God wants the church to be the visible Body of Christ in today’s world. He calls us to continue the ministry begun on earth by Jesus Christ, based on our total faith in him and the free work of the Holy Spirit in us, the believing community.

     One key to God’s work in the church is good stewardship of the various gifts of the Spirit. The apostle Paul says, “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. . . . Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good” (1 Cor. 12:4,7). And the apostle Peter says, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering [or being a good steward of] God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10).

     The following pages outline the biblical teaching on spiritual gifts and show how gifts fit in the life of the church. We will see what it means in practice for us as believers to be united together in one Body.

     Key Scriptures: Romans 12:4—8; 1 Corinthians 12—14; Ephesians 4:11—16; Hebrews 2:4; 1 Peter 4:10—11.

     Supplemental Scriptures: Romans 1:11; 1 Corinthians 1:7; 7:7; 1 Timothy 4:14; 2 Timothy 1:6; Exodus 35:30—35.

     Definition: A spiritual gift is God’s grace working through the personality of the believer, equipping him or her for particular ministry, so that the church may be strengthened in worship, fellowship, and witness. Thus the kingdom of God is advanced and God is glorified in all things.

     1. Gifts are given for the proper functioning of the church in all ages—for its edification, integrity, and wholeness. The constant concern of the New Testament writers is that the church may be “edified,” or built up. It is the whole body, not just individual believers, which is to “become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). Paul shows in Ephesians 4 that the church “builds itself up in love” through the ministry of each believer, “as each part does its work” (v. 16). Understanding, discovering, and exercising gifts is a basic part of this maturing process.

     The Bible tells us that the “fullness” of God’s grace is found in Jesus Christ (Cot. 1:19). From this fullness God the Spirit distributes gifts to each believer (Eph. 4:7) so that we may live, love, and serve as Jesus did. This is what it means to be the Body of Christ.

     2. Every believer has at least one spiritual gift. The New Testament writers waste no time trying to prove this point, for in the early church the universal distribution of gifts to all believers was assumed and understood. Paul says, “To each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given” (1 Cor. 12:7).

     That every believer has at least one gift is confirmed by the fact that we are all members of each other (Rom. 12:5). To be a part of the body is to have a function in the body, for no part of the body is useless or unnecessary. Part of spiritual growth is discovering just where we fit in the body. This is where spiritual gifts come in.

     3. No believer has all the gifts. How easily we assume that pastors or other leaders should have all the spiritual gifts! Yet the Bible nowhere promises this. We expect too much if we think a pastor can teach, counsel, administer, organize, evangelize, and disciple others. Rather each person, including leaders, is to function according to the grace God has given him or her.

     Only one person in history had all the gifts, and that is our Head, Jesus Christ. The Bible specifically tells us that Jesus was an apostle, prophet, teacher, healer, and miracle worker. Whether he ever spoke in tongues we do not know; the New Testament is silent. As our Head and Leader, and the source of our own ministries, Jesus distributes grace gifts to each of us so that we may together be able to continue his kingdom ministry on earth. The point of the gifts, however, is precisely that the gifts are distributed. The church is a body, not one gigantic arm or mouth. Paul says, “If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be?” (1 Cor. 12:17). Our goal should be to find our own gifts and help equip others to exercise theirs—not seek to have all the gifts ourselves.

     4. No single gift should be expected or required of all believers. This also follows from the fact that we together all make up the Body of Christ. How absurd to require, for example, that every believer should be a mouth or a foot! This is part of what Paul is teaching the Corinthians. They were exalting some gifts over others and competing in gifts to demonstrate their supposed spirituality. Paul calls them to account, downplaying the very gifts they were most excited about.

     Perhaps we have heard persons especially gifted in evangelism or in intercessory prayer tell of their ministry and encourage others to imitate them. We must be careful about this. We can rejoice in every believer’s ministry, but not everyone is gifted as an evangelist or called to a special prayer ministry. Every believer is to pray and to be a witness, but we will vary greatly in the way we do this, partly according to our gifts. Likewise with speaking in tongues. God gives some this gift, not all, as he sovereignly chooses. We should neither expect all believers to speak in tongues, even when they are filled with the Spirit, nor forbid this gift when God does give it.

     5. Gifts are usually related to our personalities. Often we can see a link between certain personality traits and one’s spiritual gifts. Evangelists, for instance, are often people with a natural capacity to meet and influence people. But this is not always the case.

     People often ask whether gifts are the same as talents. The biblical answer seems to be that while the two are not the same, yet gifts are often related to or build on talents. For example, a Christian may have a natural ability to teach, but this is not necessarily a spiritual gift. It may become a gift when the person gives himself or herself fully to God and allows the gift to be ignited by the Spirit so that it becomes a genuine channel of God’s grace.

     We must remember, of course, that even so-called natural abilities already are gifts from God. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:7, “What do you have that you did not receive?” Speaking to Jeremiah, God said, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart . . . as a prophet to the nations” (Jer. 1:5). God has a plan for each of us. He knows us even before our conception. Now God wishes to use us as we turn over to him all our “natural” abilities and let him make of them what he will. In some cases a connection between these abilities and our gifts is easily recognized; in other cases, perhaps not.

     6. Most spiritual gifts can be counterfeited. Spiritual gifts are no sure proof of spirituality; one may receive genuine gifts, yet use them improperly. In fact, Paul says the Corinthian church had many gifts but still was carnal, or worldly (1 Cor. 1:7; 3:1—3).

     The Bible speaks of false prophets, false apostles (Rev. 2:2), and false teachers. Satan loves to counterfeit gifts and ministries in the church, creating confusion and division. Therefore we need to be on guard against the idea that to be gifted necessarily means to be spiritual. We must avoid any tendency to compare or compete in the matter of gifts.

     7. The gifts of the Spirit are to be accompanied by the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22—23). This is the answer to the problem of spiritual counterfeiting. The enemy can counterfeit gifts, but he is unable to counterfeit persuasively, or for very long, the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, self-control, and the other fruit of the Spirit really are the fruit of the Spirit’s work in our lives.

     Biblically, there is no conflict between the gifts and the fruit of the Spirit, as we saw earlier. Both come from the same source. We should avoid any either/or thinking here—either gifts or the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit enables us to show the spirit of Jesus Christ; the gifts enable us to minister effectively in Jesus’ spirit.

     8. Gifts provide guidance for the church’s ministry. What does God want us to do? What should be the ministry focus of our local church? One way to find out is to look at the gifts God is giving us.

     Often churches simply go on year after year with the same ministries, even when the people and gifts in the congregation change. Gifts help us see where our ministry priorities really ought to be. God promises us all the gifts necessary for ministry, so examining the gifts in our congregation may give new clues as to what God wants us to do now, in the present situation. First, however, we must take care to disciple one another and discover our gifts, for gifts often lie dormant, like dry seeds, awaiting the care and nurture of the congregation and the renewing rain of the Spirit.

     9. Faithfulness in exercising gifts leads to greater fruitfulness. Jesus teaches this in his parables. The faithful steward of God’s grace is given still more. Jesus says, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:8).

     This is a crucial aspect of spiritual stewardship and growth. Perhaps the most important church growth we can hope and pray for is growth in gift ministry in the spirit of Jesus. For that will surely lead to the growth of the body in numbers as well as in Christlikeness. In this sense, our most important stewardship is the stewardship of God’s grace gifts to us.

     10. The equipping gifts (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher) are given so all believers may be enabled to use their gifts in Christian ministry. The New Testament makes this clear in Ephesians 4:11—12, a key text for understanding ministry and leadership in the Bible. God gives “apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers” to the church precisely “to prepare God’s people for works of service,” or “for the work of ministry.” The key role of pastoral leaders in the church is equipping all believers for ministry. If we compare Ephesians 4:11—12 with 1 Corinthians 12:28, we see that this equipping involves, among other things, helping each person to discover and use his or her gifts.

     Significantly, the New Testament presents no hierarchy of leaders in the church. It does not distinguish between those who are ministers and those who are not, for we are all called to ministry. Rather, the New Testament shows that precisely because all are gifted, some receive equipping or enabling gifts (leadership gifts) to help the whole body become a ministering community. This is the key to gifts becoming not simply disconnected appendages but part of the effective functioning of the whole body. In this way gifts really become practical and strategic in the overall life and ministry of the church.

     1. Live in total obedience to God. Gifts can become a trap or a detour from spiritual maturity for people who are fighting God at some point in their lives. The first step for all of us is to seek the Giver, not the gift. Only when we have determined to obey God in everything are we ready to turn our attention to gifts. If church members are already exercising gifts, they must be careful to keep obeying God in all areas of life. This is the insurance against spiritual counterfeits.

     2. Know about gifts and how they function in the church. Nothing substitutes for sound biblical knowledge about gifts. Teaching on gifts and how they function in the normal life and ministry of the church is an essential ingredient in effective discipling.

     3. Participate in small-group Bible study. This is perhaps the best way to learn about gifts, for in small groups learning is linked to growth in fellowship, caring, and ministry to one another. This was part of the genius of the Methodist bands and class meetings.

     A good approach is to join with a dozen or so other people in studying the biblical material on gifts. But this should be done in connection with a broader study of the church in the New Testament. A combined study of Ephesians, Hebrews, 1 Corinthians 12—14, and Romans 12—15 may be useful. The group might also want to use some good books on gifts, such as Kenneth Kinghorn’s Gifts of the Spirit. Prayer for one another, and for each other’s gifts and ministries, should be a natural part of this group experience.

     4. Examine your aspirations for ministry and service. What do you dream of doing for God? How would you really like to minister? These dreams and aspirations may give clues to undeveloped areas of giftedness in your life. Make this a careful matter of prayer. Keeping a spiritual journal may help. Morton Kelsey’s Adventure Inward: Christian Growth Through Personal Journal Writing (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1980) is a useful resource for this kind of enterprise.
 
     5. Experiment with different kinds of ministry. It may take time to discover your gifts. But simply finding places to serve others will help. As you practice servanthood in the spirit of Jesus, you may find areas of ministry you never dreamed of.

     As we learn more about ourselves and our gifts, we will know better when to say yes and when to say no to ministry opportunities. In the meantime, we should simply seek to be servants. Regardless of where our gifts lie, the overriding quality of our lives should be serving one another in love (Gal. 5:13).
 
     6. Evaluate results and reactions. How did you feel about your service to others, and what was the result? How did others respond? Here also we may find clues to giftedness.

     As we begin to discover gift areas in our lives, we will sense the fulfillment of being used of God. We will find ourselves discovering new identities as Christian workers. We will find that God is working both through us and in us, and that the results are more than could be expected from a merely human standpoint.

     7. Expect the confirmation of the church. Here is a safeguard against any “Lone Ranger” attitude toward gifts. We don’t discover gifts by going off in a corner by ourselves, and we don’t exercise our gifts all by ourselves. Our gift ministry is part of our contribution to the Body. As we minister in the spirit of Jesus, God through his people will confirm and encourage our gifts.

     Gifts may be recognized and confirmed in many ways. Ordination to pastoral leadership is one way the church affirms God’s gifts for ministry. Each church should find appropriate ways to recognize and affirm members’ gifts in many areas, from evangelism to discipling to hospitality to administration.

     This means, of course, that our lives must be lived in intimate union with our sisters and brothers in the Christian community. As love, trust, and encouragement increase, the church will joyfully confirm our gifts. Moreover, it will find ways to encourage and support us in our gifts so that our ministry may grow and the whole church benefit.

     What is the result of all this? “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every kind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Eph. 4:14-16).

     Here is God’s description of a church that is both holy and charismatic.