Discovery: At NPC we give the Spiritual Gifts Workshop. The purpose of the class is to help participants discover how their Spiritual Gifts, personality type, abilities and skills as well as passions blend together in their lives and are translated into meaningful ministry. Participants take the Haugk Spiritual Gifts Inventory that measures 20 Spiritual Gifts from scripture. The top scoring gifts for each person are areas where the Holy Spirit has endowed them with special capabilities. Once the class is over the participants are encouraged to continue the discovery process. Each person has the opportunity to meet with someone on the interview team to reflect on the results of their class activities and begin to take the next step in the development of their gifts.

Development: The process of development involves getting your feet wet. The church is a great place to try out a variety of activities that use our Spiritual Gifts. Ask others for feedback when you use your gifts. Ask yourself how you feel and how effective you are when you use your gifts. To pursue your passions, find out what the needs in the church and the world are that you care deeply about. Evaluate what further training you might need in order to develop the gifts used in a particular ministry. Be open to trying out different ministries until a good fit for you is found. Pastor Walter Ray said at the class, that sometimes we don’t know whether we’d be effective or even enjoy a ministry or activity until we’ve tried it out.

Deployment: Once you’ve discovered and developed your gifts, the third step is deployment. Haugk has a great definition of ministry. “Your ministry is where your gifts meet the world’s needs.” Spiritual Gifts are for building up the body of Christ and ministering to the needs of the world. Think about your gifts in relation to the needs at NPC and the people it ministers to. What needs to be done organizationally or for people? God has loaned us Spiritual Gifts so that we may use them in ministry. When you use your gifts to help others and it gives you a deep sense of fulfillment, then you’ve found the ministry God created and called you to do.