From the series: Empowered — Discovering and Developing Your Spiritual Gifts Let me name the elephant in the room. When most Christians hear the phrase “spiritual gifts,” they’re broadly fine — until the conversation gets […]
Tag: spiritual gifts
Three Kinds of Gifts — and Why Your Church Needs All of Them
From the series: Empowered — Discovering and Developing Your Spiritual Gifts There’s a pattern I’ve noticed in churches over the years. You walk through the door, spend a few weeks in the services, and fairly […]
Your Gifts Won’t Survive Without Community
From the series: Empowered — Discovering and Developing Your Spiritual Gifts Sarah sat nervously at the edge of the prayer circle. Three months into this church, she still felt like an outsider looking in — […]
When the Spectacular Blinds Us — Sensationalism, Accountability, and the Gifts of the Spirit
A reflection on charismatic culture, pastoral responsibility, and the cost of elevating gifting above character There is a particular kind of silence that has caused immeasurable damage to the charismatic and Pentecostal church. It is […]
Even Jesus was Empowered – and that changes everything 
From the series: Empowered — Discovering and Developing Your Spiritual Gifts There is a theological assumption so deeply embedded in the way we think about Jesus that most of us have never stopped to question […]
You’re Not Meant to Watch from the Sidelines
From the series: Empowered — Discovering and Developing Your Spiritual Gifts There’s a particular kind of frustration that settles into a church over time. It’s not the frustration of conflict or crisis. It’s quieter than […]
Why Spiritual Gifts Aren’t Optional
There’s a quiet assumption running through much of the Western church that goes something like this: spiritual gifts are for a certain kind of Christian. The upfront ones. The confident ones. The ones who seem […]
Here Comes the Team Again part 3
How Apostolic Teams Form Nobody applied for a job on Paul’s team. There was no recruitment drive, no interview process, no job description circulated around the churches of Asia Minor. And yet Paul assembled one […]
Here Comes the Team Again part 2
Paul the Team Leader “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother.” Two names. One apostle. That line opens 2 Corinthians, and versions of it appear across Paul’s […]
Here Comes the Team Again
Apostolic teams today Open almost any letter the Apostle Paul wrote and you’ll notice something immediately: he rarely writes alone. “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother” […]
Paul Benger 