Understanding Each Other’s Gifting (1)

‘God has given us different gifts.’ Romans 12:6 NLT

In ministry, like any other field, we need to understand the individual process that comes with each person’s gifting. Karen Williams, president of Strategic Media Solutions, writes: ‘A ministry is composed of several gifted individuals… led by a common vision God has birthed in its leader. These individuals can typically be grouped into three categories:

(1) visionary;

(2) process-oriented;

(3) task-oriented.

There’s an emotional response for each person in their area of giftedness as it relates to the birth and successful completion of a vision. A visionary gets an “emotional high” when the vision becomes clear to them. When they present it to those who’ll be charged with “making it happen”, they think those in attendance will be as “high” as they are upon hearing this perfectly clear, world-changing vision. For a visionary, when the vision is fully clear, it’s effectively 100% complete. That’s why they can go on to create and receive other visions long before the first one is truly manifested. But for the process-oriented person, the vision that has been presented is “on hold” until it can be translated into processes. The emotional “high” for them comes when the processes are clearly defined and documented and they feel they’ll successfully support the completion of the vision. So their “high” doesn’t come until well after the vision has been presented. For the task-oriented person, the vision that’s been presented is also “on hold” as they haven’t yet been given anything to do. Their emotional “high” comes with the completion of tasks, things they can mark off their to-do list. Thus their “high” doesn’t occur until the end of the completed tasks mapped out within the processes.’