The following research is based upon 50 surveys that were given to members of the Liberty Church of Christ who went through the Spiritual gifts assessment found in the New Community series. The statistics below show how those who went through the assessment and discovered their Spiritual gifts were helped in various aspects of the Christian faith.

Impact Upon Awareness/Responsibility of Serving God and Others

66% Said Spiritual gifts discovery and use helped confirm the abilities that they already knew that they had and to confirm the areas in which they were already serving.
62% - Said it gave them new insights into the abilities that God has given them and how they can serve him and others.
70% - Said they were more aware of and think more about how they can use their Strengths and Spiritual gifts to serve God and others.
62% - Said they have a greater sense of responsibility that they should be using their Strengths and Spiritual gifts to serve God and others.

Impact Upon Evangelism
78% - Said they have thought more about and/or better served people in the world, workplace, or neighborhood.
48% - Said they have found that I am better able to share my faith or help non-Christians come to faith in some way (for example--by blessing their lives, telling my story of faith, or serving on a team that helps reach the lost)

56% - If most members would go through the assessment, the church would be able to better fulfill our mission and reach the lost

Impact Upon Relationship with God
32% - Said they have had a greater awareness of God’s presence and working in my life

74% - Said if most members would go through the assessment, more people would be actively serving God and others more fully in their personal lives

Impact Upon Church Ministry
66% - Said they have thought more about and/or better served people in the church.
78% - Said that if most members would go through the assessment, more people would be active and serving in ministries

Impact Upon Marriage/Family
52% - Said they have thought more about and/or better served their family as a result of discovering and using their gifts

42% - Said if most members would be through the assessment, most marriages and/or family interactions would be improved due to better understanding

Taking Initiative vs. Personal Encouragement

10% - Said they took the initiative to take the assessment on their own

86% - Said they were personally encouraged by someone to go through the process

How People Become Aware of Spiritual Gifts Assessment in a Local Church

32% - By reading about it in the bulletin

18% - By seeing it on the website

44% - By hearing about it in a sermon

24% - By hearing about it in a class

36% - By word of mouth from someone who had gone through the assessment

88% - By being told about it by a minister or church leader

The Most Effective Way People Become Aware of Spiritual Gifts Assessment in a Local Church

6% - By reading about it in the bulletin

2% - By seeing it on the website

20% - By hearing about it in a sermon

10% - By hearing about it in a class

28% - By word of mouth from someone who had gone through the assessment

62% - By being told about it by a minister or church leader

Reason for Taking the Spiritual Gifts Assessment

48% - Curiosity

58% - Wanted to grow Spiritually and/or discover how God had made me

28% - Wanted to learn what I did well to receive some positive affirmation in my life

60% - Wanted to learn how to better serve God and others

46% - Wanted to "find my place" in the church and learn about different ministries

12% - Wanted to please someone else

22% - Wanted to help me and my spouse better understand one another

46% - Was asked to go through this process by someone that I looked up to or respected

28% - Wanted to set a good example for others

10% - Other

Primary Reason for Taking the Spiritual Gifts Assessment

10% - Curiosity

24% - Wanted to grow Spiritually and/or discover how God had made me

2% - Wanted to learn what I did well to receive some positive affirmation in my life

28% - Wanted to learn how to better serve God and others

18% - Wanted to "find my place" in the church and learn about different ministries

2% - Wanted to please someone else

2% - Wanted to help me and my spouse better understand one another

18% - Was asked to go through this process by someone that I looked up to or respected

0% - Wanted to set a good example for others

8% - Other

The results of the surveys point towards this inescapable conclusion: getting people to go through the Spiritual gifts assessment requires personal recruitment by key leaders in the local church. General advertising such as announcements, placing items in the bulletin, placing links on the web site and the like help raise general awareness of the assessment., which is good and helpful. But 62% of those surveyed said that being told about the assessment by a church leader or someone that they respected was the most effective form of advertising, and 88% heard about it from this type of person.

The second most effective advertisement was the word of mouth (28%). So once a church begins doing these assessments, the positive experience from this will help others become aware of the assessment. However, in most cases, people will still have to be asked.

In my own experience, I will ask people to go through this assessment, and they will often say, "I have about that. What is it?" Or they will say, "I have been thinking about doing that." They have been thinking about it, but they need some direct encouragement to actually move forward on this. This is so often true for us in many areas of life. We know what we need to do to be healthy (eat right, exercise), but it often takes someone else inspiring us to go down this path.

These results also show that not only do ministers/church leaders still matter, but what is said in the pulpit does too. The sermon was the second most numerous way that people became aware of the assessment, and the third most effective advertising overall.

In getting people to take the assessment, the appeal must come on multiple levels, for people take it for a variety of reasons. Some take the assessment out of curiosity, some to find their place in the church, some to receive some positive affirmation. The top three reasons were: 1) they wanted to learn how to better serve God and others; 2) wanted to grow spiritually or discover how God had made them; and 3) they were asked to go through the assessment by a church leader or someone they looked up to. All of these different appeals must be made to reach different kinds of people.

Finally, the overwhelmingly positive experience that is reported by those who have gone through the assessment ought to make church leaders bold in asking others to go through the assessment. Share with the potential "recruit" the positive experience that others have had, and appeal to him or her based upon what will most resonate with him or her.