Tag: administration

Discovering how we are formed

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 15 – Reforming our Souls

Discovering how we are formed – for each other

[Bible references: Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, 13:1-3; Ephesians 3:6-8; Ephesians 4, 1 Peter 4:7-10]

Once we have centered ourselves on Christ and have learned to submit to God and to one another, we are in a good place to evaluate the unique ways in which God has formed us.[1] One of the more holistic tools developed by Saddleback Church provides an evaluation of several aspects of how we are formed: the spiritual gifts, the desires, the abilities, the personality, and the experience God gives us.

The reality is that much is life is filled with, “I just gotta do what I gotta do.” Parenting is like that, housekeeping is like that, etc. Diapers need to be changed, the house needs to be cleaned, the bills must be paid, grocery shopping needs to be done, etc. Much of life is filled with responsibilities that need to be done regardless of what capacity we think we may have. There may be no luxury of just doing “what I think I am best at.”

But where it is possible, when we gather in a sharing community, there is the opportunity to allocate different tasks to those people who are best equipped for it. God has intended that we be in such communities, so described in scripture as “the body of Christ,” where different people serve in different functions. At such times, there are opportunities for us to discover in what unique ways God has designed us so that we may serve each other in the best way possible.

Scripture reveals that all who are in Christ are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and that the Spirit has given us various gifts that we can use to help build up other members of the body of Christ. A few Bible passages give us an idea of the kinds of gifts of some of these gifts, but the lists are not exhaustive: exhortation, giving. leadership, mercy, prophecy, service, teaching, administration, apostle, discernment, faith, healing, helps, knowledge, miracles, prophecy, teaching, tongues, tongues, interpretation, wisdom, evangelism, pastor, teaching, celibacy, hospitality, missionary, voluntary poverty.

One way to discover what gifts we may have, is by serving in our community. As we serve in various ways, we may discover that God has particularly blessed our service in various ways. Sometimes others may point out those abilities or gifts to us. Another way to discover our gifts is to read about those gifts and certain gifts may become apparent to us that way. Another way is to take a questionnaire and the results of that questionnaire may reveal certain gifts to us. It may be helpful to take such a questionnaire with someone else because they may have different insights into the questions.

As we mature and encounter different life experiences, we may discover that different gifts emerge or that God has provided differently for us in our different circumstances. God knows us and our circumstances and may provide differently as we change, and our circumstances change.

[1] Links to various assessment tools: Spiritual gifts: Carver, Jeff. “Spiritual Gifts Test – Adult Version”Spiritual Gifts Test spiritualgiftstest.com/spiritual-gifts-test-adult-version ; Granger Community Church. “Spiritual Gifts Test” Granger Community Church spiritualgiftstest.com/spiritual-gifts-test-landing; Ministry Tools Resource Center. “Take Online Spiritual Gifts Test Inventory Assessment” Ministry Tools Resource Center mintools.com/spiritual-gifts-test.htm; Rock Church, “Gifts Test” Rock Church giftstest.com. Personality test sites: Hayes, Robert. “The Best Free Enneagram Tests You Can Take Online” Tech Junkie www.techjunkie.com/best-free-enneagram-tests; Truity Psychometrics. “The Enneagram Personality Test” Truity Psychometrics www.truity.com/test/enneagram-personality-test; Barkers, Ewald. “Eclectic Energies Enneagram Tests (Free)” Eclectic Energies www.eclecticenergies.com/enneagram/test; Shape test: Hill, Kevin M. “S.H.A.P.E. Test” Free Shape Test www.freeshapetest.com; Saddleback Church “You Were SHAPED for Serving God” Saddleback Church www.ministryideas.com/doc/shape_discovery_tool.pdf

Our relationships

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 14 – Remembering our creation

Our Relationships

[Bible references: 1 Peter 4:7-11]

All of these activities are done in context of our relation to God, to each other, and to our land. God has created us in His image, in the image of a triune God in which Father, Son and Holy Spirit exist as three persons united into one. Within that framework, God created us as male and female, each created as creatures made in God’s image yet different from and interdependent upon each other. When God made a woman for Adam, He specified that the woman would be an ‘ezer kegnedo,’[1] a strength corresponding to him. God created us from the dust of the earth, so although we are stewards of the earth, we are also dependent on the earth. In the earth, God has provided for us the resources we need to do our tasks. In all these relationships, God has intended that we are to live in unity with Him, with one another and with our environment.

Over time, our unity in all these areas got more complicated as our numbers grew. We needed to create organizations which necessarily became more complex as our societies grew and as our collective impact on the earth became more substantial. We needed extra discipline to maintain our relationship with God. We also needed to develop more skills in diplomacy, administration, and hospitality as we deal with more and different people. We needed to pay closer attention to the effects of our culture on the earth and its creatures to minimize the damage from so many people using our physical resources.

All of our work, our stewardship, is intended to have a direction, to bring maturity, fruitfulness, and growth to God’s work. The work we were charged to begin in the Garden of Eden was designed to end in the filling and subduing of the earth, in the cultivation of the whole earth where heaven and earth overlap so that work and worship are the same thing.[2]

[1] God’s Word to Women. “Ezer Kenegdo” God’s Word to Women godswordtowomen.org/ezerkenegdo.htm; Francois, Mark Steven. “(Ezer Kenegdo) in Genesis 2:18” Between the Perfect and the Doomed markfrancois.wordpress.com/2013/07/22/%D7%A2%D6%B5%D7%96%D6%B6%D7%A8-%D7%9B%D6%B0%D6%BC%D7%A0%D6%B6%D7%92%D6%B0%D7%93%D6%B4%D6%BC%D7%95%D6%B9-ezer-kenegdo-in-genesis-218/

[2] Huber, Dave. “Avodah Word Study” EFCA Today Summer 2012 www.efcatoday.org/story/avodah-word-study

Observe

Read 1 Peter 4:7-11. What are we charged to do?