My Most Recent Spiritual Gifts Test Results


Kari Way
(Please print these pages for a permanent record of your analysis.)
Spiritual Gifts
Strength

Evangelism 13

Prophecy 15

Teaching 16

Exhortation 12

Pastor/Shepherd 16

Showing Mercy 8

Serving 5

Giving 10

Administration 19

About Your Spiritual Gifts

Spiritual gifts are tools God gives Christians to do the work of the ministry -- to fulfill the Great Commission to reach, baptize, and teach and to minister to one another. Every Christian receives at least one gift at the moment of salvation. Spiritual gifts are not rewards, are not natural talents, are not a place of service, are not an age-group ministry, and are not a specialty ministry. They express themselves through various ministries which, in turn, accomplish a variety of results. A spiritual gift is the primary channel by which the Holy Spirit ministers through the believer. It is a supernatural capacity for service to God -- and He gives you a supernatural desire to perform the duties of that gift. Spiritual gifts are tools for building the church. They are a source of joy in your Christian life and influence your motives. A spiritual gift is a divine calling with a divine responsibility, because what God has gifted you to do, He has called you to do, and what He has called you to do, He has gifted you to do.
There are three categories of gifts: The Miraculous Gifts, generally known today as Charismatic Gifts; the Enabling Gifts which all Christians have the ability to develop (faith, discernment, wisdom, and knowledge -- qualities possessed rather than activities performed); and Team Gifts which are activity, service, or task-oriented. The Team Gifts are functional and involve speaking or ministering. Chances are, you have several of these gifts that vary in different degrees and intensity. In many cases, spiritual gifts even complement your secular employment. The Spiritual Gifts Analysis you took identified your dominant TEAM GIFTS which will help you find your place on the team in your church. Prayer and serving God will also help you see where God wants you. This profile gives you a simple bar graph showing how all the gifts relate to you and to each other, but analyzes indepth only your dominant and secondary gifts which are the ones that will have greater influence in your life.


Your dominant gifts are Administration, Teaching, Pastor/Shepherd


The results of your Spiritual Gifts Inventory indicate that your number one dominant gift is ADMINISTRATION! The Greek word "kubernesis" means one who steers a ship. This expert had the responsibility to bring a ship into the harbor through the rocks and shoals, under all types of pressures. As an administrator you have the Spirit-given capacity and desire to serve God by organizing, administering, promoting, and leading the various affairs of the church. The administrator is not a glorified file clerk.
As an administrator you are a take-charge person who jumps in and starts giving orders when no one is in charge. You will put a plan on paper and start delegating responsibility. You may lean toward organizing things, events or programs, OR toward organizing people, emphasizing personal relationships and leadership responsibilities. In the first case, you usually organize details and have people carry them out. In the second case, you tend to organize people and rely on others to take care of the little things.
You don't often admit to mistakes and do not like to take time to explain why you are doing things; you just expect the job to get done. If things in the church, office, club, etc. become fragmented, you can harmonize the whole program if given a chance. You are a person with a dream and are not afraid to attempt the impossible. You are goal-oriented, well-disciplined, and work best under heavy pressure. You are often a good motivator and not a procrastinator. You are serious minded, highly motivated, intense, and have an accurate self-image. You tend to be more interested in the welfare of the group than your own desire. You are probably a perfectionist and want things done your way now.
Although to others you appear to be organized, you usually aren't. Be careful that you do not make decisions just based on logic rather than Scripture. Work on your willingness to admit to making a mistake and on being more sensitive to "little" people. Try to be a little more tolerant of other people's mistakes.
Beware of Satan's attack on your gift. He can cause pride because of your leadership role, selfishness because of success (not sharing glory with those under you), blame-shifting when things go wrong, discouragement and frustration when goals are not met, anger and mistreatment of those who disagree with your plans, lack of concern for people, lack of spiritual growth, and wrong motives.
HOW CAN YOU USE YOUR DOMINANT GIFT? You may work well as the leader of a project, ministry, or program; chairman of a committee or board; a church planner; or chairman of building or fund-raising projects. Other positions where you may serve well include pastor, assistant pastor, business manager, office manager or department head for large staff, Sunday school superintendent, fellowship group or missionary circle leader, library manager, camp director, church moderator, bus ministry director, nursery coordinator or Vacation Bible School director.



The results of your Spiritual Gifts Inventory indicate that your second dominant gift is TEACHING! The Greek word for teacher "didaskalos" means master, teacher or doctor. As a teacher you are one who communicates knowledge, guides, makes known or relays facts. You are likely more in-depth than the average Sunday school teacher. You have the Spirit-given capacity and desire to serve God by making clear the truth of God's Word with accuracy.
As a teacher you live to learn and teach (or perhaps write if you teach through the written medium). You should learn to teach in two manners which may be contrary to your nature. The material must be simple so students can understand it, and it must be practical. The pastor/shepherd, the prophet, and the exhorter (those with speaking gifts) usually rely on your resources to help fulfill their responsibilities.
You love the Word, enjoy reading, may be a little shy of strangers, are creative and imaginative, and prefer teaching groups over individuals. You are generally confident, self-disciplined, and sometimes technical. You probably love charts, graphs, and lists. You would sometimes rather just do research, but "must teach" because others would not teach it the way you would. The use of a verse out of context upsets you and you question the knowledge of those who teach you. You are organized and enjoy studying. You are so concerned with accuracy that you often dwell on the trivial, giving others the feeling that you give too many details. Some may even think you are boring.
Be careful that you are not critical of people who differ with your doctrine and that you do not measure other people's spirituality by their amount of Bible knowledge. Be willing to listen as well as talk. Don't hesitate to read directions and work on developing tolerance for others' mistakes.
If you score high in the gift of teaching and very low in the gift of shepherding, you probably won't make a good Sunday school teacher or group leader. Your tendency will be to relay knowledge and not shepherd or minister to the other needs of your students. People who use the gift of teaching in vocational service usually become teachers of teachers, professors, authors, or in-depth researchers.
HOW CAN YOU USE YOUR DOMINANT GIFT? You do not necessarily have to teach the Bible to be a help to the church ministry. Although you can help with interpretation or teaching teachers and others, you may teach in areas such as education, business, finance, or computers. You may enjoy writing and developing curriculum. You would probably serve well as a Bible institute teacher or a correspondence course instructor. Your gift also lends itself to the mission field where you could serve as a missionary/teacher. You may want to teach a basic doctrine course to newcomers or new Christians or host quarterly small group studies on different topics. You may enjoy doing research for the pastor or others who teach.



The results of your Spiritual Gifts Inventory indicate that your second dominant gift is PASTORING/SHEPHERDING! The Greek word "poimen" means pastor. In Paul's spiritual gifts listing in Ephesians 4:11, this term is translated "pastor." Although the word "poimen" is translated pastor only one time in Scripture it is used sixteen additional times. The remaining sixteen are all translated "shepherd." Therefore, we are actually discussing the GIFT of shepherding, not the POSITION of pastor. Though a good pastor must have the gift of shepherding, everyone who has the gift of shepherding is not called to be pastor. The gift can be used in many positions in a church.
As a gifted shepherd, you have the Spirit-given capacity and desire to serve God by overseeing, training, and caring for the needs of a group of Christians. You are usually very patient, people-centered, and willing to spend time in prayer for others. You tend to be a "Jack of All and Master of ONE," meaning you are usually dominant in one of the speaking gifts (evangelist, prophet, teacher, exhorter) as well. You are often authoritative, more a leader than a follower, and expressive, composed, and sensitive. Your pleasing personality draws people to you.
You have a burden to see others learn and grow and are protective of those under your care. You want to present the whole Word of God and do not like to present the same materials more than once. You are willing to study what is necessary to feed your group and are more relationship oriented than task oriented. You are a peace-maker and diplomat - very tolerant of people's weaknesses. You tend to remember people's names and faces. You are more concerned with doing for others than others doing for you. You are faithful and devoted and may become a workaholic. You can become an all-purpose person in order to meet needs.
People with the gift of shepherding make the best Sunday school teachers and group leaders because their desire is to go beyond just teaching or leading, to shepherd and minister to the daily needs of their students. The position of Sunday school teacher or group leader is an extension of the pastoral ministry in the church. These groups should be shepherded on a small scale the same as the pastor shepherds the whole congregation on a large scale.
Be careful to involve other people; don't try to do it all yourself. Work on making people accountable. Do not be overly protective of your "flock." Because of these potentially weak areas, other people may think it is your job to do all the work; they rely too heavily on you. You may be expected to be available at all times, know all the answers, and be at every function. Learn when to say no.
Beware of Satan's attack on your gift. He will cause discouragement when the load gets heavy, and pride because your "sheep" look up to you. You may develop family problems because of too little time and attention. You may become selfish when "sheep" feed in other pastures.
HOW CAN YOU USE YOUR GIFT? This gift is a great help in many areas. You may serve as a Sunday school teacher, small group leader, pastor or assistant pastor, bus captain, special ministry leader (such as youth, children, men, etc.), nursery worker or as a half-way house or other type shelter volunteer. You may consider serving as a dormitory leader in a college, orphanage, children's home, etc. Scout troops would appreciate your assistance as a den leader.

SKUBALON...AND...HOLDING IT ALL IN AN OPEN HAND

It shouldn't surprise me that Satan continues to wage war, and that he's good at it. But it is always harder i.e.., more humiliating, to admit that he has found your weakness when you are in a leadership role. I have had the privilege, as of late to be in the position where I have had to ask forgiveness and admit I was wrong. (Believe it or not this is not a novel position I find myself in. It happens daily with my husband and my children, but this is on a more grander/less intimate scale.) I say privilege because for me, someone who continues to contend with the heart-sins of pride and a critical spirit, coming face to face with my wretchedness has a cleansing affect on me. It brings me to a place where I am stripped of any self-aggrandizement my mind wishes to indulge in. As a friend said best, it puts me in the place I love to be in the most, "in the dirt at the foot of the cross". What a precious place! What a sorrowfully sweet place. To be reminded-again!-that I am nothing. That the only thing I have to boast in (as Paul so eloquently put it) is Christ crucified. Everything else is skubalon! I stepped in a pile of skubalon once-with bare feet...yeah.

I can be the most confident leader, fully prepared for every scenario. Equipped up the yazoo with contingencies, strategies and methods. If these fail, I can do the whole thing by myself. After all, it takes longer to train somebody to do something than it does to just do it yourself, and then you don't have to deal with their learning curves. But I continue to learn in deeper and deeper ways what Paul was really getting at when he says in our weakness He is strong. It is precisely at these moments of utter weakness, inadequateness, ineptness and failures; when God takes a screw-up who can not possibly______! and chooses to use them AND their failure to 1) bring glory to Himself and 2) accomplish His purposes!

All my righteousness is filthy rags, and only a girl post menstrual can fully appreciate that simile! Hah!! I love the way the bible is so graphic. Thank God for making the gospel so simple, even if it is hard to believe (see John MacArthur's book, Hard To Believe--most excellent!). That is another post. So is the next point leaning around the corner of my mind: the relevancy of the gospel. I have many thoughts on the faithfulness vs. relevancy debate...I never promise profound thoughts, just thoughts. I've gapped. Redirect.

It is the most vulnerable place to be. The place when you are face to face with your sin, and you confess that sin to others. It is past the point of justifying, shifting blame or making excuses. I don't think that there is room in that moment for pride, at least I don't believe I've ever experienced it there. I leave room for error in this as I am acutely aware that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. No one short of the One who judges our deepest thoughts and motives can ever know.

So, Zachary survived Wildwood Leadership Camp, Haiti and the Navajo Reservation, but the day he came home he almost slices off three fingers with a machete. After a trip to the emergency room, 27ish stitches, a trip to a hand specialist, surgery scheduled for Wednesday and many many talks about what the Lord is trying to teach Zach and us through this experience, I have been mulling over in my mind holding "things" in an open hand. This has been a recurring topic in our band throughout the years, as God gives and takes away. Zachary and I discussed the possibility of God using this experience to make him aware of the fact that his guitar playing could be an idol-worse case. Or just something that he must be willing to hold in an open hand before God. In his heart, allowing God to take that away if He chooses. Not inferring that we can give God the green light-that's laughable, and definitely not suggesting that God is fickle and hasn't made up His mind. Yes, a blast to the openness theology heresy. But recognizing that we have nothing, ability, personality, instinct, gift, that He hasn't given us. It is all His to do as He wills for His glory and for our good. Zachary loves playing! It probably gives him the greatest joy. He feels the closest to Jesus when he is playing/worshipping. Yet even those good amazing things that God gives us, those things that we may think define our closeness to Him. They are not HIM!! They need to be held in an open hand stretched out to God. A sacrifice to Him. I think that when we begin to close our fist and pull it to our chest it becomes skubalon. Hard lessons to learn...