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Discovering one’s own spiritual gifting is
an eye-opening experience for many Christians. For local churches
this might even turn into a door-opening experience as they begin
to recognize their God-given potential. More often, however, churches seem
to miss that open door or even slam it by allowing gift discovery
approaches to become ends in themselves. That of course raises the
interesting question as to how churches can take advantage of that open
door and enter through. How can they move from just staring at the
God-given potential to releasing it in their ministry?
Key will be to bridge the gap between spiritual gift discovery on the one
hand and real ministry tasks on the other hand. That exactly is the key
issue the book How to Use The 3 Colors of Ministry in a Mentoring
Relationship by Christoph Schalk addresses.
Based on the bestselling book The 3
Colors of Ministry by Christian A. Schwarz – which helps Christians
identify and develop their spiritual gifts (Three-Color Gift Test) - this
45-page handbook serves as a supplemental, taking the reader one step
further. It convincingly establishes the value of a gift-counseling
ministry in bridging that gap within the church. As a Mentor’s Guide it
shows how "gift counselors" and others can come alongside other believers
on a one-on-one basis in order to help them relate their gifts to
corresponding tasks within the church.
This book does not dwell, as one might
expect, on the relational aspects and dynamics of an intentional mentoring
relationship (e.g., how to establish, develop, and maintain a mentoring
relationship). Its intention rather is to show how to set up, structure,
and conduct a gift counseling appointment (or series of appointments).
Accordingly, the reader is guided through the following five phases of an
effective appointment:
| 1.
|
An Effective
Welcome |
| 2. |
Gathering
Background Information |
| 3. |
Understanding
Test Results (Change Compass Results and Gift Results) |
| 4. |
Finding
Suitable Ministries |
| 5. |
Effectively
Concluding the Appointment |
As an implementation resource, this book
offers all the tools needed to establish a multiplying network of gift
counselors in a church, including six master worksheets. Readers are
welcome to copy or customize those worksheets to their own ministry needs.
If you are working through The 3 Colors
of Ministry and are interested in implementing a gift-oriented
ministry approach in your church, you will find valuable insights,
implementation ideas, and tools in this excellent resource.
Here you can find out more about the
different language versions of this book and from where you can order it
in your country: www.ncd-international.org
Download:Worksheet.pdf
Thomas Fode lives in Germany and serves as
NCD Coach and Partner Relationship Manager for NCD International |
