Vows: Gifts

Matthew 7: 7-12

I met the Rev. Mike Mather during a leadership program at Candler a few years ago. He spent a day with my cohort talking about his ministry at Broadway UMC in Indianapolis. He took what we’d call in social work a strengths-based approach to ministry. In community development, it is called asset-based community development. The core tenet of strengths-based or asset-based work is the recognition that all individuals and communities have assets. While there may be need, there are always assets too. For Rev. Mather, it was the conviction that all people and all churches have assets they can leverage for the mission. He even wrote a great book about it called Having Nothing, Possessing Everything: Finding Abundant Communities in Unexpected Places.

Some of us probably equate gifts that support the local church with financial offerings. And it is undeniable that the church does need financial support to continue its mission. Sometimes what ministry requires is money. That may sound crass, but it’s true. If we want to help feed people, we’ve got to buy food. If we want our youth to read their Bibles, we may need to buy them Bibles. So yes, our financial gifts are definitely part of the promise to support the church.

However, pledging our gifts to support the mission of the local church goes far beyond financial ones. Our youth Sunday school class is currently exploring spiritual gifts. We will be looking at what the Bible says about them, what they mean, and how they can be used to support the Kingdom. We will also discern what gifts they may have and how they can use them to advance the Gospel. Our spiritual gifts are also ways that we can support the church.

Inherent in the discussion of asset-based ministry and our current youth Sunday school focus is the acknowledgment of giftedness that is based on God’s generosity to us. All gifts that we have—whether it is a talent, a financial windfall, or one of the spiritual gifts named in the Bible—come from the same source. All that we have and all that we are come from God. In return, we are to use those gifts to support the work of the church in its mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

What is keeping you from supporting the church with your gifts? Maybe you don’t feel like you have any gifts that could help the mission of the church. Maybe you know that you have gifts and you just don’t know where to plug in. Maybe you feel like you’ve never been asked to share that gift, and so you feel unimportant or, worse, unwanted. Sometimes the best way to discern our gifts is to get feedback from others.

While Rev. Mather was serving at Broadway UMC, every confirmation class would receive gifts at a special dinner in their honor—but they weren’t presents. Instead, adults—family, mentors, friends—would stand during the dinner and reveal what gifts they saw in the youth. They spotlighted the attributes that make each youth special. In response, each youth would say what they thought God’s calling for them was and how they could use those gifts to fulfill that call.

How can your God-given gifts, financial or otherwise, be used to support the church and advance the mission? If you are struggling to answer that question, I encourage you to reach out to one of the pastors or a trusted friend to discuss it.

Prayer
God, thank you for the gifts you’ve placed in our hands and hearts. Give us discernment to recognize them, wisdom to use them with care, courage to grow them with love, and humility to remember they are meant to serve others. Amen.

Rev. Dana Ezell