Spiritual Gift Inventories a Hinder?

[From the Sept/Oct 2008 issue's Editor Letter]

You’re in the middle of recruiting, aren’t you? Tell me if you’ve heard this excuse for not signing up: “Children’s ministry isn’t my spiritual gift.” If you’re like me, you may begin to wonder if the focus on spiritual gifts has unintentionally created a self-centered approach to ministry based on “who I am” rather than “what God is calling me to.” Makes me wonder.

Recently, I heard Wes Stafford, the president of Compassion International and author of Too Small to Ignore, talk about Mark 10:13-16: “One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch them and bless them, but the disciples told them not to bother him. But when Jesus saw what was happening, he was very displeased with his disciples. He said to them, ‘Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I assure you, anyone who doesn't have their kind of faith will never get into the Kingdom of God.’ Then he took the children into his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.”

Not only was Jesus “very displeased,” Wes said, but he was downright angry! And why? Because the adults stopped the children from getting to Jesus. They stood in their way. They became an obstacle or a hindrance.

In racquetball, there’s a funny rule that allows people to get a do-over if they miss a shot. All you have to do is call out “hinder”—meaning that your opponent got in the way. It doesn’t even have to be an intentional hindrance; it can be completely by accident. But calling “hinder” means that for whatever reason, your opponent kept you from reaching your goal.

It makes me wonder if we applied that to the church, what would it look like? Every time there wasn’t enough money to get the resources necessary for children to learn more about Jesus, could we call “hinder”? Every time we sat and prayed over vacant spots in our ministry, could we cry out “hinder”? Every time people made a comment about us just “babysitting,” could we lovingly help them see how their minimizing children’s ministry could result in a “hinder” somewhere down the road?

It was this line of musing that led to this issue’s Hot Topic article: “When Gifts Get in the Way." Read it with an open mind, and remember that Jesus called every one of us to do whatever is possible to get kids to Jesus. Could today’s spiritual gift inventories really be a “hinder”?

What do you think? Every week, you can find my musings on my blog at childrensministry.com. Come and join me!

Comments

[Larry Shallenberger]

Chris,

"Who I am" and "What God has called me to do" are never truly at odds.

But you are correct, people use gifts as an excuse to not serve. I think we can playfully poke fun of that when we teach on gifts.

I think one thing we need to recall to is that when Paul wrote about gifts, he wasn't thinking about spiritual gift inventories,check lists, or standardized assessments.

I believe the modern personality assessments cropped up during WWII to quickly get women launched into the workplace-- the thousands of men fighting overseas created a void that needed to be filled, quickly and accurately.

Perhaps part of the problem is our over-identification with our assessment tools.

Before our new tools church members had to pray, observe each other, tell stories, and appeal to the Holy Spirit before someone's gifts were confirmed. Today you can go online, take a 60 question test, and "know your gift."

(I know that I'm taking a poke at my leadership book that has an self-assessment quiz. But it's just another way that our surrounding culture changes how we think about the Bible, for good or ill.)

[Adam]

Chris! So glad to see a new blog post!

It's so funny you wrote about this; we just got done being in the middle of recruiting, and honestly, we started as the result of my wife and I attending the Conspire conference at Willow Creek.

10 years ago, fresh out of college, we started a theatre company, and we got used to doing everything ourselves. Hanging lights, selling tickets, directing shows, blocking scenes, recording music...When we moved into Children's Ministry, I found myself doing the same things. Leading worship, finding props, creating games, writing curriculum, making snacks, teaching, meeting, counseling...

Until God told me that what I was doing was "hindering" Him from using other people and their giftings.

Wha...? I thought I was doing good stuff!

I thought I was doing God's work, but what He really wants is to use as many people as He possibly can. Many hands, and all that jazz. (Would that be jazz hands?)

So, with that, we did a push for 100 new leaders in August. People thought we were nuts to shoot for such a big number.

We got 72 signed up. :)

I'd be still standing in the way, hindering all of those wonderfully talented and gifted leaders if God never showed me I was IN the way!

We now have the largest, fastest growing ministry in the church, and it was all because I stepped to the side. Maybe other Children's Pastors/Directors feel the same way? Like they HAVE to do it all? It's entirely possible that God is waiting to use someone in the congregation to bless the kids, someone who shares your passion for ministry!

--Pastor Adam

[Henry Zonio]

I haven't read the CM Mag article yet, but I do agree with your assessment on spiritual inventory type tests... or any kind of "strengths" test for that matter. I believe these are all great tools for discovering where you might have aptitude and gifting but to go so far as to say that working with kids is not one of your spiritual gifts... PLEASE!

I do understand people who aren't comfortable working directly with kids... OK maybe I don't understand them, but I give them the benefit of the doubt :) I always make sure those people know that they can still make an impact in the lives of kids by being involved in areas of CM that aren't about teaching.

But I think the whole inventory thing goes even further than just CM. Too many times it gets used as an excuse not to step out in faith and take risks that God is asking of those who follow him. All those inventories and such are TOOLS and should be used as TOOLS not as something that fits us into a nice little peg hole.

[Chris Yount Jones]

Great thoughts! I can't help thinking about how the Apostles chose people for service in Acts--no inventories...just prayer and observation to see who the Holy Spirit was setting aside for service. Isn't it interesting that we continue to create ways to edge out God's voice?

[oj]

I saw that you have a blog on spiritual gifts. Looks great!

We're building the blogroll of our spiritual gifts blog on UrbanMinistry.org. We'd like to add your blog to our

blogroll list, and were wondering if you would do the same for us. You could just call the link spiritual gifts at

UrbanMinistry.org. The URL is http://www.urbanministry.org/spiritual_gifts

It's good to see others with a passion for spiritual gifts and linking to each other seems like a great way to

expand the community of people trying to bring social change on this issue.

Let me know if you have any questions or if you have other ideas on how we might collaborate and connect our

communities.