Take a Spiritual Gifts Assessment
Since walking in the way of love helps reveal our spiritual gifts, try doing a Gifts Assessment to see which ones you may have. Start by reading the biblical gifts lists to get acquainted with them. Which have you seen active in your life? Have others identified any of them at work in you?
- Leadership gifts (Ephesians 4:7-13)
- Motivational gifts (Romans 12:3-8, 1 Peter 4:11)
- Sign gifts (1 Corinthians 12 and 14)
- Creative gifts (Exodus 31:1-11, 1 Samuel 16:13-23)
Online Tools
An online gifts assessment can also be helpful (but see note below). Having road-tested some tools, here are a couple you might find useful:
Option 1: Spiritual Gifts Survey
(15-20mins)
This is a short but helpful online tool to begin the discovery process. It only tests for the nine Motivational gifts of Romans 12, but gives some handy tips for growing in your strongest gifts. (If you’d rather do a pen-and-paper assessment, this one is a well-regarded alternative.)
Option 2: SHAPE Survey
(40-60mins)
If you have more time, this is a slightly more in-depth tool that explores your Spiritual gifts (using the same tool as above), Heart (what you’re passionate about), Abilities (your natural and learned skills), Personality type (on a basic level), and Experiences (which God can use to serve others). You can listen to an interview on the SHAPE discovery approach here.
A Caveat
Note: Since such tests are completed subjectively, and given there can be differing theological understandings of the gifts, results from such tools should be confirmed in other ways. Peter Wagner’s advice on gift discovery is best:
- Experiment with as many gifts as you can
- Evaluate the results (were you effective?)
- Examine your feelings (were you joyful?)
- Expect confirmation from others
