Purpose
To enable laypersons to understand, accept, and respond to God’s call to mission and ministry in their own lives and to equip them with the skills needed to facilitate their effectiveness in that call.
One of the most beneficial ways disciples can find their best place of service is by discovering and serving from their God-given gifts. Whether that service is inside the church or outside in the community, God’s gifts enable us to fulfill a call to service.
We encourage you to discover God’s gifts in you and then to prayerfully discern places where your passion for people or a particular cause can be unified in service in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. There are two inventories provided below. The Spiritual Gifts Inventory is shorter and addresses only those gifts specifically mentioned in the traditional scripture passages on the subject of gifts. The Ministry Gifts Inventory is longer and includes other gifts such as Prayer, Craftsmanship, Compassion and others. Take either the Spiritual Gifts Inventory or the Ministry Gifts Inventory (see the links below) and then learn more about your gifts and how to apply them in mission and ministry.
To take the inventory, you will need to open the two PDF files below and print them. Click on the links below to open them. Then, read through each question on the inventory and mark your response on the score sheet. Don’t labor over your choices; just mark your first response.
NC Conference Spiritual Gifts Inventory
After you have completed entering your scores, add them across the lines and mark each total next to the corresponding letter. Then open the Answer Code link below and look at your top 5 scores. If there are ties, go ahead and include them.
NOTE: While this inventory is valid, there is no statistical evidence saying that a particular score indicates a gift while another does not. Therefore, this is an inventory that measures the strength of particular ministry gifts. You may discover that there are gifts you thought you had but perhaps they did not show up as top scores. Just remember that God can bring gifts into prominence in your life at the time God wants you to use them. Whether or not we have particular gifts is not as important as how well we respond to God by using the gifts we already have.
Many gifts work in natural partnership with others for great purposes in the life of the church. Some gifts help share God’s word with others. Other gifts help show God’s love. Still, others help strengthen God’s people and some help support people in worshiping God. There are also some gifts that are foundational, that is, they help sustain all ministries.
Here are some definitions of spiritual gifts and scriptures for study reference.
You will also find here some helpful ways of understanding the relationship of the gifts.