Discovering God’s Vision for Your Life: You and Your Spiritual Gifts

“We’ve used spiritual gifts inventories before, but we’ve never before had so many people so excited about using their gifts in ministry as we have with Discovering.”

“When participants finished the course and knew their gifts, they got involved in ministry. Many had never been active in anything before.”

“We’ve seen the great benefits of placing members where they can serve most effectively instead of just assigning whoever’s available to any open position.”

“Before this course, we didn’t even address spiritual gifts in our congregation. Discovering has opened a new door for us and defined our ministry in terms of gifts.”

“The Discovering course helps satisfy people’s hunger to serve in meaningful ways.”

“Nothing else in my life has ever inspired or energized me this much. Now that I’ve taken the time to explore God’s vision for me, I have a new life.”

“This course opened the door to what God wanted me to do next in my life.”

“This course helped me focus on the area of ministry where I was most effective. Ministry is now more rewarding for me and more valuable for God’s kingdom.”

“Knowing and confirming my gifts has made me more eager to serve.”

“I’m 70 years old, and I’ve experienced the power of the Holy Spirit in my life more profoundly through this course than I have anywhere else.”

To start, the course leader or leaders use:

• Leader’s Guide

• Planning and Preparation Manual

Later, the leader or leaders may also use:

• Ministry Mobilization Manual

• Haugk Spiritual Gifts Inventory Manual

Course participants use:

• Participant Manual

• Haugk Spiritual Gifts Inventory (Parts I and II)

One of each of these resources is included in the Leader’s Planning Set

A pastor or other church staff person, a lay leader, or a team of two or more of these individuals typically teaches the course.

Congregations have told us that, after one group completed the course, one or more participants from that first group with the appropriate spiritual gifts have ended up teaching the next group.

No. The Leader’s Planning Set provides everything leaders need to teach this course. On pages 7–14 of the Leader’s Guide is an introduction titled “How to Teach This Course.” The Planning and Preparation Manual also provides further details.

The Discovering course is flexible and can be offered using a variety of schedules. The four schedules congregations use most frequently are:

• Eight weekly 1-hour sessions, covering one module a week

• Four weekly 2 ½-hour sessions, covering two modules a week (with a half-hour break)

• A two-part retreat, covering four modules a day over two consecutive Saturdays or Sundays

• A weekend retreat, covering the eight modules over a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

The Planning and Preparation Manual describes these options in greater detail and explains the benefits of each.

Anyone in the congregation would benefit from having a greater understanding of what his or her spiritual gifts are and how to use them. Here are possibilities for some specific groups:

• participants in general Christian education classes

• small groups

• high-school or college-age youth

• church staff

• lay leaders

• new members

Discovering God’s Vision for Your Life could be a tremendous help for a time-and-talent process. It makes the process more effective because people who know their gifts have greater self-awareness—they can more easily recognize where they’re best able to contribute to the congregation’s mission and ministry.

The Haugk Spiritual Gifts Inventory is an extremely accurate tool for identifying a person’s spiritual gifts. It’s based on extensive biblical research and was developed through many rounds of empirical testing with thousands of participants to ensure its reliability and validity.

The Ministry Mobilization Manual is a resource that answers the question, “What do we do when the Discovering course is over?” It offers practical ways to strengthen a congregation by matching people with ministries where their spiritual gifts would be used most effectively. It also includes 120 well-researched job descriptions that connect typical church activities to specific spiritual gifts.