What do you think of the question itself? What do you think of the possible answers? Is there something that immediately springs to your mind in answer but that's not listed in the possible answer list?
I feel like my gift to the church has been ____________________________________.
Please fill in the blank with whatever comes to mind (whether it's in the following list or not). Feel free to use the following list if that helps.
| a. compassion | b. hospitality | c. faithfulness |
| d. humor | e. kindness | f. thoughtfulness |
| g. prayer | h. evangelism | i. teaching |
| j. listening | k. forbearance | l. financial gifts |
| m. music | n. singing | o. experience |
| p. leadership | q. knowledge | r. hope |
| s. practical help with the facilities | t. gentleness | |
| u. practical help to people in the congregation | ||
| u. a welcoming attitude to newcomers | v. wisdom | |
what do I think of the question itself? I don't like it, I feel put on the spot, I immediately start feeling uncomfortable like I'm supposed to be justifying my existence or something. it's a bit like this classic Israeli phrase we have, where people get into an argument and someone might hurl at you: "and what have you done for the country?" like you have to prove you have a right to speak out.
ReplyDeleteis there something that immediately springs to mind that isn't listed there? yes - encouragement. administration. prophecy.
I think this could do with rephrasing a bit, so as not to get people on the defensive and also to make it more clear that the list is just a help for thinking of stuff, not a list to necessarily pick from. But having said that, I can't really think how I'd rephrase it...
oh, and I love your dandelion banner. it definitely didn't look like this last time I visited. gorgeous dandelion pic!
ReplyDeletecan you think of another way to get at the point? my goal is more to find out about what people think their gifts and skills are without them thinking about "gifts" in a way that they get stressed out wondering what their gifts are. would this question come across better if it was proceeded by other questions that lead up to it? or is it just outright too abrupt and pre-condemning? feel free to suggest other ways to get a sense of what people think they're good at. i'd like to connect it to what their role is currently in the church.
ReplyDeleteencouragement. administration. prophecy. rats, i thought i got encouragement on the list. the other two i hadn't even thought of. thanks.
oh... just got to your last paragraph. ok, i'll keep brainstorming on how to get at the same idea in a different way.
thanks. :-) i don't know if you remember the theme from about a year or two ago, but it's the dandelion from that, only larger and alone. before it was in a brown bottle in front of a tan background.
ReplyDeleteand if I think of anything, I'll come back and say - you never know what might come to my mind after sleeping on it.
ReplyDeletebut generally yes, I think some kind of preamble might help, or other questions leading up to it so they won't notice it so much. oh, and you know you said you're looking for "a sense of what people think they're good at"? maybe that's a phrase you can play with a bit. I feel like there's something there but my brain is getting fuzzy now.
(leaving this post popped in case I have some bright ideas tomorrow. and anyways, I can enjoy saying hi to the dandelion.)
ReplyDeleteok, another day and some more thoughts - how about something like this:
ReplyDeleteThe Bible talks about us as members of one body, with each member having their own gifts. When you think of yourself as part of the church congregation, what areas do you feel you personally are good at? (There are some suggestions in the table below, but your answer does not have to come from this list - it's just there to give you some ideas.)
And I don't think I said this last night but I like the way you've mixed so many different things in the list, so it's not just the classic/obvious stuff.
do you think it would work to have this as the first question. and then the second question be more like "do you feel like you've been able to use that gift in the church?" or something like that?
ReplyDeletethere's the matter of what people are gifted in and the matter of what people are actually doing (which doesn't always match what they're gifted in).
i also have another section with the same "gifts" listed and that's where we can put other people in the congregation. so under hospitality we would list all the people that we think have that gift. i think sometimes our own gifts aren't as clear to us as the gifts of others are.
yes, I think that would work really well - as you say, people aren't always actually using their gifts, sometimes there's stuff we're good at but haven't found much opportunity to use it, sometimes we get roped in to the wrong jobs.
ReplyDeleteand I like the other bit too - about identifying other people's gifts, because yes, sometimes people aren't aware of their own gifts, there's the tendency to regard it as obvious and not realise that what comes totally naturally and easily to you is actually a very valuable gift to others and that not everyone else can do it.