged and sometime surprised at the results. The letters on the Assessment Sheet relate to the Guide Booklet, and not the Matching sheet!  Which are your top three? And your bottom three?

 

3. You can then refer back to the Guide to think more about your gifts.  Does it ring true?

Going deeper

Use the Servitude or Servanthood table below to think about what motivates you in your ministry? How could you move more fully to being a servant? What actions or attitudes need to change?

 

servitude

noun

1.  The condition of a slave, serf, or the like; subjection to a master; slavery or bondage

2.  Work imposed as punishment for crime

 

servanthood

noun

1. The state, condition, or quality of one who lives as a follower of Christ; in submission to God first, and then submission to one another.

 

2. The condition or state of being involved in ministry to others rather than the service of self, by willingly giving of oneself to minister for and to others and to do whatever it takes to accomplish what is best for another.

 

	A Christian prompted by servility	A Christian prompted by servanthood
Serves out of	Obligation It’s an "I-have-to" kind of attitude.	Obedience It is an "I want to serve God!" attitude.
Is motivated to serve by	Fear of men In servility the motivation is driven by: what will others say if I don’t serve, or if I don’t serve in this ministry, or don’t serve in this way, or don’t commit this kind of time?	What God sees In servanthood we serve because we have fellowship and communion with God. We understand that ultimately we have an audience of One.
Serves with the attitude of	It’s not my job Servility aims to do the minimum necessary to get by and fulfil the basics.	Whatever it takes Servanthood is willing to go outside the "job description".
Has a ministry mindset that says	Me first Servility wants to advance its own agenda, and is asking "What’s in it for me?"	Lord God first Servants look up and say, "Lord, what would YOU have me do at this time? God, how could my life best honour YOU? How can I make a difference today in the way you have enabled me to touch lives?"
Serves with a spirit of	Pride When we serve out of servility, we look at what we did and say "Well, I did that, I have something to offer, I’m something." I… I … I … I.	Humility Servanthood says "GOD did that! GOD has given me a Spiritual Gift and has filled me with his spirit to empower me for the faithful and meaningful expression of that Spiritual Gift. GOD has used me to have an impact in a person’s life."
The results are	Self seeking Believers prompted by servility try to build up and draw attention to themselves.	God glorifying Servanthood says "Don’t look at me, I am glad to serve you; give God the glory, isn’t he wonderful?"