Administration: The ability to understand clearly the immediate and long-range goals of an organization and to devise and execute effective plans for the accomplishment of those goals.

 

This gift is a leadership gift and is often characterized by people who lead the body by steering others to remain on task. These people generally are concerned with the details of how to accomplish tasks, and tend to be masters at delegating specific tasks to other people according to their gifts and talents.

 

Encouragement: The ability to minister words of comfort, consolation, encouragement, and counsel to other members of the Body in such a way that they feel helped and healed.

 

This gift is a communication gift. Those who use this gift within a teaching or ministry situation are often driven to give practical application to their insights. Often, those gifted in this gift desire step-by-step plans of action to help others grow in faith.

 

Faith: The ability that to discern with extraordinary confidence the will and purposes of God for His work.

 

This gift is a practical gift. Those with this gift often scare other people with their confidence. People with this gift are often very irritated by criticism, as they consider it to be criticism against God. Probably the biggest danger for those with this gift is that they often try to project their gift onto other people.

 

Giving: The ability to contribute material resources to the work of God with liberality and cheerfulness.

 

This gift is a practical gift. While all Christians should practice the discipline of giving through the minimum of 10% (tithe), God gifts certain members of the body to give remarkably greater amounts of their income with liberality and great joy. These people have an acute awareness that all they have belongs to the Lord and they are merely stewards, therefore they know that God will supply their needs and richly bless them in their giving.

 

Hospitality: The ability to provide an open house and a warm welcome to those in need of food and lodging.

 

This gift is a practical gift. Those with this gift have an acute awareness of visitors and have a desire to make all people feel welcome. People with this gift enjoy visitors in their home, and are usually not bothered if someone stops by and their home is not spotless. Those with this gift are a key to helping new people become a part of the group.  

 

Knowledge: The ability to discover, accumulate, analyze, and clarify information and ideas which are pertinent to the well-being of the organization.

 

This gift is a practical gift. Those with the gift of knowledge are at home in a book or studying. Those with this gift will often spend countless hours researching information. These people are interested in ideas and problem solving through gathering information and studying. Often, those with this gift have a low need for people. On rare occasions, people with this gift will gather vast amounts of information through studying and analyzing personal experience, but the primary method of learning with this gift is reading and studying books and other written materials.  

 

Leadership: The ability to set goals in accordance with God’s purpose for the future and to communicate these goals to others in such a way that they voluntarily and harmoniously work together to accomplish those goals for the glory of God.

 

This gift is a leadership gift. People with this gift are often focused on the greater goal of the group and are not overly concerned with the details. Leaders delegate tasks and details to others to accomplish the greater goal. Leaders are visionaries. Leaders have followers-a visionary without followers is not a leader.   

 

Mercy: The ability to feel genuine empathy and compassion for individuals who suffer from distressing physical, mental, or emotional problems, and to translate that compassion into cheerfully done deeds which reflect Christ’s love and alleviate the suffering.

 

This gift is a practical gift. Those with this gift find themselves visiting and assisting those in need, and often feel the pain of the person they are helping within themself. People with this gift find it extremely difficult not to help those who seem less fortunate than themself. Those with this gift generally enjoy helping those with physical or mental problems and do well in ministries involving visiting hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, and shut-ins.  

 

Service: The ability to identify the unmet needs involved in a task related to God’s work, and to make use of available resources to meet those needs and help accomplish the desired results.

 

This gift is a practical gift. Those with the gift of service enjoy doing routine tasks around the church regardless of how they effect others. Those with this gift enjoy menial tasks and do them cheerfully. Service-oriented people would rather take orders than give them.  

 

 

Shepherd: The ability to assume a long-term personal responsibility for the welfare of a group of believers.

 

This gift is a leadership gift. This gift is often called "pastor," however, that name has a connotation of a specific position in the church. In actuality, when pastors have this gift, their ability to continue sustained growth in their churches is greatly diminished, as they tend to require a certain level of interaction with every member of their congregation. Those with the gift of shepherd have a great need for long-term relationships. Shepherds will sacrificially give themselves to other people in such a way that they are built-up in their faith. Shepherds take personal responsibility for the successes and failures of those in the group that they invest themselves in.  

 

Teaching: The ability to communicate information relevant to the health and ministry of the Body and its members in such a way that others will learn.

 

This gift is a communication gift. People with the gift of teaching enjoy studying the Bible and related materials in order to communicate what they have learned to other Christians. Those with this gift find it easy to organize vast amounts of information in such a way as to make it easy to communicate, understand, and remember.

 

Wisdom: The ability to know how given knowledge may best be applied to specific needs arising within the organization.

 

This gift is a practical gift. Those with this gift have an excellent ability to apply spiritual truth to everyday life. Often, people in the church naturally seek out people with this gift when they are facing complicated spiritual problems. When a person with this gift considers past experience, they realize that they often make good and correct decisions and judgements.