Whenever I first laid eyes on the title of this inventory saying “Congratulations, You’re gifted” I was sure that this would be an exciting. Any test that can tell me how gifted I am in fifteen minutes or less is my kind of test. I learned from taking this test that I seem to be inclined in the process of teaching others and lending another a warm bed, but I tend to fall short in the area of prayer and don’t even get me started on miracles! The gift that is on the top of my list by a towering eleven points is “Teaching”. Teaching is defined as “the special ability that God gives to certain members of the body of Christ to communicate information relevant to the health and ministry of the body and its members in such a way that others will learn” by …show more content…
The concept of praying for extended periods of time doesn’t really make sense to me. I can understand the importance of praying in this manner and I respect the process of Intercession but I have trouble with carrying on actual prayer for periods that exceed five minutes. My mind begins to wander and I trail away from the initial goal. In order to better myself in the area of Intercession, I first need to strengthen my praying skills. I see it like training for a marathon; if I can build up my prayer “cardio” I will be able to pray for longer periods of time and begin to experience Intercession. I can do this by praying more often, organizing my thoughts beforehand, and feeding my spirit for these exercises with readings from the bible. I can begin this process by participating in a weekly devotional given to the interns and I by Pastor Laughlin. The devotional is known as “The Green Book” and it follows the weekly lesson of the entire OKC First church. By completing the devotional, I will also have, in a way, studied for Sunday’s service. Not only will my prayer life be expanded, but other areas of my Christian faith will as well because I will get more out of the
... By having them journal their prayers to God daily and encouraging them to read these entries frequently to refresh the memories of those prayers and seek for those that are answered allows for each client to find their way to a spiritual understanding that is not necessarily demonstrated by my impact, but that of God Himself. I am available to answer questions that pertain to the bible, but allow clients to interpret the teaching to their lives and recovery. These approaches allow clients to not rely on my experiences, but on their own encounters and knowledge. Gently guiding them to hear and see how God works in a client’s life is a rewarding and satisfying experience.
In my paper I will talk about my visit to The Community Church at Murphy's Landing (CCML). I have chosen this particular Church because it is a family church type and my neighbor goes there and she encouraged me to go with her. I went there with my neighbor on April 6, 2014.This church is an appropriate for this assignment because the people there are welcoming me with an open heart and they are willing to help and provide me with information. When I visit the Church’s site I read these words “We know visiting a new church can be intimidating. But, we want to help you to be as comfortable as possible when and if you join us”. The people gather in the church weekly to glorify God in joyful worship. The expressions of worship on CCML take many forms a prayer, a hymn of reverent awe, a guitar ringing with a chorus of praise, or a warm handshake and a welcoming smile. Their weekly services begin at 9:30 each Sunday at church. Also, they have weekly podcast if anyone wants to listen online. They have many types of services for parents, kids and students. People at CCML were so friendly; they gather around me and start welcoming me, one by one. People there introducing themselves to me, one after another and provide me with their contact information and help. Then we start talking about the church services and Christianity in particular. The mission of CCML was knowing, growing and loving. They seek to live out our mission by worshipping together as a local community of believers, growing in spiritual maturity through discipleship, education, and small groups, caring for one another within the context of the larger church body and small groups, and Communicating the love of Christ to our world, both through local outreach and global mis...
I grew up in a home with a family that attend church weekly and was active in the church family. I knew about God and about His son but I never remember the story of salvation and the personal need for a savoir. As a teenager I walked away from the religion that I thought did not offer my anything. In my thirties, my husband was diagnosed with cancer and I immediately started my negotiations with God. Little did I know that He was not a negotiator but it was during this time in my life that I needed God more than He needed me. Since accepting the gift of God’s love, the salvation of a Savoir, and the renovation of my heart, I look to God for the path of my life. I share Gods truth through my career change to a Christian nob-profit that’s vision is to share God’s love to the community through the platform of pregnancy care and family services. Personally I have fulfilled God’s call to help the less fortunate by adopting a sibling group and participating and supporting mission trips to third world countries to support his children and missions there. My final piece of God’s plan I feel lead to complete is to volunteer my professional expertise and finances to work with a mission group that provides laboratory services to third world mission hospitals. I have done one trip for them and am currently planning a trip to Honduras in the new year. My day to
Gift giving is a concept that not only occurs in the three disciplines but also in our everyday life. The gift economy works when a person gives a gift and then expects the other person to reciprocate the gift giving and do something nice for them. This is significant because the concepts of gift giving and reciprocation is an endless cycle. This cycle of gift giving is seen in the disciplines we study (literature, art, and music). Literal gift giving is the actual giving of a gift in hoping that the receiver will reciprocate the gift. Literal gifts are often seen in in the literature novels, such as Gilgamesh and Beowulf. Metaphoric gifts show the significance and symbolic ways of gift giving. Metaphoric gifts are often seen in art and music
I spent every spring and summer in middle school doing mission work and community service. I loved the opportunity that it gave me to build relationships and share my beliefs with people I didn’t know. Little did I know that this would pave the way for a life-changing experience that I would encounter one day. Each spring my church would host a missionary event called “The Ignite Project.” I felt an urge to join the group, recognizing that it was a calling to profess my faith in Jesus. These mission trips helped me to go out
When the church was first formed, after Christ’s ascension, spiritual gifts were alive and active in the church. In the New Testament (primarily in the Pauline Epistles), many gifts are listed; however, it should be noted that not all gifts are listed in Scripture. Paul does not mention all of the gifts that a believer can have, but of the ones he does give, many have caused division and separations between denominations and groups of believers. From these various splits arise three primary groups of believers: Cessationalists, Charismatics, and those in between the two. In this paper, we will discuss what the various gifts are, what each groups believes should be done with these gifts, and what would be an accurate and reasonable position for the modern church to hold on this sensitive issue. For the church, an accurate and reasonable position for the modern church to hold is one that the gifts are alive and active, but should be used in extreme caution.
I agree with Kitchens, Mead, and Roxburgh who all basically say in their own way that one change in ministry that we need to focus on more is the congregational life of the church. However, I think Mead explains it best when he says that the future church must be more intentional in the spiritual formation of its laity (Mead, location 919). According to Mead, the church is moving towards becoming a more missional institution that cares for the needs of the community. Therefore, oftentimes laity will be the ones on the front lines and will need the capacity to minister to people on their own without the help of clergy. In order to do this they will need more directed and intensive training to deal with...
My five greatest strengths according to the StrengthsFinder survey are activator, restorative, achiever, command and relator, in rank order. Upon reading about these strengths, I can see how I have used and will continue to use them. I was aware of these strengths, for the most part, but while researching I was able to learn a few things. One article that stood out to me was “Don't let your strengths become your weaknesses” (Kaiser, & Kaplan, 2013). In this article, the possibility of strengths becoming weaknesses when overused was discussed. The authors explained how overdoing can be just as purposeless as under doing. The ability to read and respond adeptly is crucial in handling challenges, they explained. As with everything else in life, balance is key!
Friendship means different things for everyone. It can mean happiness and trust. Friends are important to connect to, talk to, and to help in tough situations. Friends help teach life lessons. Most importantly, friends are there to love and to feel loved. The Simple Gift by Steven Herrick revolves around the friendship between the main characters, Old Bill, Billy, and Caitlin. Their friendship resulted in them learning valuable life lessons and experiencing the power of love.
E.M. Bounds wrote a wonderful book devoted to prayer entitled Power Through Prayer. This book encourages the preacher to become a true prayer warrior. E.M. Bounds has written many books on prayer, encouraging Christians to devote their life to prayer. Since the writer is coming from a preacher background himself, one can clearly see the passion he has for prayer in his life. Fellow preachers will hopefully be encouraged by this and want to devote their life to prayer, so that they will better their preaching. Bounds exemplifies through his work that preaching has no power without prayer. He also sets forth the idea that prayer is the life-giving force behind our work for God. In reading this book, it inspires one to pray more and be able to be more effective in their ministry.
The Studies of gift-giving have developed from a psychological, sociological and anthropological perspective and the discipline of each perspective has established a particular framework for studying gift-giving. The psychological approach for instance focuses on gift giving as an opportunity to express the giver's perception of both him/herself
Jesus Christ gave spiritual gifts through the Holy Spirit after His resurrection to edify His Church. They are part of the “fivefold” ministry and are just as valid and needed in the Church today. The “building up the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:12) requires all five of the spiritual gifts given by Jesus Christ Himself in Eph. 4:11, “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers.” Apostles are provided by Jesus Christ to equip His saints for His service here on earth.
into a richer experience of worship and a more effect life of service" (Crabb, 1977, p.31). The method to establishing an
This semester has proved to be a real awakening to what direction I need to be pursuing in my spiritual walk. I have learned so much through this course. Some of the things that I have learned that have become more important than they were in the past are; the need for silence, the need for community, the need for direction, and above all how utterly helpless we are when we try to “do” everything, including ministry without seeking God first.
Now I know that through prayer, we form a relationship with God. This relationship means we aren’t out there on our own, left to figure things out for ourselves, to deal with the troubles of life alone. We also thank God in our prayers, for all He has done for us and all He provides. We draw strength from praying and experience the closeness to God that comes from having a prayer life.