Using our God-Given Strengths in Ministry

For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother's womb,

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Ps 139: 13-14

Do you really believe that the Lord made you who you are?  Do you believe that He composed your soul and personality right alongside your body while you were in your mother's womb?  I think many sincere folks doubt that the Lord knew exactly what He was doing when He put us together.  We look at our sin tendencies and our hang-ups, and we wonder how God could use us.  We are so _____ (fill in the blank).  We might be cautious or aggressive; thoughtful or spontaneous; or quiet or outgoing.  We make so many mistakes!  How could God use us like we are?

It is so much easier to see what holds us back instead of how God could and will use us as He made us.  Today I wish to focus our thoughts on leadership and how God uses our strengths to lead His people.  Ironically, we often find that our greatest strengths as also our greatest weaknesses.  At least this has been my experience as I have grown as a man, pastor, and leader in the Church!

To help get into this subject, I will share what I laid out to the leadership of First CRC of Seattle as I prepared to minister in this new place.  I began my life in this new church by using the Strength-Finder's material to describe the person God has made me to be.  I recommend this material to anyone who wishes to discover their natural strengths.  

Strength-Finder 2.0 can be accessed by purchasing one of their books.  There is a code in back, which allows you to take the on-line test.  Through a series of questions, the on-line resource helps access your top five strengths.  Someone was telling me you can get the order of all 34 strengths for only a nominal fee of $500 or so.  Personally, I will stick with the top five!

I do recommend this test.  I have taken many personality tests and such.  I find often these tests demonstrate more how I felt on a certain day than who I am.  In fact, I have taken some tests multiple times, and I have found the tests pointing in opposite directions depending upon when I took them!

In terms of the Strength-Finder's test, I have taken it two times.  The first time I did it to help a fellow pastor who was going through the training.  He needed another test taker immediately.  I really did not have time to do it, but I agreed to help him out.  

I took the test in a hurry.  It asks questions of which you prefer on a scale of 1 to 7.  For the first 100 questions, I answered each question in 2 seconds or less with either a 1 or 7.  At that point, I knew the program would think I was insane and impulsive.  I finished the test, but took it with a grain of salt.  

Then I got the results.  I found it helpful that it listed what each strength meant for how I approached the world.  I also found it very accurate as to how each strength also has possible weaknesses.  In 20 years of ministry, I had found these weakness to true in my life.  In fact, I have spent so much of my ministry life being obsessed by my weaknesses!  Yet, as I talked with my pastor friend/Strength-Finder trainer and several other friends about the test, all affirmed they thought it was an accurate picture of my greatest strengths.

I was skeptical.  It ends up that one of my greatest strengths is strategy, and I figured I could throw the test if I wanted to.  I also figured that it ended up with the published results (like saying I have the gift of self-confidence) because of the way I took the test.

I really did not pay the test much attention for the next year.  Then, Borders went out of business.  As it was closing, I purchased several leadership books at a huge discount.  One of these books was Strength-finders for Leadership. 

I decided to re-take the test.  I would do it under a new name, so my past time taking the test would not shade my results.  This time I took the test being careful to answer each question with thought and less impulsiveness.  I honestly and painstakingly went through the test.  Then I got the results.

To my amazement, I had the same top five strengths.  The order was slightly different, but the same five were there.  I believe this illustrates an accurate and helpful test.

At the Leadership retreat, I began by sharing my strengths as illustrated by the test.  I also shared that my strengths also mean some will misinterpret who I am.  For example, my number one strength is context.  I want to know about everyone's past.  I want to know about a ministry's or church's past.  I want to know context!  Why?  So I can use my second strength, which is strategy.  I use context to determine how to relate and move forward in the present and future.

What does this mean?  I ask a lot of questions.  I ask these questions of individuals and I ask them in a group setting.  Why?  Not because I wish to be a pain, but because I want to know why and how you think.  To some this can be very disconcerting!  I tried to share that I do not wish to make someone feel on the spot, but I do wish to know them.

Another one of my top five strengths is self-assurance.  This gift means I have an inherit confidence in my abilities and in what I do.  Personally, I think it means that if I feel like God is leading, I will move forward without question or doubt.  This is a helpful strength for leadership as it does help give confidence to others.

Yet, it also can be seen as arrogance.  This is particularly true if someone does not have that same sense of confidence!  So I tried to share that I need folks to give me the benefit of the doubt when I am confident in what I can or cannot do.  I truly do not mean it as arrogance!  In fact, I am more than willing to confess my weaknesses!  I want to be approachable and I want to know people. 

One thing I have learned in my years of ministry is that all of us cannot help but lead from our strengths.  This is because we should be who God made us to be!  It is really no good "faking it until we make it."  God can and does use all of us and He does use every personality type and strength mix in building His Kingdom.  He can use you!  (Another of my strengths is activator.  It means I naturally seek to encourage others to do what God is calling them to do.  Ironic isn't it!)

The problem is that so many of us take too much time focusing on our weakness instead of our strengths.  I know early in my life and ministry well-meaning folks would try to tell me that I really need to change.  These critiques would come on two fronts.

First, they would say that I really needed to be more "pastoral."  What did they mean?  Stop leading and asking so many questions.  Just "be with people" and let them know you "love them."  On the surface, I so much agree that these traits are an important part of pastoral ministry.  Yet, they can be achieved in different ways!

Personally, I spent many years seeking to build up that which was perceived as "weak" or not natural and neglect working within our God-given strengths.  Such labor led to burnout, stress, and great frustration.  I now see that what these folks wanted was for me to be more like them.  They really did not care who I was.  They wanted to make me in their image.

A second critique that was often made was that I needed to stop trying to lead with my strengths.  I had many folks who would point out my confidence in God or my ability to see possible future issues and they would call these God-given abilities weaknesses.  They would ask me to stop trying to lead and instead to learn humility.

Early in my ministry career, I worked at a very large church on staff as a middle school youth director.  The church was in an interim period, and the staff was making decisions about the directions in ministry.  After a month or so, I began to point out possible difficulties with some of their decisions and I offered other possible solutions.  I was honestly told, through body language and other not so subtle clues to shut up!  Yet, I could not help but offer my opinions occasionally.  Then I noticed something.  One of the senior pastoral staff would write down what I said.  I would be ignored in the meeting, but in the next meeting he would bring up my exact idea and it would be adopted!  Looking back I can see that the problem wasn't my strengths being weakness, but I need a place to lead, not a place where I was a junior and unimportant staff member!

In other words, know your strengths and work within them!

That being said, it is true that all of our strengths also have potentially negative relationship and directional issues built into them.  Why?  Not everyone is like us!  Furthermore we live in a fallen world and we are fallen people.  We must be aware of our potential weakness and confess them.  If we hurt others, we need to repent and be open to correction.  Christian Leadership means true humility.

This post is getting long, so I will end here.  Hopefully tomorrow I will share more thoughts concerning leadership.