SPIRITUAL GIFTS DEFINITIONS PAGE ONE
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Spiritual Gifts Defined in Alphabetical Order
Spiritual Gift # 1 Administration: Administration is the ability to organize information, events, or material to work efficiently for the body of Christ. The administrator can see a local church’s ministries in full scope, past present and future. He or she likes to work with a plan. Administrators usually are well-organized, disciplined, and like everything in its place. They tend to be task oriented and hard-working. He or she likes to do detailed work and seldom procrastinates. Administrators are good with charts, lists, and reports. Administrators are like managers and focus predominantly on organization, details, schedules and skills instead of on the relationships and people involved. Administrators are sometimes confused with leaders. Leaders however work more with relationships, vision, risk-taking and overall planning. Leaders work to put a plan in place. Administrators work to keep the plan working well. The word for administrator appears only one time in the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 12:28. The word as used outside of Scripture refers to the helmsman who steers a ship to its destination. This suggests that the spiritual gift of administration is the ability to steer a church toward the fulfillment of its goals by managing its affairs and implementing its necessary plans. Administrators must be admonished not to over emphasize efficiency to the neglect of effectiveness. Efficiency is doing things right and effectiveness is doing the right things. Leaders help the church to do the right things while administrators work with making things efficient.
Spiritual Gift # 2 Evangelism: Evangelism is the ability to be unusually effective in leading unbelievers to a saving knowledge of Christ. Evangelism comes from the Greek word meaning to announce or proclaim the good news. People with this gift are good at making new disciples. People with this gift are usually very outgoing, enthusiastic, good listeners, and comfortable talking about their personal faith. They frequently think about the unchurched and maintain very detailed FRANgelsim list. They have a solid knowledge of the Bible and are very good at learning memory verses. They can quote key Scriptures with ease. Every Christian is called to share their faith and to do evangelism, but the person with the gift of evangelism has an extraordinary ability to share faith and to win others to faith. They are unusually comfortable in talking with people, and people are very comfortable with them. They tend to make friends with the secular culture and are respected for their beliefs. They are very aware of the special needs of individuals and are able to discern and share how the gospel can meet those needs. The gift of evangelism is mentioned in Ephesians 4:11.
Spiritual Gift # 3 Exhortation: Exhortation is the gift of motivating others to respond to Christian faith by providing timely words of counsel, encouragement, and consolation. This gift includes acts of standing by, sitting with, guiding, strengthening, inspiring, consoling, and comforting others. People with this gift stand ready to give an encouraging word, a needed hug, a listening ear, or a needed insight. Extorters have a deep intuition about the needs of others and are able to bring needed instruction, motivation, and direction at the exact moment it is needed. The biblical word for exhortation is close to the biblical word for comforter or Holy Spirit. The exhorter is able to come alongside other people in much the same way that Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would come to our aid. The exhorter is usually very enthusiastic but humble. The exhorter is able to motivate others to action and likes to see people reach their full potential. The exhorter is a positive thinker and likes to talk with people one on one as well as in groups. The exhorter helps people to make decisions logically rather than impulsively, but is able to deal with emotional situations in a caring way. The gift of exhortation is mentioned in Romans 12.
Spiritual Gift # 4 Faith: This is the ability to have a vision for what God wants to be done and to confidently believe that it will be accomplished in spite of circumstances and appearances to the contrary. The gift of faith transforms vision into reality. Every Christian has faith but the gift of faith is an extraordinary ability to believe and encourage belief in others in the face of challenging and difficult circumstances. One can easily see how this gift might relate to the gifts of exhortation and healing. A person with this gift helps others within the body of Christ to believe that all things are possible with God. People with this gift have a childlike faith and are able to accept something without questioning. They may speak of God’s will in the face of certain issues, events, and projects within the church. People of faith are strong prayer warriors. People with the faith gift are able to support others who have doubts. They believe deeply in the power of prayer and are not discouraged easily. They believe in miracles and are incurable optimists. They are willing to take risks in supporting the church because they believe God will see them through. This gift is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:9.
Spiritual Gift # 5 Giving: The gift of giving is the ability to contribute material resources with generosity and cheerfulness for the benefit of others to the glory of God. Christians with this gift need not be wealthy. This gift, is sometimes translated “generosity” and means “to turn over”, to give over”, or “to share”. All Christians are called to give but God gives certain people an extraordinary sense of others’ needs and the power to do something about it. People with this gift tend to have very cheerful hearts and have an overwhelming desire to give abundantly. People with this gift like to give quietly and without acknowledgment. They are never stingy and share with no strings attached. They are usually lighthearted rather than depressed and have a strong interest in missions. They are very sympathetic people. They are willing to sacrifice in order to give to others. They are generally willing to trust the leaders of their church with finances. In many cases these people are not wealthy but they give beyond reasonable limits. The gift of giving is mentioned in Romans 12:8.