Goal Four: CULTIVATE! Nurturing the spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:1-7) of every individual, church, and agency.
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Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good [1 Corinthians 12:1-7 (niv)].
Spiritual gifts are the means by which God organizes his church. Church of God Ministries and its partners in transformation desire that all believers in the Church of God—clergy and laity—will discover their gifts and, with the blessing and direction of the Holy Spirit, be who their gifts call them to be. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to believers for the purpose of service in and with the Christian community. Every believer has at least one spiritual gift. All need to discover their gift and become involved in the ministry of the church—as the Corinthians passage says, “for the common good.”
The effective church is the church that teaches and helps the believers learn their gifts and then assigns them to the work of the church based on their gift.
Spiritual gifts revealed in the Scriptures and in the lives of Christians are a great demonstration of the power of God in otherwise weak men and women. As believers become better acquainted with their own spiritual gifts by study and experience, they will share Paul’s confession with growing assurance: “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:10).
Church of God Ministries and its transformational partners desire that all—every individual, congregation, and agency—who travel under the banner of the Church of God reformation movement will discover who they are within the body of Christ, how they are gifted by the Spirit to serve the body and the Kingdom, and where their giftedness is best utilized.
Over the next years, these resources will be refreshed, more fully developed, and new resources will be added.
New Resources
"Discovering the Gift"—David Sebastian, Dean, Anderson University School of Theology, provides a clear, thoughtful, and succinct instructive piece on the gifts of the Spirit. In this paper, Dr. Sebastian provides a strong biblical base for gifts, provides clear definitions, a process for determining and then testing your gifts—all in the context of understanding the call of God on your life and ministry.
"Women and Men: Guarding Our Sacred Partnership in Ministry"— In this reflective piece that addresses the call to ministry for men and women, with an emphasis on addressing those arguments that have kept women out of some key leadership roles, Dr. David Sebastian, Dean, Anderson University School of Theology, finds a thoughtful and biblical basis for understanding key problematic biblical texts used to keep women out of leadership, while addressing the broader call of God to all humans whom he calls and gifts for leadership. This would be an excellent paper for review and discussion in any congregation thinking about the role of leadership in the life of the God’s church.
