Ezekiel 17 ( The Connection)

One of the greatest blessings about church is the atmosphere of community. But we have to realize that to function as a community in our society is a real challenge. So, I would like to spend time this coming Sunday (April 23) discussing issues of community relationships and how we can best work together. My hope is for us to deal with Spiritual Gifts and Personality Types this Sunday. I plan on having some tools for us all to use so we can discover and discuss Gifts and Personalities as they relate to our new church community. I would love to get your input on how best to do this.

I ran across a good description of how God has designed each person to fit into a group of people who all have different designs. The following 6 points come from the book Doing Church as a Team by Wayne Cordeiro. I think these areas will help us to talk about how we all can work together for the Lord...

• Desire: What is your passion? What would you choose to do? God has placed certain desires in you as one way of telling you what he wants you to do. Philippians 2:13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him. (NLT)
• Experience: We all have been through things that have shaped our lives. Most of us had families that focused on a particular kind of work, education, and recreation. All of these experiences contribute to our personal design. And then we have experiences of success and failure as well as joys and struggles. All of these work together to make us uniquely qualified to bless other people. God does not waste the years of our lives, but uses each experience to train us (“God doesn’t waste a hurt!”). Psalm 56:8 You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. (NLT)
• Spiritual Gift: The Holy Spirit is given to each believer. The Spirit works in our lives to bless other people and build the Kingdom of God in this world. While some of the gifts might overlap into areas of natural ability, the spiritual gifts are developed by spiritual growth. 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, Ephesians 4, 1 Peter 4
• Individual Style: Each person has a unique personality. Of course, there are categories of personality, but each person has a set of traits that no other person has…each one is truly an individual. Some are introverted and some are extroverted. One person is in tune with others’ feelings, while another is focused on details. Some are leaders, some are followers. And everyone is created just like God intended! Psalm 150:6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
• Growth Phase: Life is a journey and we are not all in the same place. We are growing and developing. Some grow quickly, while other people grow deeply. Some start the journey early and some start it late. And Jesus taught us to respect everyone’s faith in various places on the journey: Children (Mark 10:14,15 be like a child), Outsiders (Luke 10:25-37 the good Samaritan, etc.). In 1 John 2 there is a great poem about the value of each stage of life.
• Natural Abilities: People have natural abilities that make them good at particular tasks. We notice that people are artistic, mechanical, literary, musical, philosophical, athletic, or academic. Knowing these things about ourselves and others is important to our DESIGN!

I see our discussion about Gifts and Personality as a first step. After that we could put together a small leadership team (about 3 or 4 people). This team would have the task of seeking the Lord and writing down some visions and plans for our new group. Then they would bring their ideas to the whole group for discussion. I don't see this as a group of directors but as a way to facilitate direction. What do you think about this idea?

My prayer today is that we grow more and more as a community of Jesus...a family of God...living closely together to be the body of Christ in and for this world.

God Bless!
John