Does your Church know what your gifts are?

Through my entire Christian life and the various churches I’ve been part of (which are many), I’ve never seen the congregation asked “what are your gifts from the Holy Spirit?” So last Lord’s Day I paused teaching through our Orthodox Catechism during the Sunday School class, and we did just that.

I’ve promised our congregation in the past, that I would never embarrass them by directly calling on them, asking them questions in front of others, and then embarrassing them if they don’t have the answer (which is unfair, and unwise to do). Especially if I already had the upper hand by already studying the rarely used five-syllable word that has not reached their vocabulary bank in many years. But I told them I would do that on this day, because the Lord has given every Christian a spiritual gift, and they should know what it is (or what they are).

After asking every ‘professing’ Christian one by one “what are your gifts from the Holy Spirit,” it was clear that many professed to share the same gift(s), and we already knew that about some of them. But others shared more unique giftedness. We then engaged in dialog, and I went over what the Scriptures said about His gifts that He has given us, and why He has given them to us. This put our Sunday school onto overtime, but no one was looking at their watches.

Many of our members have been there longer than myself, and some of them are fairly new. Therefore, some will need to be vetted much longer than others. Nonetheless, both Elders desire to foster an environment where all members (or those desirous of membership) feel they are important to our local body, and we hope to see more of them use their gifts in an ecclesiological context, affirmed by both Elders. We don’t want our congregation looking like a morgue, where we need to see if they have a pulse, or if rigor mortis has set-in. Though we will refrain from the charismatic movement or anything beyond the Scriptures, Jesus warned about the lukewarm church and the dead church. Soli Deo Gloria