Pondering on gifting

One of my favorite things about Summer is the amount of sport that is on in Australia. I love the Australian Open tennis, the numerous golf tournaments that are played, the basketball, but most of all I love the cricket. The athletes on display are amazingly gifted and their skills continue to astound me each year.The Bible says that each member of the body of Christ is also amazingly gifted. Most of the time giftings are attributes that we naturally love using. There are times though where we don’t use our giftings and as a result our skills never develop. It would be such a shame that as a church we were not able to develop and encourage peoples gifting’s and as a result not be the church we believe God is calling us to be.As individuals and as a community we need to use the giftings that God has generously bestowed upon us, to bless people by serving.As church leaders we believe we need to model our lives and church ministries on Jesus who lived out his life through three relationships: UP- with his Father; IN- with his chosen followers; OUT- with the hurting world around him.So our vision is for “people to be blessed by serving” and the goal is to see people blessed through their UP, IN & OUT relationships.Some of us have giftings that fit into existing ministries, while some of us are yet to see how our gifts can bless others. To use our giftings to bless others, it is essential that we pray and discern what God is doing. If we are not aligned with God then our giftings will be of no spiritual use.There are many ministries at St Philips that have been born out of praying the question “God, what are you doing and what do you want me to do about it?” Here are just a few examples;Þ The large pastoral team led by Trevor and Liz Parry who care for the Neil family (IN)Þ The coffee cart ministry, last Sunday had11 people who normally dont attend church, gathered around it having conversations and drinking coffee (OUT & IN)Þ The Thursday playgroup has 6 families in it who don't come to St Philips Sunday service and the Young Families Pizza Night also has 3 families, who regularly come along and don’t come to church services. (OUT & IN)Þ The Eco Church team (IN & OUT)Þ The music & welcoming team on Sunday mornings (UP & IN)Þ Teaching CRE at North Cottesloe Primary School (OUT)Þ Corporate prayer time on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings (UP).Can I encourage you to pray, seek what God is doing and ask Him how your gifts can be used to bless others. He loves to use our gifts to see His kingdom realized and He greatly blesses others and us when we use our gifts. BlessingsJames