| | Several years ago God laid it on my heart to be involved in ministry placement--a ministry the church I was attending did not have. Circumstances for being part of such a ministry in that church were not coming together, but the fact that I could not be involved in ministry there drove me in my quest to learn more. I read a number of books and articles related to the subject, wrote articles about what I was learning, and waited for God's timing to apply in a church setting what I had learned.
That time came when my husband and I were called to another church nearly three-and-a-half years after I first learned about ministry placement. Although the new church did not have an effective process for placing people in ministry at the time, God had been bringing together both circumstances and people for such a ministry. Only weeks after our first visit to the church as a family, I sat in the first meeting of what was to become the Ministry Placement Team.
Beginning a ministry of this magnitude is a great privilege and responsibility. Aside from the process itself, there are many questions about what to include in the assessment. Below, you will find a list of nearly every aspect of a person that might need to be assessed by a ministry placement team in not only churches, but Christian organizations as well. Every group is different, so your church or organization may have more or fewer items that need to be tracked, but the list will give you a good idea of what a ministry placement team might assess and how the information can be used.
The origin of the list is a combination of several assessments I've been through, including those used for career counseling. I haven't seen one assessment that stands entirely alone for what this ministry could potentially be--one that reaches beyond the local church to a massive mobilization for God's purposes. You will learn, though, that any assessment can not stand without relying on God's direction. Don't miss that point!
These topics will be covered: - Logistics--The most important aspect of the assessment
- Resources--What people might not realize they have
- Services: Volunteer and Professional--Every Christian is called to serve
- Personality--Some things matter, others don't
- Experiences: Life, Ministry, God, and Spiritual Maturity--An assessment won't be complete without considering these
- Spiritual Gifts--The only assessment some churches do
- Interests: Heart Groups and Passions--What drives ministry
- Abilities: Talents and Skills--Natural or acquired, God wants to use them
- Why an Assessment Isn't Enough--Faith in God, not in a tool
Logistics
Logistics
are nothing more than availability, and limitations of availability.
Information like a rough weekly schedule is helpful, as are details
about necessity for childcare, transportation, or other needs that will
determine when and how a person can serve. As basic as it sounds, this is the one area of the
assessment that is absolutely vital to match. If these needs aren't
met, your minister simply can not serve.
Resources
Churches and organizations--small
ones in particular--often find themselves in need of physical resources
to minister adequately. Here is where someone, especially one who
finds time lacking, can help without necessarily being physically
present. Simple things like snow blowers and leaf rakes for service and
outreach projects can take a ministry from non-existent to multiplying
the Kingdom. Farmers who can spare hogs or a hog roaster for a
community outreach event can play a part in growing the body of Christ
locally. Those with acreage can donate the use of their land for
special events. Bookworms willing to share their Christian literature
can increase the size of the church library and aid in growing
disciples in the process.
Services: Volunteer and Professional
Every
Christian is called to serve others, no matter what their spiritual
gifts or level of maturity are. Jesus said that whatever you do unto
the least of these, you do unto Him. If a church has or is forming a
service ministry for outreach, it will be useful to know what people
can do to help.
Volunteer Services
Volunteer
services are the kinds of things someone may not necessarily be
particularly skilled at, but that he has a willingness to do in the
short-term. Walking dogs, painting, mowing, planting flowers and
cleaning house are all examples. They may not even be something the person enjoys doing for himself, but when done out of love for Jesus, they
suddenly bring satisfaction.
Professional Services
Professional
services may be offered for free or for a fee. Since we're dealing
with something someone normally gets paid to do, it is important for
him to set boundaries ahead of time. Calling on him for everything
related to his job may burn him out in ministry and take time away from
his responsibilities to his family and his employer. Be specific about
what the professional is willing to be consulted about, when he is available
for consultation, and in what circumstances he will be paid.
A
plumber can donate labor in an emergency to fix a senior's gushing
pipe, but when others in the church know his profession, they can call
on him during regular business hours to support him as a fellow
Christian. A professional web designer might help with the church's
website and other computer issues, but when others want help with their
website, it may be necessary to pay him. Ultimately, it is the
person's decision, but it is imperative to
make sure there are no unfair expectations or unstated parameters.
Personality
Personality
describes how one prefers to interact with his environment. There
are a number of personality tests available, but you might create or adapt your own. Some traits might include, in
varying degrees: extrovert or introvert, competitive or cooperative,
working individually or with a team, people-oriented or task-oriented,
big picture or detailed, thinking or feeling, structured or unstructured, and leader or follower. The Big Book of Job Descriptions for Ministry
uses leader, expresser, analyst, and dependable along with some other
descriptors. A communication preference (email, phone, etc.) says
something about a person and where they would be more comfortable
serving, as well; however, this and any other personality trait may be
something God wants to stretch. Placing someone in an area that will stretch him will require a definite affirmative answer to
prayer because if someone is placed in a long-term position that's too
much of a stretch it can lead to burnout.
Ministry placement
isn't the only reason to assess personality types. Let's look at the
Keirsey Temperament Sorter, which gives fairly accurate descriptions of what can generally be expected from people of any of 16 role variants. While recognizing that individuals should never be
pigeon-holed and acknowledging that people, by God's grace and design, have room for growth and change, a ministry leader who
understands his team's role variants can have a better idea of what
motivates each team member and can also know better what to expect
under certain circumstances. Some people have even testified of how
awareness of DISC personality types within teams greatly improves their
ability to work together because they each understand not only each
other, but themselves as well. In other words, it increases unity, one
of Jesus' greatest desires for His church (see His high priestly prayer
in John 17).
Experiences: Life, Ministry, God, and Spiritual Maturity
The
experience portions of the assessment are not so much assessments as they are a reflective exercise. Out of life and ministry experiences and experiences
with God flow spiritual growth.
Life Experiences
The
life experiences exercise will likely not be recorded in a database,
but it really needs to be completed before one considers heart groups and passions. Why is it better to do this
first? Because it will help jog memory of things the individual has
done and get the passion flowing as he thinks about experiences that
have brought strong feelings. It also enables the person (or someone
assisting them with the assessment) to evaluate the action words they
used to describe experiences to look for a common link.
The best
experience list I have completed for myself breaks the parts of your
life into smaller chunks, such as early childhood and elementary
school, junior high and high school, college and early adulthood, and
so on. Within these categories, the person lists accomplishments he
is most proud of. A list of the most painful experiences in the
person's life is also helpful because God uses trials for His purposes,
and they may become part of a person's long-term ministry.
Depending on the nature of a ministry position, it is probably not necessary to record these, or even read over them. The painful experiences in particular require sensitive
handling, especially if there are experiences the person still needs
to work through with the aid of a counselor or pastor. All these
matters should be kept private unless the person desires to share them
in an appropriate manner and setting.
Ministry Experiences
Since the Holy Spirit works to glorify the Father, Spiritual gifts can be unlocked only through performing ministry. Recording a number of ways the person has served will help him reflect as he considers the ways the Spirit has worked in him to build up the Body of Christ. These experiences are not limited to organized church ministries. They include any time the person has served in the name of Jesus.
Experiences with God
Among one's experiences, we must not ignore experiences in which God
spoke to the individual in some way or another about how He wants him
to join Him in His work. Here things can get difficult. How can we know for certain that
someone has been called by God despite a lack of all the logical
qualifications? (After all, God's ways are higher than our ways and don't have to follow our reasoning.) Seeking God on the matter as a church body or ministry team is of utmost importance. He
will reveal to others that this is the person for the position as they seek His will.
Why to Track Experiences with God
One
of the responsibilities of ministry placement may be to keep track of where
God seems to be working based on the people He is bringing into the
local church. Although life experiences probably will not be recorded,
it may be important to keep track of what God has instructed a person
to do because that could point leadership to where God wants to work.
If he calls someone with a passion for evangelism to be a Sunday School
teacher, God may be moving the church to expand their evangelism
training program. If He calls someone to create a prayer walk
ministry, He probably wants to reach area neighborhoods. If He calls
both of these simultaneously, He may very well be preparing the church to
evangelize the area by physically going out rather than waiting for the
seekers to come to them.
Another Experience Exercise
Henry Blackaby, in Experiencing God,
explains that God works in sequence with the way He has been working in
your life to that point. Therefore, listing spiritual markers is a
profitable exercise that will allow the individual to see where God may
be leading. A spiritual inventory may include your family heritage,
your salvation experience, and life-altering decisions and experiences
where you can see God was at work.
While the results of a spiritual marker exercise may be similar to other life experience exercises, it is possible that something previously unnoticed will surface. For example, I saw
some things I expected, like passions for discipleship and fulfilling
ministry; those had come out in my life experience assessment. What
surprised me, though, was the realization of my soft spot for the
Appalachian regions of southeastern Kentucky and bordering areas.
How to Use Spiritual Markers in a Database
While
I wouldn't recommend keeping a record of how an individual came to
their conclusions, recording the conclusions themselves is important
for two reasons. First, as stated already, it may indicate that God is
wanting to do something corporately when more than a few people have
similar interests. Second, it will aid the church in equipping its
members (Ephesians 4:11-16). To help a person become all God wants him
to become for the Kingdom, a ministry dedicated to promoting spiritual
growth (such as the Christian Education Ministry) needs to look at where God is leading on an individual basis and
prescribe and/or provide opportunities to nurture that leading if at
all possible.
Spiritual Maturity
Some
resources about volunteer recruitment might lead you to believe that
ministry and spiritual growth are independent of each other. In
reality, though, the two go hand in hand. Certain jobs require certain
minimum levels of spiritual growth. Putting a young Christian in a
position with too much spiritual responsibility, even if he appears to
"fit the need", is simply unwise (1 Timothy 3:6).
A new or young Christian should be encouraged to participate in
short-term service projects because all Christians are called to serve;
however, their primary focus should be on raising their level of
discipleship through courses on the basics of the faith. A growing
Christian would be ready for more long-term assignments, but is not
ready for leadership. A more mature Christian may be capable of some
level of leadership and/or equipping.
Spending time with an individual is an excellent way to determine maturity level, but there
are some spiritual health assessments available, as well, ranging from a few
questions to a few pages. Or, you may opt to use a list of benchmarks
to determine maturity level. Another option is to take into
consideration the educational experiences the person has been through,
such as church training seminars, certificate programs, college and
seminary courses, or books the person has read. Depending on the
information recorded from this exercise, it could be used by the church
to aid continued growth in order to raise up more leaders and ministry
multipliers (i.e., leaders capable of equipping others for leadership).
Spiritual Gifts
Spiritual gifts should be the most obvious item for inclusion in an assessment, but they are not necessarily easy to determine. Finding Spiritual gifts requires prayer and is in some ways a case of trial and error. Additionally, not everyone agrees what each gift is, or even how many gifts there are. (For example: Is the gift of knowledge an understanding of the Bible, or is it a word received supernaturally from the Lord about a person--or is that prophecy? Are the gift lists in the Bible comprehensive, or do they extend to exceptional talents such as woodworking? Does God still give all the gifts in the Bible, or were some intended only for the early church?) Leadership will likely have the final word on the gifts' definitions. From these you will need to find or create an assessment that fits the descriptions.
The more spiritual gift assessments I take, the more I am convinced there is no "perfect" assessment. Results can be skewed by things such as the believer's lack of ministry experience, their misinterpretation of a statement, or inadequate statements for each gift in the assessment. Because of the potential for failings on the parts of both the assessment and the believer, I have come to believe that an assessment alone can not be a fully reliable source of finding one's gifts. It requires, above anything else, time with God to explore His purposes.
It's common for many churches to limit their assessments to a Spiritual gifts test.
Teachers teach, leaders lead, and helpers help. But that doesn't take
into account the natural slants of a teacher who loves preschoolers,
but balks at teaching adults; a leader with a heart for worship, but
who feels helpless when it comes to Bible study; or a helper who feels
drawn to physically handicapped children yet hesitant with the
elderly. It is those tendencies that are the beauty of the body of
Christ. Everyone is different for a purpose, and a placement
team's desire should be to discover those facets of a minister before placing them
in ministry for an extended period of time.
Other mistakes churches (and assessments) make about Spiritual gifts
It must be remembered that Spiritual gifts are the Holy Spirit equipping an individual to minister in a way that he would not be able to on his own. And the Holy Spirit certainly does not equip someone to do something that does not glorify God. If the assessment is focused on what the person can do, even when they are not performing a ministry, rather than what God does through him, the assessment is nothing more than a list of personal tendencies that will allow even a non-Christian to believe he has a Spiritual gift.
Because the Holy Spirit manifests gifts only in Christians for the purpose of building the Kingdom, new Christians should be advised to keep a record of their ministry experiences for a while before trying to determine their gifts. I have seen the suggestion that new Christians answer based on what they wish were true, but it should be obvious that if the heart is deceitful above all things, such an assessment is essentially void.
Additionally, because the Holy Spirit determines what gifts to give, an assessment is only an indication of how the Holy Spirit has worked in a person to that point. The Spirit must not--and will not--be limited by an assessment. For further discussion on this very important topic, I recommend What's So Spiritual About Your Gifts? by Henry & Mel Blackaby.
Interests: Heart Groups and Passions
Where heart groups are the who of ministry, passions are the what.
Heart groups and passions may or may not be closely related. Someone
with a passion for biking may have bikers as their heart group. A
passion for saving the unborn can produce a heart for young women with
unplanned pregnancies.
Heart Groups
A
heart group is the type of people a minister has a soft spot for.
These are often based on experience, so that is why it is important to
have ministers write out their experiences and spiritual markers before searching out their heart group(s). Painful experiences can uniquely
prepare a person to minister to others going through the same
experience (2 Corinthians 1). For instance, someone who has been
through infertility or divorce may want to be involved in something
that ministers to others in the same circumstance. It's not
necessarily a bad experience that will lead someone to a particular
group, though. Ethnic or socioeconomic background can draw a person to
similar people groups as well. A heart group can also be based on
things like age or Christian maturity level.
Passions
Passions
are the deeply felt interests that get a person's blood pumping.
Often, time is spent thinking about it or doing it every day. They
cover hobby subjects as well as causes or special interests and even
professional areas if the person is so blessed.
Not everyone
knows what his passion is. Some thoughtful questions may aid in the
search for one's passion, as may some experience exercises. It is
possible the individual just hasn't yet had the experience to lead him
to find his passion. That's all right. God will still put him in the
right place, maybe even in a position where he can discover his
passion.
Some may have more than one passion. Like a passion
for a particular college team and musical performance. Maybe God wants
to use one now and the other later, or maybe He wants to use both of
them together. Perhaps, in our example, the love for the team is the
front door to relationships and his music skills are the way to
communicate the Gospel. As long as God is at the forefront of the
placement process, He will be able to put him in the right place, too.
Abilities: Talents and Skills
The differences among the words abilities, talents, and skills can be somewhat confusing, but Webster's dictionary clarifies them for us. A talent is something naturally endowed, where a skill is something developed in the person. It is possible for the lines between the two to become blurred, which is why they are discussed together here. An ability can be either natural or acquired.
You might find a list that includes words like organize, inspire, create, and research.
As a recipient of such an assessment, I find that being a little more
specific is necessary to get a good ministry fit. For example:
organize papers, inspire leaders, create visual presentations, and
research facts using the Internet. Someone who enjoys organizing
papers may not enjoy organizing a room full of supplies. Likewise,
someone who is used to researching facts using the Internet may not be
happy digging through boxes to research church history.
Because God has created a wide diversity of talents and skills, no list
will (or should try to) be exhaustive. A list of suggestions based on
anticipated needs and creative outlets is helpful, though. Since each
person has a varying level of potentially hundreds of abilities, the
results need to be somewhat limited. Erik Rees suggests in SHAPE that these be the top ten things a person can't imagine not
doing every day. An assessment shouldn't be all about looking for what
fulfills the person, though. It needs to take into account what God
wants to do through the person as well. Having the person evaluate both
willingness and skill level will reveal the strongest and most
satisfying talents and skills to be used by God, but also allows people
to be more open to what God might want them to use for Him.
Certain abilities, such as vocal performance, are sometimes included under Spiritual gifts and may be the means by which you express a Spiritual gift, but there is an important difference that must be mentioned here. A Spiritual gift is usually defined as something that a person is empowered to do by the Holy Spirit after he becomes a Christian. A talent is something that is developed naturally, although God fashioned the ability when He formed the person in the womb. The Holy Spirit fills the person to do the work of God through Spiritual gifts, but a talent can be used for the work of God or any other way the person chooses.
Some people may not think their talent or skill can be used for the church, but
I prefer to think creatively and on a bigger level: the Kingdom of
God. If the makeup of the local church does not give the person an
outlet for his ability, perhaps there is something outside the church he
can do to build up the Kingdom. Some examples are Christian comedians
who take their clean and uplifting acts to the road; sports figures who use
their influence to share a positive message; and gamers who use online games and/or LAN parties to reach
out to the younger generations. We must remember too, though, that we
can't just make up a ministry and ask God to bless it. We have to be
on the lookout for where God is working, and ask Him for direction.
Why an Assessment Isn't Enough
It may seem that with all these details about a person there is no way to refer them to the wrong place. But that isn't so. The danger of a clear process is that people will put faith in the
process instead of looking to God for His direction. Someone may be
satisfied serving in a particular ministry, but if that person and the ministry
placement team were trusting the process alone, the
volunteer (and those he would have touched in the right ministry) may
have settled for good and missed God's best. For this reason, the process must be seen merely as a tool God can use to confirm what individuals are sensing from Him. He will not lead us astray in these matters. God is always right about where a person belongs because He knows that person inside out and backwards. He also knows His plans and who He wants to use to accomplish His work. An assessment can not take this into account. Therefore, prayer must be a built-in part of the process, and those praying (both the individual and the placement team members) need to know how to listen for God's answers. There is more that could be shared here, but I hope that this is enough to give you some ideas for how you can create and use your church's assessment for ministry placement. But don't rely on what I have listed. God has plans for every church. Pray for wisdom about what He would have you assess and how--and when--He wants you to apply the information. I have every confidence that with a God-centered approach to placement, the people of your church will achieve fulfillment in ministry like never before, and the body of Christ will be functioning in ways they never realized they could. This
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