Are you living your life the way God would want you too?
Help find your Spiritual Gifts and use them effectively in church ministries and the community.
Who is this book for?
Every Christian who wants to serve God and stay the distance.
It will enable you to discover your spiritual gifts and use them in the church and community in a way that is sustainable and lifegiving.
The purpose of this handbook is to enable you to find your Spiritual Gifts and to help you use them in church ministries and the community through the love shown to us by Jesus.
We fail to understand that our individual lives only have meaning when we participate in, and contribute vitally to, the community of faith. God is community–three in one, one expressed in three ways of being, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Yet amazingly God invites us to join in community with Himself and with each other.
The most genuine way we can do this is to understand how this God of community has made us. Understanding ourselves; our strengths, our gifts; enables us to contribute to Christ’s body in meaningful ways. When we enter into relationship with God, we enter into relationship with other believers. Very few Christians make it on their own. We all need somewhere to contribute.
The purpose of this handbook is:
To enable believers to discover their God-given spiritual gifts.
To discover how well they are using them in their lives.
To know their character better so they can serve others in love.
To enable church leaders to reorganise their churches around member’s Spiritual Gifts.
This handbook enables you to achieve the first three of the above purposes by yourself and at your own pace. Alternatively, you can complete all three by attending an organised course. The best way of achieving the most out of this handbook is to tackle each exercise one step at a time
About the Authors
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At age thirteen I committed my life to Christ. Sadly, it took more than another forty years before I began to understand how to live my life God’s way. Even sadder is the fact that it has taken me another fifteen years to realise that the majority of Christians in most churches do not know their spiritual gifts and therefore have little idea whether they are using them or not.
To live life God’s way the Holy Spirit has given all believers spiritual gifts, in order to enable the body of Christ to function efficiently and effectively in serving others.,The significance of finding my spiritual gifts and knowing that Jesus died so that I can have a relationship with and proximity to every day has enabled me to assist in writing this handbook.
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Not growing up in a Christian family, nor being totally surrounded by Christians my whole life, has been an advantage; I thank the Lord that I was found by Jesus’ magnificent, all encompassing love when I was seventeen. Before that time, I had never experienced unconditional love.
That experience has never left me. When someone self identified as ‘not Christian’ asked what is different about me, all I could reply is that I know God loves me no matter what. No matter how many times I stuff up or how badly, I am secure in his love. Of course, that doesn’t mean my life has been easy. I was never promised that all would be smooth sailing. What I was promised was constant love and companionship. That promise has proved true. What has also proved true is that the Almighty Sovereign God will never be boxed in. God will operate in the way that is best–not in ways we think God ought to. I guess this is why I find myself as an ordained Anglican Priest. My early ordained days were as Curate and then vicar of Holy Trinity Church in Richmond, Tasman, New Zealand. Later I moved to roles within Christchurch Diocese.