GIFTS FOCUSED TOWARD THE GROUP

 

Administration

 

___ I love organizing people and things. 

___ I can often see exactly how to organize a group to get something done.

___ I love managing a group task.

___ I am good at delegating tasks to others to get things done.

___ I intuitively know who would be good at performing certain tasks/roles the group needs.

___ I sometimes have mental images/maps/plans for how to organize a project/program/task.

___ I enjoy organizational detail work and know what needs to happen to get a job done.

___ I can arrange logistics so that the intent gets accomplished.

___ I can be frustrated by leaders’ disorganization and know I could do better given a chance.

___ I can be bossy when I know how to do a task better than those doing it.

___ I can be very critical when people don’t do things my way.

___ I wear myself out when I don’t delegate or try to do it all because I see what needs doing.

___ I get in trouble when I think I have to do everything so it will be done right.

___ I gravitate to place I might be able to use my ability to manage or organize group tasks. 

___ I know how to start something and keep it going—and sometimes don’t know when to quit.

 

Assisting

 

___ I gravitate toward those in leadership.

___ I instinctively know what help a leader needs to be more effective and can give/arrange it.

___ I don’t want to be the one in charge, I want to assist the one who is.

___ I love being the number two person.

___ I enjoy making arrangements for leaders and helping them in whatever way possible.

___ I have tried to assist leaders I don’t even know.

___ I would prefer to stay out of the limelight, but love to stand behind those who thrive there.

___ I am very competent at handling behind-the-scenes arrangements.

___ People have accused me of brown-nosing when all I wanted to do was help.

___ When I take the role of leader, as competent as I am, I somehow mess it up.

 

Coaching

 

___ I love being with people when they are learning and growing.

___ People seem to seek me out when they have certain kinds of problems/questions.

___ I love to share my “growing experiences” with others and to hear theirs.

___ People often trust me to share their difficulties.

___ Strangers have told me personal information and my listening seemed to help.

___ People say I’m a good listener.

___ I often have helpful things to say to people.

___ I can get in trouble for trying to be helpful when my help is not requested.

___ I love relationships where I’m in a mentor-type role, where I watch another grow and learn.

___ People trust me to tell them the truth, even when it’s hard to hear.

___ In wanting to help others, I can sometimes say too much about my own experience.

___ I want to help others become better human beings, whatever the context of our relationship.

___ I love hearing stories of people overcoming hardship.

 

Enthusiasm

 

___ If I’m excited about something, I want to tell everybody about it.

___ When I get excited about something, I want to get others to join me in it.

___ I have an ability to persuade people to come along with me.

___ I feel impelled to share what I know to be good.

___ People sometimes feel my enthusiasm is overwhelming.

___ I have a hard time taking no for an answer and will keep trying to persuade people about what I see as good or about what excites me.

___ When I get excited about something I can be like a puppy dog with boundless energy.

___ I enjoy being with people and can talk to just about anybody.

___ I am always “selling” somebody something, whether ideas, goods, programs or hobbies.

___ I can get people to commit to things.

___ I always want others to share what excites me.

___ I always ask others to do things with me.

 

Giving

 

___ When I see someone in need, I wonder what I can give them to help.

___ I love to give people money or things and don’t expect anything in return.

___ I love to give people money, but it seems to sour when I try to control how they spend it.

___ I will loan anybody anything.

___ People know they can get me to give to their causes or count on me to support projects.

___ I often wish I had more money to give others.

___ I seem to make money easily and love to give it away.

___ When I get stingy with my money, I feel emotionally or spiritually constipated.

___ If I get judgmental and withhold money, I don’t like myself very well.

___ If it try to be logical about my desire to give, I can get confused and feel lost.

___ I sometimes act as if a little money can fix anything.

 

Healing

 

___ I feel drawn to people who need healing in some physical, emotional or spiritual way.

___ I have always imagined myself in a healing profession.

___ I seem to be able to ease pain by touching people.

___ I have healed someone of a physical ailment.

___ I want to learn more about a specific type of healing mind/body/spirit.

___ When I use my expertise in healing, it seems to have more benefit than my colleagues.

 

Leadership

 

___ People seem to be willing to follow me in certain situations.

___ I seem to be able to energize a group and help it move in a clear direction.

___ I can see where a group needs to go, even if I don’t have the skills to organize getting there.

___ I am a visionary person and can excite people about what I see for us going forward.

___ I want to lead groups because I want what is best for us and know I can take us there.

___ People seem to follow me more readily than others.

___ I have to be careful to use my gifts for the good of others, because I can get folks in trouble.

 

Service

 

___ I can see what needs to be done and do it.

___ I believe it’s a moral failing in others when they won’t see or do what needs to be done.

___ I’m always willing to pitch in and help.

___ I love to care for the practical needs of others.

___ People call on me often to do things for them.

___ My family has complained that I spend more time helping others than I spend with them.

___ Because I readily see what needs to be done, I often get stuck doing all the practical tasks.

___ I get bent out of shape by expectations that I’ll do all the little things needing to be done.

___ I can feel taken for granted.

___ I sometimes feel what I do isn’t worth much because it isn’t splashy.

 

Shepherding

 

___ I enjoy keeping up with people over time.

___ I get a charge out of caring for/nurturing a group of people on a regular basis.

___ I love caring for others.

___ I can get bent out of shape when people don’t want the care I offer.

___ I enjoy contacting people to see how they’re doing.

___ I sometimes think I’m the glue holding a group together.

___ It really bothers me to lose track of people.

___I really want to know how another is doing.

___ People have said my desire to care for them is suffocating.

___ I have bugged people by my insistence on caring for them.

___ I have gotten upset when people won’t receive my care for them.

___ I can get upset when people don’t appreciate my care in the ways I want to be appreciated.

___ I always seem to have a flock of people I tend to.

 

Teaching

 

___ I love to learn new things.

___ I could study/research for hours.

___ When someone asks me a question I don’t know, I will go find the answer for them.

___ I love to give people books to read.

___ I seem to read more than most people.

___ I am good at digesting information and giving it to others in ways they can use and understand.

___ I love teaching people new information/techniques/skills/applications.

___ I can be rather judgmental and opinionated.

___ I can see the “lesson” others need to be learning.

___ If I’m not careful, I can drive people too hard, just like I do myself.

___ I expect a lot of others and want to see them become more competent.

___ Whether teaching or learning, I like to stay focused on the content of our mutual enterprise.

___ Because I work hard, I have been accused of brown-nosing or being the teacher’s pet.

___ I love to break down concepts or skills so another can learn it clearly.

___ I can get in trouble by needing to point out the obvious lesson in a given situation.

 

Upholding

 

___ I often think of people throughout the day and love to hold them warmly in my mind.

___ People often come to mind strongly and I worry about them, but don’t know what else to do.

___ When people come strongly to mind, I feel better when I lift them into Light.

___ I often have no words, but love to “hold” others in Love or Light or Goodness.

___ When I pray for people it seems to make a difference somehow.

___ I can pray for specific concerns over long periods of time.

___ I am faithful when people ask me to pray for them.

___ I love to stand between those in need and the One I believe can meet their need.

___ I have learned afterwards that people I felt compelled to lift up were in difficulty or danger.

 

GIFTS FOCUSED OUTWARD

 

Hospitality

 

___ I love creating welcoming spaces for others—whether in my home or at work.

___ I love to nurture people by feeding them.

___ I am able to create a welcoming atmosphere in a group so people can feel safe and open.

___ I can feel shut down in spaces/situations that are uninviting or cold.

___ I seem to be more sensitive to the “feel” of a place than others. 

___ People have told me my home/office/warmth feels safe/welcoming/inviting.

___ I can get miffed when people don’t appreciate my efforts to create a certain atmosphere.

___ I can feel rejected when people don’t eat food I’ve prepared.

 

Inter-Culturalism

 

___ I love crossing cultural boundaries.

___ I love moving back and forth between cultures or “isms” and seem to do so with ease.

___ I am always concerned that everyone be brought to the table and treated with respect.

___ I seek opportunities to learn about people who are different from me.

___ I would love a job that regularly brings me into contact with people from different backgrounds, nationalities or beliefs.

 

Mercy

 

___ I’m drawn to people who are marginalized or suffering in some way.

___ When I walk into a room, I gravitate toward those who are in distress of some kind.

___ I can be overwhelmed by the pain and suffering of others.

___ Often I feel as if my heart is breaking.

___ If I’m not careful I can be taken for granted because I have such a soft heart.

___ I’ve been accused of always picking up “wounded birds.”

___ I am moved easily by others’ pain/suffering/distress.

___ I have opened my home and heart to people in need.

___ I have given away things my family needed because someone needed it more.

 

Miracles

 

___ I have known at times that if I walk into a certain situation, it will be better.

___ I have been empowered to participate in situations where I knew if I was obedient, something would transpire to touch and change the situation.

___ I have been a conduit for the power of God to do things no human could do alone.

___ I have witnessed miraculous healing/transformation after praying for someone.

 

Oversight

 

___ I often find myself wondering how other organizations like mine do things.

___ I desire to work with an umbrella organization that will give the opportunity to nurture similar but different groups.

___ I love to travel and work with diverse groups of people.

___ If often find myself involved in state, regional or national level activities.

___ I tend to be innovative.

___ I don’t care what others think of me—I just want what is best for the larger cause.

___ I get bent out of shape by people claiming, “we’ve always done it this way.”

___ Even when I was young I wanted to tend to the connections between groups more than stay in one group.

___ I have a strong concern for the strong foundations of the larger cause.

 

Speaking

 

___ People are always telling me how something I said or wrote touched them.

___ I’ve spoken publicly in many settings, but when I speak from the heart, someone always reports being touched.

___ I seem to be able to move people when speaking publicly or through the written word.

 

GIFTS OF PERCEPTION

 

Alignment

 

___ I am often clear about what is good and what is not in a given situation.

___ I am always trying to get people to readjust to the deeper good I see possible for them.

___ At times I feel a deep need to name what is “wrong” with a group.

___ I have felt strongly at times that I have a word a group needs to hear and heed.

___ I love it (or feel relieved) when I share words or understandings that come to me for a particular situation.

___ People have accused me of being tactless and judgmental.

___ I have made people mad by suggesting a group needs to change or do something differently.

___ I have gotten in trouble for stating what I understand (“see”) at the wrong time or place.

___ I often complain about not being heard.

___ I have been “beaten up” for sharing what I see/hear/know.

___ In groups, I often want to hold up an alternative vision of what might be and call them to it.

___ I have had words or ideas come to me that I know I have to speak in a given situation.

___ When I know something a group needs to hear and take seriously, I have trouble just saying it and letting it go.

___ I get into trouble when I confuse speaking what I know/see/hear with making it happen.

___ I have been called a troublemaker or a crank.

___ I bear a deep concern for my people to be well rooted and grounded.

___ I am deeply pained when my people aren’t grounded where I know they should be.

 

Discernment

 

___ I can “see” another person’s emotional or spiritual state.

___ I sense the energy emanating from people or interactions.

___ I get “vibes” about people or places.

___ I can feel the energy—positive or negative—of places and groups.

___ I have made people angry by telling them things about themselves they didn’t want to hear.

___ I know what people to avoid for self-protection.

___ I know when people are deeply disturbed.

___ I can be judgmental about people because of what I “see” about them.

___ I seem to be more sensitive to the “feel” of a place than others. 

 

Knowings

 

___ I sometimes know things about others that I have no “logical” way of knowing.

___ I sometimes know information I haven’t learned.

___ I sometimes know what will happen next.

___ People wonder sometimes how I know things they haven’t told me about themselves.

___ I have knowings that are almost always proved true later.

___ I have scared myself or others by knowing things I shouldn’t know.

 

Translation

 

___ I can understand another’s heart/spirit without understanding the words they’re using.

___ I can sometimes understand what people are saying when their words don’t make sense.

___ I often translate between groups who use different “languages.”

___ I have had the experience of understanding a language I never learned.

___ I am often able to communicate across language barriers.

___ I can communicate with people from many different backgrounds.

___ I intuitively know how to speak to another so I’m most likely to be heard.

___ I love to play with words and language.

___ I learn languages easily.

___ I’m fascinated with ways to communicate and seem to be good in many situations.

 

Trust

 

___ I am at times able to trust in my well-being.

___ I trust people and situations when it isn’t quite logical.

___ I can go with the flow at times because I trust everything will turn out OK.

___ Sometimes I know in my bones good things will come out of hard or painful circumstances.

___ When I do step into trust, I can let go of control and fear.

___ People sometimes think I’m crazy because I believe everything will work out for the good.

___ When I can stand in trust, I feel much better than when I doubt or question the situation.

 

Wisdom

 

___ I have moments when everything seems to fall into place in my understanding.

___ I often have an understanding that can move a group forward.

___ I love it when things I’ve learned from different disciplines suddenly come together.

___ I often have helpful intuitive insights.

___ People have told me I’m wise beyond my years.

___ I can often contribute the piece that makes things fall into place for others.

___ I love interdisciplinary exploration.

___ I love making connections between disparate things.

___ I love seeing how things interface.

___ Often I don’t know what I know until someone asks the right question and I say it out loud.

___ I love to integrate or expound on ideas or concepts or images.

 

Click Beth Spiritual Gifts Inventory List for a printable version.