This is a very common question. I recently received another email inquiry about this issue so I thought I would finally publish my response for all to read:
Dear Pastor:
In our study of how to use skills, our initial format was to allow church staff to create a list of the skills they were looking for and to seek responses from congregation members. While this seemed like a simple solution, it actually resulted in far less data from a congregation. People saw the list, realized these were the skills valued by church staff, and would perceive that their personal skills were not of value. Pre-listing skills reduced user participation. This assumes, however, that church staff is encouraging people to list their skills and include a personal micro-resume.
True skills are an outgrowth of temperament. Your temperament as a child causes you to like some activities and dislike others. The things you like become more and more practiced and form true skills. As a result, skills become another layer of the temperament check and balance system inherent in the AssessME.org assessment program. So, the issue is not just about getting some skills wanted by church staff. It is more importantly cross-validating people’s God-given temperament. Furthermore, in the book of Exodus, God makes it clear that He is the one who gifts us with the skills we possess. This is because there is a very close relationship between our God-given temperaments, and our God-given skills.
Finally, we learned that an organic skills program not only will provide people with the skills sought after by staff, but it will also provide for many other important skills that church staff never considered but can also be helpful to Kingdom ministry. Let me share an example from my extended family. Recently my in-laws were visiting a mega-church in Detroit. After the service, their car would not start. This church of over 5,000 people had no idea who they could call upon within their church to provide mechanical support. The staff said they never even considered tracking such skills as important. When we pre-list skills specifically associated with our programming needs, we skew the data to that end to the neglect of other important skill areas.
I believe God gives every faithful church everything they need to do His will…this includes every skill represented in your church.
In Christ’s Service,
David A Posthuma
AssessME.org
