Launch Your Ministry Chapter 16 of 27
<-Chapter 15 Chapter 17-> Return to FulltextAbilities of the Soul
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The next and more important characteristics are the psychological characteristics, which lie in the soul. The soul contains the mind, emotions and will.
What gifts or abilities do you have lying within your soul that can possibly be used for the work of the ministry? Probably the most important quality of all is something called attitude.
Teachable Attitude
Attitude is a specific mix of mind, emotions and will or a mindset. It is a way of thinking, feeling and choosing. The attitude that you have in your soul will decide what God can do with you and of what use you can be in His work.
What kind of attitudes can a person have then? A good starting attitude is to be teachable. We all have the ability to learn. Our brains are like sponges, ready and waiting to soak up knowledge and any information they can get.
How much you actually receive depends on how open you are to receive teaching. How teachable are you? If you are not teachable then God can do very little with you.
You must be ready to receive training for ministry, either directly from the Lord, or from those He puts into your life. If not, then how can He possibly use you to teach and influence others with the Word of God?
Willingness to Give
You should also be willing to give and have an 'other-orientation'. Instead of looking inwards, you should give out what is inside you.
Some like to gain knowledge knowledge and develop these gifts and abilities to be seen by others. They are more interested in meeting their own needs.
If this is your attitude in ministry then the Lord can do very little with you. As we saw earlier, ministry is servanthood or service. If you do not have the attitude of a servant then you lack one of the most essential gifts needed to do the work of the Lord.
Willingness to Change
It has taken you many years to get where you are right now. You have received a lot programming throughout your life, via studying, training and mentorship. This includes all of your experiences in life.
But God could call you to something that moves you in a different direction to the way you have been programmed. This means you will have to change.
Do you have the gift of being teachable? Do you have the gift of other-orientation or giving out? Do you have the gift of being ready to change?
If you do not have some of these basic attitudes, the number of ministry possibilities open to you is limited.
Temperament
Temperament is based on the soul and is part of your psychological makeup. Some of it you received even before you were born. Some of it was programmed into you by your parents and others.
We have taught on temperament in many different places. One specific teaching that deals with it is a series I did on the nature of man and human temperaments.
I have included these in a module called Psychology in Business and Ministry because it includes principles of both business and ministry.
The principles are explained well in that series, so I will only give a quick summary of the temperaments here. Then I will show you how they result in different personality types.
These personality types equip us for certain kinds of ministry. Remember that we are still looking here only at natural gifts. This is not the supernatural yet.
Two Main Parameters
Temperaments are based on two main parameters. These allow you to very quickly assess a person. The first parameter is Emotional Expression, or the tendency to express your feelings and show them outwardly.
The second one is Assertion, which is the tendency to be strong willed and impose your will in your interaction with others. There can be different levels of both emotional expression and assertiveness.
The simplest way of showing this is to use either high or low levels in both. If you illustrate these two as a horizontal and a vertical line, crossing over each other like a cross, then there are four possible combinations available.
Example: Temperamental Chart
As I taught in the series on temperaments, these four temperaments are known as follows.
1. The Analytical - low on both emotion and assertion.
2. The Amiable - high on emotion but low on assertion.
3. The Expressive - high on both emotion and assertion.
4. The Driver - low on emotion and high on assertion.
Each of these temperaments has different characteristics.
The analytical person is more introverted; very much a perfectionist and an intellectual type of person.
The amiable is more people oriented. He or she is friendly, and loves being with people and helping them.
The expressive is more goal-oriented, and thrives on excitement and challenges.
The driver is the typical 'boss' type who is very strong and work-oriented.
That is just a quick summary of the temperaments. If you want to know more, then you should get the Psychology in Business and Ministry series for that.
Throughout our lives, each of these temperaments can be developed and we can swing out of them. Even when a baby is born you can already see signs of temperament in that child.
As the child grows up, this can vary even more as a result of influences from other people. Eventually over time, as you grow up, you come to a place of being more comfortable in one area.
You will end up with a mix of temperaments. There will be one main temperament dominating, but the side temperaments also have an influence.
As you move into one of these four, you will begin to develop a personality type. Personality is a bit stronger than temperament because it is something that has become a characteristic of who you are.
Your personality type will give you a natural ability or gifting. And in ministry, you will often function according to your personality type.
The Analytical Personality
When the analytical temperament dominates in a person's life, it leads to a specific type of personality. This temperament is often called the planner, because it is very good at planning the future.
The analytical has foresight based on past experience. He or she assesses possibilities based on past experience and can almost predict what will happen. So they can plan what kind of actions to take.
Because they are very good at this, analyticals often become Instructors. This personality type is good at instructing or teaching others by imparting principles and knowledge to them.
So what kind of ministry is the analytical good at? Any ministry that involves the impartation of principles and knowledge. I am sure that you are immediately thinking of a teacher.
The analytical is more naturally gifted to becoming a teacher.
The Amiable Personality
The amiable person is also known as a cultivator, because he or she is able to cultivate relationships. Because they are very people-oriented, they are able to develop relationships and friendships with people.
The amiable personality type is known as the connector. So the amiable is more naturally a connector personality.
What kind of ministry is the amiable more naturally equipped to do? A ministry that involves working with people, particularly in group situations and relationships.
So the amiable is very good in a Pastoral or Counseling environment, working with people and bringing them together to develop relationships.
Remember, we have not yet looked at the supernatural or the anointing of God or His calling. We are still only looking at natural temperaments.
The Expressive Personality
The expressive is also known as the developer, because he or she develops new things. Because they are very good at bringing out new things, they can take people and cause them to move into something new.
The personality type of the expressive is the motivator. If you have ever felt that you would like to be a motivational speaker, the chances are that you are expressive in temperament and have developed the personality of a motivator.
What is the best ministry then for this type of personality?
Surely the best motivator is the evangelist. The evangelist convinces people that they can change, and persuades them to commit their lives to Christ.
The Driver Temperament
The driver is also known as the organizer, because this temperament has a natural ability to take charge of a group of people. They get people functioning together as one by putting each in place. So the personality type of the driver is the director.
What type of ministry is the driver, organizer or director most capable of? He or she can do any ministry that involves strong leadership, structuring people, putting them in their place.
The main ministry involved in doing this is the prophet, who helps people find their place in ministry.
You might now be tempted to guess what your ministry calling is based on your temperament.
1. If you are a planner/instructor, then you are surely called to be a teacher.
2. If you are a cultivator/connector, there is no doubt about it; you are called to be a pastor.
3. If you are a developer/motivator, then you definitely have the evangelistic calling.
4. And if you are the director, then obviously God has called you to be a prophet.
Where does the Apostle lie in this list? The Apostle can do any ministry, and therefore should be able to move into any of the temperaments.
But does your temperament determine your ministry calling? No, not necessarily.
Certainly God can use these natural abilities. But it will take more than the abilities of the soul. We have not even considered the abilities of the spirit yet. We have only looked at the body and the soul so far.
You do not even need to be a Christian to have what we have looked at so far. Unbelievers have these exact same things. So how can God use that for the work of the ministry?
But I will show you as we continue, how God can take these very abilities and gifts that He has given you and use them for the work of the ministry.
But first we must consider the gifts and abilities that lie within the human spirit. This is what we will look at next.
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