In 1993 I sat in on a series of lectures by Russell Kelfer at Wayside Chapel in San Antonio, TX. The topic of the lectures was the spiritual gifts, and in each lecture, Kelfer took one gift and expanded it in such a way as to give a picture of what that gift looked like and how to use it. I did not get the lecture tapes, and I do not now remember any specific details of what Kelfer said, but I do recall the gist of the overall structure and the general idea.
I wish then to take his concept at the macro level, reconstruct it here, and give him credit for the idea. I then wish to fill in some details. I intend these details to be simple and brief. My goal is not to say everything that can be said about a gift. Rather, it is to give a quick picture. An incomplete picture, certainly, but a picture nonetheless.
It is quite possible that some of my details originally came from Kelfer as well, and they have sat around in my head for more than 30 years. In such cases, he also gets credit, but since I don’t remember the specifics of his talks, I don’t know which ideas to credit him for. Thus, this generic acknowledgement will have to do. If the Holy Spirit led him, and if the Holy Spirit leads me, we should agree in substance.
In an orchestra, the different instruments have different roles in a symphony. On a basketball team, the different players have different strengths and play different roles on the court. In a body, the different members do different things. This is the church. Different people have different strengths and, thus, should have different roles within the church.
So what are some of these different gifts?
Scripture lists spiritual gifts in different places. Among the gifts listed are these: prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, giving, leadership, mercy, wisdom, knowledge, faith, miracles, healing, discernment, administration, speaking and interpreting tongues, evangelism, pastoral gifts, and hospitality.
These lists appear in four different places and have considerable overlap, but they are not identical. Thus, when Scripture lists the spiritual gifts, the lists are not comprehensive. They are merely examples of some of the gifts. You can likely think of other spiritual gifts not specifically listed in Scripture. Worship? Vision? Intercessory prayer? Cross-cultural ministry? Ministry to children? You may say that these gifts intersect with others Paul mentions, and I won’t argue with you, but neither will I say that these gifts are identical to what Paul mentions.
I am not going to talk about the gifts outside Scripture. If I did, we could go on a long time. So I am going to take one Biblical gift per blog and address questions such as the following: what do these gifts do? What are their strengths? What are their weaknesses? Who are real people who have those gifts? What are some good roles in the church for someone with those gifts?
As I do this, keep in mind that what I say will be general truths that will not apply to every situation. It may be like those times you look online at the symptoms of some disease and say, “Woa! I have some of those symptoms!”? That doesn’t mean you have the disease.
I am giving a broad picture, as a Proverb does. I am not assessing your life. Strengths and weaknesses are tendencies, not laws. Sometimes they are wrong. Keep in mind as well that people often have more than one gift, and sometimes the strength of one gift may help offset the weakness of another. For example, someone may have the gifts of mercy and service, and because they have the gift of service, they are focused on accomplishing practical tasks, a reality that someone with the gift of mercy alone may struggle with. Someone may have the gifts of administration and encouragement, and because they have the gift of encouragement, they may have strong relational skills that someone with the gift of administration alone might lack. The real world is more complex than the pictures I am going to give you. But I pray that the pictures still help.
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