Spiritual Gifts -- Page 1

What we believe

We believe that all the spiritual gifts are for today and that some did not cease to exist by the end of the first century. We recognize that many believers hold various perspectives on the spiritual gifts. This position paper is meant to delineate our position and practice in regards to the spiritual gifts.

We need all the gifts today as much as they were needed in the first century. The gifts are given by the Spirit of God for the mutual edification of the body and to spread the gospel to all peoples. That is needed as much today as at any time in history. The gospel is still being proclaimed around the world and the church needs every empowerment, every manifestation of the Spirit's work, and every believer exercising their gifts among us. To ignore or prohibit the expression of certain gifts not only violates the Scripture (1 Cor 14:39; 1 Thess 5:19), but it also quenches the Spirit of God and limits our effectiveness.

There are probably more gifts than are listed in the Scriptures. This statement cannot be proven but it can be explained. At no time in the Scriptures did Paul or Peter ever attempt to proscribe a comprehensive list of gifts (Rom 12, 1 Cor 13-14, Eph 4, 1 Pet 4). In every case the gifts listed are for illustrative purposes. In order to make a point, they would list out several gifts. We find some gifts showing up in a couple of places and some gifts only showing up in one list. In the 1 Cor 12-14 passage, the most extensive teaching about the gifts, the main point of the section is that gifts are not meant to be divisive but for mutual encouragement. Even in that passage the purpose is not to deliniate an exhaustive list of gifts. Given that understanding, we believe that some gifts we see expressed today don't show up on any list. For example, we believe some people have the gift of intercessory prayer while others have the gift of worship leading. There does seem to be a special empowerment some people have in these areas that is above and beyond most of us. We understand that as being a gift from God.

We believe that tongues is a gift for today but it is not necessarily for everybody. We recognize that the gift of tongues could be either a known language that a person never learned that they can now speak or an unknown prayer language that can also function as a prophetic word when interpreted. While we encourage people to discover their gifts and ask God to give them any gift, we do not overly focus on asking for tongues. That tendency has often led to divisiveness in the Body of Christ creating a class system of those who have that gift and those who do not. About half our leadership speak in tongues and half do not. We don't make that an issue. We encourage people who have the gift to pray in tongues and we allow its use in public ministry settings when it can be interpreted.

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