Faith Alive Publishes Spiritual Gifts Course

Everyone has spiritual gifts, and God wants us to use them.

In some of us, certain gifts are obvious, such as teaching, leadership, and hospitality. Other gifts that people have may be less noticeable but are just as important, such as mercy, prayer, and giving. In addition, the Holy Spirit works in us to keep developing gifts that we can use as we grow in Christ.

Faith Alive Christian Resources has just published a revised, updated edition of Discover Your Gifts and Learn How to Use Them so that churches and their members can benefit from solid biblical instruction about the use of spiritual gifts in the world today.

Now in its third edition, the student book and leader's guide offer newly streamlined sections and access to an online Discover Your Gifts Survey. The revision has also incorporated many suggestions from users and leaders to simplify the content and include more options for learning

In addition, there are outlines for sermons, materials for workshops and retreats, and dozens of questions and answers to help leaders and students along this path of discovery.

"The main goal of the course is to help believers discover their gifts so that they serve well together as the body of Christ to the glory of God and his kingdom," says Paul Faber, an editor with Faith Alive, the publishing ministry of the Christian Reformed Church in North America.

The course is ideal for small to medium-size churches. Although the book is geared toward adult groups, it can be adapted for younger audiences.

Divided into three steps, the first one is "to help people know who they are in Christ and that they are called to service in God's kingdom," says Alvin J. Vander Griend, the author, in his introduction to the leader's guide.

The second step, says Vander Griend, is to help people sort through their talents, abilities and desires to discover ways in which God is uniquely calling them forth into some form of ministry. This process of discerning leads people to discover that they, for example, have the overall gift of healing, or of evangelism, or of hospitality, or of leadership.

The final step is to help people line up and use their gifts in the work of ministries, both inside and outside of the church.

Through this course, exploration of a person's gifts is done through lectures and presentations, through reading Scripture, through group interaction and through prayer. Details and a sample chapter are available online.

                                                                        -Chris Meehan, CRC Communications