Help Each Person to Make Use of Spiritual Gifts,
Talents and Background in Ministry

The spiritual gifts listed below include a person in the Bible for each gift, who serves as an example. This makes it easier to explain and remember the significance of the gifts.

Group Activity: Practice Spiritual Gifts Listed in Romans 12:6-8

Relate the biblical examples or explanations for gifts that need clarification. Some are too long to read; recount by memory the relevant parts. Mark gifts in the brackets [ ] that need to be developed in our group. You will probably need to arrange for help from other groups (and give help to them in areas in which your group is strong).

[ ] Serve: Samuel, 1 Sam. 1:20-28; 3:1-21; Deacons, Acts 6:1-7; Dorcas, Acts 9:36-41

[ ] Prophesy--messages from God for strength, consolation and encouragement; 1 Corinthians 14:3

[ ] Give--Abigail, 1 Sam. 25; guidelines: 2 Corinthians 9

[ ] Teach--Ezra: Nehemiah 8; purpose, Ephesians 4:11-16

[ ] Encourage--exhort: Paul with the Ephesian elders, Acts 20:17-38

[ ] Lead--servant leader who helps others to minister: Moses, Ex. 18:13-26

[ ] Show mercy--The sheep and goats, Matt. 25:31-46; Good Samaritan, Lk10:30-35; David with Saul, 1 Samuel 24

Ask persons with these gifts to help others discover and use them.

Group Activity: Practice Also the Gifts Listed in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11, 27-30

[ ] Counsel with wisdom--Solomon, 1 Kings 3:5-28

[ ] Base decisions on knowledge (facts)--Bereans’ searching the Word, Acts 17:10-12

[ ] Help--Aquila and Priscilla, Acts18:1-5, 24-28

[ ] Go, as an Apostle (sent one, with itchy feet, a spiritual entrepreneur)--Romans 5:20-21; Paul and Barnabas, Acts chapters 13-14

[ ] Discern--Nathan, 2 Sam. Chapters 11-12; Paul, Gal. 2:6-21

[ ] Heal--Jesus and the paralytic, Mark 2:1-12; Peter and John heal the crippled man, Acts chapters 3-4

[ ] Administrate--Nehemiah: Nehemiah chapters 2-3

[ ] Do miracles--Elijah: 1 Kings 18:16-46; Elisha: 2 Kings chapters 2-5

[ ] Speak in tongues--Cornelius’ household, Acts 10:44-48. Use this gift with the following:

[ ] Interpret tongues--see cautions in 1 Corinthians14

[ ] Use faith (all need it but some stir it in others)--the leper and the centurion, Matt. 8:1-13; Old Testament faithful, Hebrews 11

 Ask persons with these gifts to help others use them.

Group Activity: Practice Additional Gifts Listed in Ephesians 4:11

[ ] Announce the Good News (evangelist)--Philip; Acts 8:26-40

[ ] Pastor (shepherd) -- Acts 20:28-34; 1 Peter 5:1-4 (see Vital Pastoral Duties, below)

Vital Pastoral Duties besides Teaching (Ministries of persons with the pastoral or shepherding gift)

1. Mobilize

You, more than anyone else, are responsible to see that each member of your group uses his or her gifts in ministry to edify the Body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-16). Review the gifts listed in Group Activities 25-27 regularly and discuss them every few months with those who do not yet know their area of ministry. If you are more of a teacher and not able to do this well, you must ask another to share the leadership.

2. Aim for Balance

Do not over-emphasize any of the gift-based ministries (1 Corinthians 12:14-30). A church’s greatest weakness is nearly always its strongest ministry taken to excess.

3. Network

Remember: No small group has all the spiritual gifts it needs! New Testament group body life requires interaction between groups. Poor Christians in Macedonia, for example, had the gift of giving and used it to strengthen the Lord’s work in other places (2 Corinthians 8:1-5, compared with Acts 18:1-5).

The exhortations in the New Testament to serve each other with different God-given gifts in the body were made to clusters of small groups. The ‘churches’ in Jerusalem and Ephesus, etc., were not single congregations. There was no church building (chapel or temple), historians tell us, to house large congregations for over 275 years after Christ. They met as small groups in homes.

Ask persons with the gifts of apostle or pastor to help others use them.