The Better Way to Discover Your Spiritual Gifts

Have you taken a spiritual gifts test? I’ve taken spiritual gift tests for training as a summer Bible camp counselor, during seminars, and for Bible college classes. Maybe you have too. A simple Google search will give you several spiritual gift tests you can take for free. Unfortunately, each one will probably give you a different set of results.

In case you haven’t taken one of these before, they are like a personality test. You answer a list of questions, assigning a value depending on how true the statement is for you, and at the end you tally your answers to determine whether you’re the energetic, extroverted “Otter” or the reserved and controlled “Beaver”—or, alternatively, which spiritual gifts you have. Perhaps you’ve simply found yourself staring at the few listings in Scripture trying to determine how to define them and which ones might be present in your life—which isn’t much different from what we do through spiritual gift tests.

We turn to these tests or list-matching when we feel unsure of how God made us, what our particular giftings are, and how we can best serve within our churches and communities. However, I’m fearful that we’ve trusted too much in these tests rather than the wisdom given to us by God through our local church communities. This may sound backwards, but the best way to discover how God has gifted you is by participating in your local church.

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