When you accepted Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you, the Holy Spirit came to live in you and give you spiritual gifts that Heaven is waiting for you to use for the good of God’s church. We’re all ministers here. Some of us minister for a living. Most of us minister in a volunteer capacity. Below is a list of some of the Biblically-defined gifts of the Holy Spirit. God gave each of us at least one Spiritual gift to equip us for ministry. If you’d like to know more about spiritual gifts, we offer a class on the subject: Network. Call Dolly Mills, 245-9793, for more details.

Administration: People with this gift are thorough, objective, responsible, organized, goal-oriented, efficient, and conscientious. They understand what makes an organization tick and can plan and execute procedures to accomplish goals. See 1 Cor. 12:28, Acts 6:1-7, and Ex. 18:13-26.

Apostleship: People with this gift are adventurous, entrepreneurial, persevering, adaptable, culturally sensitive, and cause-driven risk takers. They have a desire to minister to unreached people at home or overseas and have a vision for the mission of the church. See 1 Cor. 12:28-29, Eph. 4:11-12, Rom. 1:5, and Acts 13:2-3.

Craftsmanship: People with this gift are creative, handy, resourceful, practical, and helpful, behind-the-scenes types. They can design and/or construct things used in ministry. See Ex. 31:3, 35:31, Acts 9:36-39 and 2 Kings 22:5-6.

Creative Communication: People with this gift are expressive, imaginative, idea-oriented, artistic, creative, unconventional, and sensitive. They communicate God’s truth through a variety of forms. See Psalm 150:3-5, 2 Sam. 6:14-15, and Mark 4:2, 33.

Discernment: People with this gift are perceptive, insightful, sensitive, intuitive, decisive, challenging and truthful. They are divinely enabled to distinguish between truth and error, good and evil, right and wrong. See 1 Cor. 12:10, Acts 5:1-4, Matt. 16:21-23.

Encouragement: People with this gift are positive, motivating, challenging, affirming, reassuring, supportive and trustworthy. They present truth in such a way that it strengthens, comforts and urges others to action. See Rom. 12:8, Acts 11:22-24, Acts 15:30-32.

Evangelism: People with this gift are sincere, candid, respected, influential, spiritual, confident and commitment-oriented. They effectively communicate the Gospel to unbelievers so they respond in faith and move toward discipleship. See Eph. 4:11, Acts 8:26-40, Luke 19:1-10.

Faith: People with this gift are prayerful, optimistic, trusing, assured, positive, inspiring, and hopeful. They act on God’s promises with confidence and unwavering belief in God’s ability to fulfill God’s purposes. See 1 Cor. 12:9, 13:2, Heb. 11:1, and Rom. 4:18-21.

Giving: People with this gift are stewardship-oriented, responsible, resourceful, charitable, disciplined and trust in God. They contribute money and resources to the work of the Lord with cheerfulness and liberality. See Rom. 12:8, 2 Cor. 6:8, Luke 21:1-4.

Healing: People with this gift are compassionate, prayerful, humble, responsive, obedient people who are full of faith and trust in God. They have a divine enablement to restore people to wholeness. See 1 Cor. 12:9, 28, 30; Acts 3:1-16, Mark 2:1-12.

Helps: People with this gift are available, willing, helpful, reliable, loyal, dependable and have a whatever-it-takes attitude. They are able to accomplish practical, necessary tasks which free up, support and meet the needs of others. See 1 Cor. 12:28, Rom. 12:7, Acts 6:1-4, Rom. 16:1-2.

Hospitality: People with this gift are friendly, gracious, inviting, trusting, caring, responsive and warm. They care for people by providing fellowship, food and shelter. See 1 Peter 4:9-10, Rom. 12:13, Heb. 13:1-2..

Intercession: People with this gift are spiritually-sensitive burden bearers who serve as sincere, trustworthy, caring advocates of others. They feel compelled to earnestly pray on behalf of others, are convinced that God moves in direct response to prayer, and pray in response to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. See Rom. 8:26-27, John 17:9-26, 1 Tim. 2:1-2, Col. 1:9-12, 4:12-13.

Knowledge: People with this gift are inquisitive, responsive, observant, insightful, reflective, studious, and truthful. They search the Scripture for insight, understanding and truth; they have unusual insight or understanding; and they can organize that information for teaching and other practical uses. See 1 Cor.12:8, Mark 2:6-8, John 1:45-50.

Leadership: People with this gift are influential, diligent, visionary, trustworthy, persuasive, motivating goal setters. They provide direction for ministry, motivating others to perform at their best, taking responsibility and establishing goals. These are “Big Picture” people who model the values of the ministry to others. See Rom. 12:8, Heb. 13:17, Luke 22:25-26.

Mercy: People with this gift are empathetic, caring, responsive, kind, compassionate, sensitive and burden-bearing. They focus on alleviating the sources of pain for suffering people – addressing the needs of the lonely and forgotten, expressing love, grace and dignity to those in crisis. They serve cheerfully in difficult circumstances and concern themselves with the oppressed. See Rom 12:8, Matt. 5:7, Mark 10:46-52 and Luke 10:25-37.

Prophecy: People with this gift are discerning, compelling, uncompromising, outspoken, authoritative, convicting and confronting. They expose sin and deception in others for the purpose of reconciliation with God, and see truths others often fail to see. See. Rom. 12:6, 1 Cor. 12:10, 28, 13:2, 2 Peter 1:19-21.

Shepherding: People with this gift are influencial, nurturing, guiding, discipling, protective, supportive and relational. They take responsibility to nurture the whole person in his or her walk with God – providing guidance and oversight. They model the life of a truly devoted follower of Jesus Christ, establishing trust through long-term relationships. See Eph. 4:11-12, 1 Peter 5:1-4, John 10:1-18.

Teaching: People with this gift are disciplined, perceptive, teachable, credible, practical, analytical and articulate. They communicate Biblical truth that inspires greater obedience to the Word, challenge listeners simply and practically, present Scripture in context -- paying attention to detail and accuracy and preparing through extended times of study and reflection.

Wisdom: People with this gift are sensible, insightful, practical, wise, fair, experienced and have common sense. They focus on the unseen consequences in determining their next steps, hear the Holy Spirit’s direction for a given situation and apply spiritual truth in specific and practical ways.

If any of these describes you, you may have discovered one of the special gifts God has given you to serve. Think about some of the ministries that excite you here at MCC, and look into ways you can use your gift to further that cause. Call the church office, 245-9793, to find out who to talk with about the ministry that excites you most.

*Information on spiritual gifts from Network, The Right People ... In the Right Places ... For the Right Reasons, by Bruce Bugbee, Don Cousins and Bill Hybels.