Ten years ago, I took a class to help me discern my Spiritual Gifts. The guide book we used was Network by Bruce Bugbee, Don Cousins and Bill Hybels. Using the book’s methods of self discovery and after prayerful consideration by my husband, friends, and myself, we determined my Gift. I will not share what that Gift was because in this season of my life, I’m not feeling it. I have changed in many ways in the past ten years. Among other life changing experiences, I have become more aware of and involved in drama ministry.
Network lists Creative Communication as a Spiritual Gift. “The gift of Creative Communication is the divine enablement to communicate God’s truth through a variety of art forms.”
“People with this gift:
Use the arts to communicate God’s truth
Develop and use artistic skills such as drama, writing, art, music, etc
Use variety and creativity to captivate people and cause them to consider Christ’s message
Challenge people’s perpective of God through various forms of the arts
Demonstrate fresh ways to express the Lord’s ministry and message”
“While Spiritual Gifts are unique to the believer, talents are common to all. Both are God-given…… The affirmation of any Spiritual Gift must be consistent with glorifying God and edifying others.”
The scripture references given for Creative Communication are:
Ps 150:3-5 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
praise him with tambourine and dancing,
praise him with the strings and flute,
praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals. NIV
2 Sam 6:14-15 David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, 15 while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets. NIV
Mark 4:2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said NIV
He taught them by telling many stories in the form of parables, such as this one NLT
Mark 4:33 Jesus used many similar stories and illustrations to teach the people as much as they could understand. NLT
It was not until this week that I really thought about the fact that Jesus always taught the crowds using parables, stories and illustrations. Isn’t that what sketches, plays, dramas can be in a worship or church service, stories and illustrations to help people to have a better understanding of Jesus’ message? So here is my question for you: If one feels he has the Spiritual Gift of Creative Communication does that mean he should not use his acting talent to sell Mr. Clean or Saturns or to star in “G” rated sitcoms?
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Why not? If one has the gift of teaching, he often uses that gift in a secular school. We are told to be in the world; however, we have to remember who we represent.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Jesus had all of the possible spiritual gifts. However, I do not believe that "Creative Communications" was among them. The examples of His methods of teaching show that he had the gift of teaching. The examples of singing, dancing, and playing instruments are examples of talents used in praise and worship. Gifts are given solely for spreading the Word of God, and are only given to those filled with the Holy Spirit. Anyone can have talent, and talents can be used for anything. Consequently, talents can be used to spread the Word of God, and to sell Mr. Clean.
ReplyDeleteThe Bible says, "Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31) So I think that you can use God-given talents for things that may not be obviously spreading the Gospel; it's more of a matter of how you go about using those God-given talents. For example, one has the God-given ability to play professional football. Playing football does not spread God's Word, love, or evangelize. But one can see Christ in the way that football player acts on and off the field. To answer your question directly: no, one who has the spiritual gift of creative communication can still use their talent to sell Mr. Clean. But I think that person has to ask themselves two questions: 1. Am I selling something or acting in a way that does not please God? 2. By spending my time selling Mr. Clean, am I not using my talents for what God fully intended? I think the latter question is a tough one, and the answer can be ultimately determined only by the individual.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people tend to define what is God's and what is not. I don't venture to say I have the answer but I question if others do. If by the given definition of a spiritual gift assists man kind and glorifies God (paraphrase); wouldn't the designation be based on the interpretation of the audience and not the content (ot context)of the act?
ReplyDeleteIs David's dancing less inspired by God than MC Hammer? Is the inner need of expression thru dance that much different? Were there people during David's time that said his style of worship was innappropriate?
Lil Jon is a rapper who's content, is less that spiritual and generally does not make worship one of the first thoughts to come to mind. Neither does laserations, beatings, torture, profanity, lies, deception and dishonesty; but a broad mind can see them relevant in worship by recalling the Passion of Christ. As I with Lil' Jon. In the midst of profanity and sexual innuendo, I TRUELY stop and think how great Thou art to bestow such creativity, wit and charisma. No matter what God's work is covered in, it can not be changed, nor can we redifine it to suit our rules and regulations. Many times people define things to help THEM accept them or understand life. Is the harp of a poor christian artist more annointed that the electric guitar of a millionaire from the band Metallica ? I don't see why? WE may offer a degree of nobility to one or the other but does that change the creative source bestowed? I think not.
With no degree of accuracy can we REALLY interpret God's work. Charactergorizing, and defining may only make people with like thought feel better and cope with the world but God manifests his greatness in comercials, rap, rock, poetry and other arts regardless of the genre; because it is his power that makes it so. Anything can be misused; the Gospel has since it was written. Hitler was masterful communicator who's abilities have been studied to benefit many scholars since. Was he not gifted because he was Hitler?
I have always found Bill Hybels's teaching sound, so I will have to check out the book, Network. As far as talents and gifts and their uses, I can only comment on what I understand to be my own talents. Untimately, that is what I will have to explain. How did I (me, myself, moi)use the talents that God has given to me? Blogging is an example of using God's a talent/gift for His glory. An engineering job is using God's gift of mathematical understanding to earn a living. Using artistic talent to forge a Monet is misuse of a gift. What I want to hear one day is from the parable of the talents in Matthew 25: "Well done good and faithful servant."
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