"Spiritual gifts are special abilities given by the Holy Spirit and distributed to every believer according to God's design and grace for the common good of the body of Christ."  this is a working definition of what spiritual gifts are.  When we talk about using spiritual gifts in the church what were talking about is giving God glory with the special abilities that he gives us and helping other people.  The intention is to help people find their ministry fit based upon their natural gifts and spiritual gifts.

Unfortunately many churches look at spiritual gifts inventories as a recruiting tool for the church staff to use in gathering church members to fill church jobs.  While this may be an appropriate use of spiritual gifts that certainly isn't the only one.  I think that we should be finding out what our spiritual gifts are so that we can be more effective in making an impact on our community.  Using the spiritual abilities that God has given us to transform our neighborhoods and our workplaces seems to me to be a more effective use of our God-given abilities.  As a church we are committed to helping people find their ministry fit both inside and outside of the church.

This is going to require a refocusing or rethinking of the way we do ministry.  It will require us to release church members to do ministry in their communities and their workplaces.  If you have the gift of serving and your passionate about feeding people who are hungry than as a church pastor I should encourage people to pursue their ministry passion and giftedness whether thatfinds them serving for my church or someone else's church or for that matter... some other agency that feeds the hungry.