It shouldn’t come as a surprise to us that this is really the starting point
for discerning our own gifts and how we ought to best use them. After all, these gifts have come to us from God in the first place. He is
the one who has made us, redeemed us, and gifted us. Therefore,
he’s the one to whom we should look to direct us. He’s our Commander in Chief. So we look up. We pray.
For Reflection . . .
Set aside time for prayer (and fasting?!). Ask God to reveal to you what your gifts are and how he might want you to use them. If you had to identify what you think he’s saying to you in this, what would it be? Where has he gifted you? Where is he calling you?
Look down (go ahead, do it!). God has put your feet in this place on purpose. You are here for a reason. God may be calling you to go somewhere else someday, that is true. But he’s called you right here, right now.
For Reflection . . .
Where has God placed you? Where are you positioned to serve others? When you consider the place in which God has put you, what needs do you see? Get specific. Make a list. Pray over it. Lay it all out before the Lord. How would love for God and others guide you forward?
It seems some Christians are prone to think that desires are inherently evil. If I want it, it must be bad, or wrong, or selfish. Now, it’s true, our desires can often lead us astray and into sin (cf. James 1:14-15; 4:1-2), but they can also be indicators of where God has gifted us and where he may be calling us.
For Reflection . . .
How do you think God has wired you? What do you get excited about? What lights you up? What do you like to do? What do you want to do?
Reconsider that list of needs you began forming for the second look. Which of these needs do you “vibrate” to? Why? What might God be calling you to do about it?
Reconsider that list of needs you began forming for the second look. Which of these needs do you “vibrate” to? Why? What might God be calling you to do about it?
It’s one thing to be passionate about something. It’s quite another to actually be good at it, right? So look out and consider: where have you seen fruit? It’s at this point that we'd accent a very important principle in all of this: namely, we discern our gifts in the context of community. Find a friend. Ask them what they think.
For Reflection . . .
Up to this point in your life, where have you been fruitful? Where has God already been using you? Have others ever communicated being blessed by you in some way? What was the reason? How might this help you get a clearer sense of your gift(s)?
Seek counsel and feedback from other mature, wise Christians who know you well and will speak honestly with you in love. Where have they seen you to be fruitful? What do they think your gifts might be? Where are you weak? Where are you strong? What do they think God is calling you to do?
Seek counsel and feedback from other mature, wise Christians who know you well and will speak honestly with you in love. Where have they seen you to be fruitful? What do they think your gifts might be? Where are you weak? Where are you strong? What do they think God is calling you to do?
We all have a different constellation of life experiences in our background that, in many ways, gives shape to the kind of ministry God may have for us now and in the future. Your past, even before coming to Christ, is not irrelevant to your future. God invariably weaves the two together. Where you’ve come from will connect in some way to where you’re going and it can often be an indicator of where you’ve been uniquely gifted and how he may want to use those gifts in service of others.
For Reflection . . .
Take time to consider your life story. Think about your family history, your education, your vocation, your ethnicity, your testimony. Think about your blessings and your hardships, your victories and your losses, your accomplishments and your failures, your joys and your sorrows. What have you been given in all of this that you might be called by God to give away in love to others? How do such things give shape to who you are and help you discern a bit more of what you’re called to do?
With this last look we simply want to encourage you to go and try things. Take steps of faith and look forward to what God will do. He’ll lead you onward and upward from here! God doesn’t care so much about perfection and success in this like we often do. He cares about the process as we try our best to love and serve and commit ourselves to listening and learning along the way. We don’t need to pray and ponder forever. We need to go. We need to take steps of faith in love for God and others. And he’ll lead us. He’ll keep writing that poem with our lives. He’ll help us identify and use our gifts!
For Reflection . . .
Think back to the way you answered the opening question regarding your sense of what your own “spiritual gift(s)” might be. Has your sense of things changed through the course of reflecting on these "looks"? What further clarity on the matter do you have now? How do you think God has gifted you? What do you think God is calling you to do? How can you “use your gifts”?
Use Your Gifts
It's one thing to have a sense of how God has gifted you. It's quite another thing to actually put those gifts to use in service of him and his people to the advance of his mission in the world. It's easy to talk about doing things for God and much harder to finally jump in and give it a go. If you're ready to step out of the pew and start serving, read on. Adventure awaits!
Pressing Needs
While there are always ongoing opportunities to serve at Mercy Hill, here are those opportunities we would highlight as particularly pressing. Please pray and ask God if he might be calling you to jump in!
Mercy Hill Kids Teacher
Teachers are responsible for leading their classes and teaching from the Scriptures in such a way that the kids might come to know and grow in the grace of Christ.
If you are interested in hearing more about this position, please fill out the Serve Form or email Megan at kids@mercyhillchurch.org.
If you are interested in hearing more about this position, please fill out the Serve Form or email Megan at kids@mercyhillchurch.org.
Mercy Hill Kids Helper
Helpers are responsible for assisting the Teacher of their particular class to ensure that the environment is safe, ordered, and conducive to learning and growing in the things of God.
If you are interested in hearing more about this position, please fill out the Serve Form or email Megan at kids@mercyhillchurch.org.
If you are interested in hearing more about this position, please fill out the Serve Form or email Megan at kids@mercyhillchurch.org.
Ongoing Opportunities
We have a number of ongoing ministry opportunities for you to prayerfully consider and pursue as God leads. Many of these take place on Sundays, but there are plenty of other options as well. Take a look at our Serve Form and let us know what might be of interest to you!
Desires and Dreams
God says that, as a result of the outpouring of his Spirit through Christ, his people will "dream dreams" (Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17). So what's yours?
We do not want you to think that the only way you can serve with our church is by somehow squeezing yourself into the systems and structures we already have in place. To be sure, we do have many pre-defined positions for you to serve in and teams for you to join, and we trust that many will feel called to these things. But we are also aware that God may be calling you to pursue something else entirely—something we haven't thought up or "dreamed."
We welcome your new ideas—your desires and dreams for ministry "outside the mold." In fact, one of our greatest joys is getting to hear the things God has placed on our members' hearts and then coming alongside them in an effort to help their visions flourish. This is how many of our ministries have started—not as top-down initiatives from the leadership, but as something much more organic, growing up and out from the hearts of our people. We believe that God has uniquely gifted and called you to serve his body and the world. The only question is: how?!
If you have ministry ideas that you would like to pursue together, please either fill out the Serve Form or email us at info@mercyhillchurch.org.
We do not want you to think that the only way you can serve with our church is by somehow squeezing yourself into the systems and structures we already have in place. To be sure, we do have many pre-defined positions for you to serve in and teams for you to join, and we trust that many will feel called to these things. But we are also aware that God may be calling you to pursue something else entirely—something we haven't thought up or "dreamed."
We welcome your new ideas—your desires and dreams for ministry "outside the mold." In fact, one of our greatest joys is getting to hear the things God has placed on our members' hearts and then coming alongside them in an effort to help their visions flourish. This is how many of our ministries have started—not as top-down initiatives from the leadership, but as something much more organic, growing up and out from the hearts of our people. We believe that God has uniquely gifted and called you to serve his body and the world. The only question is: how?!
If you have ministry ideas that you would like to pursue together, please either fill out the Serve Form or email us at info@mercyhillchurch.org.