The Gift is the Person

There are leadership graces for the Church and none of them are abilities–they are all people.

I am going to make this emphasis on people over ability for a very important reason. Let that sink in just a bit. I am touching on a couple of common ideas and ways of speaking. The question I am already posing to you is, “Do you carry gifts with you, or are you the gift?” Read on, and I will try to bring some deep encouragement to you as a leader.

It might be true that graces and gifts are things given to men just as it says in Ephesians 4:7, “to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it,” and in Romans 8, “We have different gifts, according to the grace given us…” but to imagine these leadership gifts as externalized feature sets is an awkward proposal. What I mean by this is that gifts and graces do not exist in concept or in concrete form outside of a person, and I believe this truth is simple and instinctive. (more…)