Identifying effective aspects of yourself and your own inclinations helps to jumpstart you in creating a Personal Ministry Plan. Consider the following 14 elements when preparing for your Personal Ministry Plan.
- The nature of your calling
- Your spiritual gifts
- Your natural abilities
- Your values, what is important to you
- What makes you cry or where you have had pain
- Your interests, the desires of your heart
- What energizes you
- Affirmations from other people
- What you were doing when you were your happiest
- Where you have had a history of success
- Consistent feedback from others
- Feedback from identification instruments
- Who you want to spend time with
- What God is saying to your heart in your devotions
You may think of other particulars to add as you work with it. The idea is to help you back off of your immediate situation and see yourself from a longer and broader perspective. You are going to identify patterns in your life as you make notes on these areas. When we did this for ourselves, we saw patterns going back into early childhood and continuing through elementary school, high school, college, young adulthood into our prime working years. We saw patterns of leadership, independence, creativity, communication abilities, and being encouragers. We knew that we are very much alike, but saw the reasons why we are alike when we compared the elements of our upbringing, natural abilities, interests, and spiritual gifts.
Use these explanations as an aid through your own chart, Elements of Discerning My Ministry, found at the end of this article:
1) The nature of your calling
The manner in which your calling came will often give direction to your future ministry. For example, someone who was not raised in the Church and meets Christ in adulthood often has a heart for the unsaved and therefore that person’s ministry is highly evangelistic. Someone who was saved via the efforts of a movement might have a call to make the church more understandable to people. A person brought to Christ via a 12-step program might desire to see the church more involved with social issues. Reflect back on your calling and discern whether there are clues about where you may want to serve. Did you feel that you received insight from Jesus at the time of your call?
2) Your spiritual gifts
A number of different inventories are available to help you understand your spiritual gifts.3 Your spiritual gifts will be indicators to the focus of your ministry. Spiritual gifts are listed in I Corinthians 12, Romans 12 and Ephesians 4. A quick reference: wisdom, knowledge, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, different kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues, ministry/pastoring, teaching, exhortation, giving, leadership, mercy, apostleship, evangelism … all for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry and for the edifying the Body of Christ.
3) Your natural abilities
Natural abilities many times are a significant factor in determining ministry. A person who has extraordinary beautiful voice will want to use that talent either in a contributory manner or professionally. A person with high communication and persuasion skills may tend to be evangelistic or a leader by way of motivation. A highly organized person may fit within the financial area of the church or on the strategic planning team. What are you good at doing and really enjoy? What are the natural abilities that have always come easily for you? Make a list and you might be surprised at what the combination of gifts tells you.
4) Your values
Core values play an important role, as do core beliefs. The Biblical Vocabulary in this book has definitions of core values and beliefs. Some of us highly value what we believe and teach in the Church and therefore want to be involved in teaching the Bible, theology, or history. Others have a core value of the worth of children and want to serve in reaching, teaching, or the care of children. Listing what you value will lead you to your ministry also.
5) What makes you cry or where you have had pain
Whatever tugs at your heart is likely an effective place of service for you. We have a friend who built a mega church based on a huge core group of recovering alcoholics. This pastor once had a drinking problem and knew the struggle of alcoholism. Out of his pain and anguish God used him to save many people and build a highly effective Church.
6) Your interests, the desires of your heart
We believe that God puts desires in our hearts. Sometimes those desires are for certain kinds of people or for specific issues. For example, we have a high desire for the local church to be joyful effective, and influential. When our hearts are aligned with God’s Heart, when we are striving to find and do God’s Will, these inner desires can be clues to what we are to do.
7) What energizes you
When you are involved in the right ministry, you are energized. You know ‘this is for me’ when you wake up wanting to get to the daily tasks, working hard but with high energy, feeling a real sense of satisfaction. When repeated tasks do not bring joy and satisfaction, you are probably in the wrong place. The exception to that would be a life problem splashing over into the your ministry.
8) Affirmations from other people
A reliable barometer of your effectiveness comes through consistent compliments on your effectiveness. When several people tell you that you did a great job, it almost always means you are doing something that reflects your gifts and talents. We were each told many times in the early years of ministry that we were good teachers, but we did not want to teach. What we discovered over the years is that we are both good teachers and can find joy in that contribution. People saw in us what we did not see in ourselves. What do people see in you?
9) What you were doing when you were happiest
Ministry is meant to bring joy. Go back over your whole life, from childhood on, and take note of when you were the happiest. What type of setting were you in? What kinds of people were you with? What were you doing? You will find a pattern there that tells you what gives you joy. Then you will work with your ministry plan to see how to include similar aspects within your ministry.
10) Where you have had a history of success
Success is another barometer of being in the right place. We are successful or effective when here is a good fit between who we are and what we do. Again consider your whole life and fill in the answers to ‘I was most successful when ….’ Look for a pattern wending through those successes.
11) Consistent feedback from others.
We are thinking primarily of leadership here but this could come also from fellow workers, trusted friends, or loving family. Over time, one way or another, we will receive feedback about our effectiveness. A ChristGuide is a primary person to give us accurate feedback, or we may have a small covenant group who will be honest with us. What we look for here is similarity and consistency in what is being said to us. A spouse may give us information that we need to change an attitude or a habit, but we might not act on that until we realize that we are hearing something similar from our boss and our best friend. Consistent feedback indicates we need to change something that is amiss or to strengthen something that is good.
12) Information from identification instruments
We firmly believe in identification or inventory instruments, which give us insight into who we are, how we relate to other human beings, personality patterns in thinking, and a host of other feedbacks that we believe are extremely helpful in our personal lives and ministry. The Thomas Concept4, the Meyers-Briggs5, and particularly the Birkman6 are among some of our favorites. Taking the information about yourself from 3 or 4 instruments gives you vital insights into who you are and how you function, what your strengths and weaknesses are. Use that information to express how you best function in life and in ministry.
13) Who you want to spend time with
You may think this element a strong indicator of where we might become involved in ministry. Think about this for a moment. The people with whom we associate will in large measure: a) provide us enjoyment, b) help form our character, c) be instrumental in our growing in grace and knowledge, and d) help make us successful. Time is precious so why would we not want to spend it with people who enhance our lives? Being with these kinds of people energize us and motivate us, sharpen us to be and do our best.
14) What God is saying to your heart in your devotions
The most important factor in finding your place is the leading of the Spirit of God. If we are earnestly seeking God’s guidance, that guidance will come. God does have an intention for each one of us, and you are not an exception. As you read Scripture and pray, one way or another the Spirit will lead you. Journal or at least jot down what you are learning as you read Scripture, what ‘jumps out’ at you, and what you sense in your prayer time. Then be alert to the Spirit’s leading.
Elements of Discerning My Ministry
| Element | Your experience | What it implies |
| 1. Nature of calling | ||
| 2. Spiritual gifts | ||
| 3. Natural abilities | ||
| 4. Values | ||
| 5. What makes you cry or gives you pain | ||
| 6. Interests, desires | ||
| 7. Energizing people, situations, activities | ||
| 8. Affirmations from others | ||
| 9. What you were doing when you were happiest | ||
| 10. History of successes and their pattern | ||
| 11. Feedback from others and what it means | ||
| 12. Information from identification instruments | ||
| 13. Who you want to spend time with | ||
| 14. What is God saying to you in your devotions |
3. Birkman: Discovering Your Calling. Kenneth Kinghorn. Willow Creek: Network. Houts.
4. The Thomas Concept, www.inpsyte.com
5. Meyers-Briggs. www.mbti.com
6. Birkman. www.birkman.com
Dr. James B. Scott, Dr. Molly Davis Scott, The Christian Connexion. Excerpted from Kingdom People: The Spiritual Transformation from Casual to Complete Christian. www.ChristianConnexion.com
