Spiritual-gift inventories help engage congregation

Claudia Skocpol was the kind of church member who went to services but not much else. Then she completed a questionnaire a few years ago and discovered her “spiritual gifts” – teaching and encouragement.

She began giving the children’s sermons on Sunday mornings at her church, Hope Lutheran in the Dallas suburb of Cedar Hill. She started a puppet ministry and became involved in the food pantry.

Knowing her spiritual gifts, she said, empowered her.

“I’d never done any of this before,” said Skocpol. “But having taken the inventory, I had a lot of confidence that I could do it.”

Skocpol joins a growing number of Christians who are discovering the “spiritual gifts inventory” – a tool that identifies personal attributes that will best serve the church. After quietly gaining momentum for many years, the tool is altering the way some congregations “do church.”

Spiritual inventories first blossomed in the early 1980s with the publication of “Your Spiritual Gifts Can Help Your Church Grow” by C. Peter Wagner (Regal Books, $13.99). Since then, dozens of inventories have emerged, most of them variations on Wagner’s but adapted to the theology or emphases of a particular denomination or church.

The inventories, which consist of several dozen multiple-choice questions, are being used to engage those who don’t regularly attend services, to assimilate new members and to reinvigorate longtime members.

Some denominations use inventories in the ordination process to help ministry candidates discern in which areas they’re best suited to churches.

The New Testament describes “spiritual gifts” – such as administration, hospitality and prophecy – and teaches that God gives each person gifts to be used for the spiritual benefit of the community.