Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Important questions

i've been thinking a lot about how well we do what God is calling us to do...as a church...as individual parts of the body...and wondering about how we can improve. there is no doubt that God's call is clear. unless you're asleep, the needs of people and systems and organizations and families and culture are screaming out loud and clear. so what will we do?

an area of spiritual formation that we don't spend enough time addressing is the role of spiritual gifts in the life of the believer. here's a starting point: ask yourself the following questions and see what you come up with...

  • describe your personal, spiritual pilgrimage. what led to your conversion to christ? what formal and informal training has contributed to your growth? what crises have you weathered? what have been your experiences in ministry? what individuals have influenced you significantly?
  • is God "cultivating a concern" in you for ministry? what specific needs, issues, or situations particularly touch your heart? what concerns make you want to roll up your sleeves and go to work?
  • up to now, what concrete steps have you taken to address these needs or get involved in these issues?
  • specifically identify several things you expect to accomplish through this process.
  • set aside these expectations for the moment and dream. assume you had all the resources you wanted and needed, and that God would guarantee your success in anything you wanted to do. describe what your life would look like ten years from now. who would you be? what would you be doing?
  • identify several resources God has entrusted to you (spiritual gifts, natural talents, acquired skills, experiences).
  • what is your greatest strength?
  • are there any present barriers keeping you from living up to your God-given potential? If so, identify them.
  • where do you need to grow the most?

(thanks to mark oertli at bear valley church in denver, colorado for these questions)

we'll talk some more about this stuff. it's more important than you realize.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Nice list - I need to work on it.

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Those are some though-necessitating questions...

Do you think spiritual gifts have seasons?