How to Give a Strengths and Spiritual Gifts Assessment
- Ask a potential “recruit” to take the Strengths Finder and Spiritual Gifts Inventory. Once they take these, set up a session with them.(Note - The code for taking the Strengths Finder can only be obtained by purchasing the book, StrengthsFinder 2.0. Once the code is obtained from the book, then it enables one person to take the inventory. Codes can also be obtained from purchasing the Kindle version of the book, upon which an email with the code will be sent out to the purchaser.)
- Explain the Strengths Finder theory.- The Strengths Finder was designed by the Gallup Organization and was tested on over 2 million people- The Strengths Finder a high internal consistency, which means that if a person were to retake the test soon afterwards, most of the results would probably stay the same. What might change is the order of the Strengths, or a number five strength might switch with a number six.- Strengths are primarily your raw “talent” plus a little bit of experience-
When a person is born, he or she has billions of synapses; however, by agree three, most of the synapses have disappeared. This sounds like we are getting dumb, but actually this happens so that the remaining synapses work lightning fast. These “fast track” neural pathways are the raw talent for a person’s Strengths. When we are working within our Strengths, it feels natural and easy. In fact, it feels so easy that either we take our Strengths for granted and assume everyone can do what we can do; or, we are very hard on others who do not have our Strengths. These Strengths are part of the unique ways that God has made us, and our goal is to work within our Strengths as much as possible in the various areas of our lives.
- Go through the person’s Strengths Finder results.- Read the definition of the first Strength- Then read through some of the “Action Items” for the first Strength. Ask the person being assessed to comment where something stands out or where they have an experience to share that is triggered by the action item, perhaps where they have already used this Strengths in the past.- Repeat this for the other four Strengths
- Explain what Spiritual Gifts Are. - Spiritual gifts are spoken of as a "grace" in Scripture, and indeed, they bring much blessing into our lives and into the lives of others. Thus, Spiritual gifts go beyond mere abilities. Instead, God uses our abilities, our Strengths, our experiences, and he directs them towards work and service in his kingdom. Thus, our Strengths become the raw material for our gifts.
The apostle Peter says, "10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms." All Christians have at least one Spiritual gifts--which are God's gifts to us and others--which we should use to bless others. For further study see the four major passages of Scripture on Spiritual gifts: Rom. 12:1-8, 1 Cor. 12:1-11, Eph. 4:4-11, 1 Pet. 4:9-11.
- Go through the person’s Spiritual Gifts results.- Read through the “characteristics” of the first Spiritual gift. Again, ask the person being assessed to comment where something stands out or where they have an experience to share that is triggered by the characteristics.- Repeat this for the remaining Spiritual gifts that were in the person’s top 8+ Spiritual gifts- Have the person begin to rank their Spiritual gifts, beginning with the one that they feel strongest about. Keep the top five Spiritual gifts.
- Help the person apply their Strengths and Spiritual gifts to the various aspects of their lives. - This application includes a person’s work/workplace/word, his or her family, and his or her church/ministry setting.
- Ask them this question: Where do you feel that God is calling you to use this gift in your 1) work/workplace/world; 2) family; 3) at church / with Christians.
- Ask them what their next step is for using their gifts in this way
- Ask them when they will do this
Pass this information on to your church's Spiritual gifts administrator. Follow-up a few weeks after the assessment and see where they are to offer help, encouragement, and resources. If it is a larger ministry that they come up with for the application, see who else they need on their "team" to make this ministry run well.
