Gifts Discernment Resources

The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ… Ephesians 4:11-12 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

There is a seeming endless variety of gifts discernment materials available for use in faith communities. What you use and how you use should be entirely based upon your context, how much time you have for assessments, and how you are going to be administering them. You can choose to use one or two for everyone or you can run through a variety.

We suggest you have some fun with this. People generally enjoy self-discovery.

Try to combine a few active assessments with some introspective ones. Consider even assigning “homework” by creating an assessment for participants to complete before they attend a workshop.

Are you interested in assessing certain gifts or assets? Here are assessments by category:

Gifts discernment assessments by category:

Hand – those things you can do with your hands

• Assessment for skills, knowledge, and interests

Head – those things you are good at with your brain, skills, knowledge, experiences, interests, imagination, personality

• Assessment for gifts of skills, knowledge, and interests
• Assessment for gifts of experiences
• Assessment for gifts of personality using Myers-Briggs
• Assessment for gifts of personality using Enneagram

Heart – those things about which you are passionate, faith, love

• Assessment for gifts of dreams and passions
• Assessment for gifts of faith and religion

Human – health, friendships, associations, networks, culture, traditions, influence, and important relationships in your neighborhood, community, and beyond – people you can ask to get things done

• Assessment for gift of relationships
• Assessment for gift of community and networks
• Assessment for networks used by the Episcopal Diocese of Alaska
• Assessment for gifts of your physical body

Bringing it all together

• Use this bringing-it-all-together tool to bring together the assessments you used in discerning your gifts
• Use this Pentecost-based tool to invite the entire faith community to name and share their gifts
• Use this assessment to discern a wide array of spiritual gifts in one worksheet

Learning Conversations

Invite people to gather into pairs and have a Learning Conversation.

• What 2 gifts, talents or skills do you have that make you a valuable family member, community resident, and friend?
• If you can do anything in the world, and know you can’t fail, what would you choose to do?
• What 2 skills make you especially good at your paid or volunteer work?
• What 2 organizations are most effective in this community and why?
• What is something that you love to do so much that you get lost in it for hours without getting bored?
• What do you care about?
• What associations and institutions do you have strong relationships with?
• What would your possible roles be?
• Who else should we contact?

Discovering where God is Calling You

Use this simple matrix to help you think about where God might be calling you into ministry and mission.

Other favorite gifts discernment assessments that are broader in scope:

http://www.elca.org/en/Our-Work/Congregations-and-Synods/Faith-Practices/Assessment-Tools

http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/entry/4262/finding-your-gifts-and-talents-for-service

Reprints of assessments from Created and Called

River of Life is a visual narrative method that helps people tell stories of the past, present and future: http://www.kstoolkit.org/River+of+Life