There's a time for everythingAs the Preacher says in Ecclesiastes, there's a time for everything. This month, we've explored giftedness as an intern team. In classic Servant Partners style, it was methodical, thorough, and difficult.
With a combination of outside confirmation forms, a natural abilities and acquired skills assessment, and three different gifts tests, we gathered information about our giftedness. For the first time in a long time, I was relieved to know that we were focusing on what we're good at; much of the internship so far as felt like being stretched in places that have never experienced stretching.
As expected, the results indicated that all the gifts that I felt were required of the internship were ones I did not possess, and the gifts I had, I found difficult to translate into an urban poor context. As I worked on these tests, I came to the realization that there were things I was actually good at! I know it sounds silly, but I forgot the ways I experienced God use me before the internship. As my intern director told me, "You're a very gifted person, but you don't sound empowered. You don't seem to be confident about your gifts, and they're under-used!" It was true - after almost a year into a new ministry environment that poked at my weaknesses, I merely accepted that I was functioning as well as I could.
After some reflection, there were a few spiritual gifts that I could agree having, such as teaching and exhortation. But the one that caught my attention was the "gift of governments," which is someone who has supportive organizational abilities with a capacity to manage details so as to support governments and free other leaders to prioritize their efforts.
The giftedness assignment revealed to me that I function primarily out of my natural abilities, which include being good at teaching, reliable, effective at public communication, organizational and structural, and having demand for quality.
But I recognize the value of the last (almost) twelve months of being broken down in a position of humble learning, of feeling like starting afresh. I thrived in teaching inductive Bible study, but that doesn't work here. I liked designing programming or large group teachings, but there never seemed to be any opportunities for me to play that role. I failed to adapt and do the work of contextualizing my natural gifts to my new environment. To be honest, I think I didn't want to do things differently; I wanted things to stay the same. I didn't want to change the way I knew how to do things.
Now, I have the opportunity to test the gift of governments, but also an organizational capacity in general. I got a sneak peek into what that would be like with the youth-led Refugee Sunday service that Lena and I helped organize. Now, I'm in the process of defining my own "job description" of sorts for our Strathcona Artisan Market that will happen on August 12. As a Servant Partners site pursuing Sign #4 - "Wealth at the Bottom" from our 9 Signs of a Transforming Community, we're creating space for local artisans to have an income-generating opportunity, and also test this pilot project to see if this is something we'd like to continue doing.
Please be praying for me as I explore this particular avenue of calling - in creativity and courage to write up a "job description" that goes beyond what I'm comfortable with and I may fail at (that's okay), and for God to speak to me meaningfully in this process. This will all factor into the discernment season next January, when we will begin wrapping up the internship.
Please also be praying for: - Preparations to go to Southeast Asia! We're not allowed to specify the location on electronic media due to security reasons (though you'll see in the screenshot below), but wow! I can't believe it's happening. We'll be there for two months living in a slum and learning what it's like to do urban poor ministry overseas. Please pray for our visas in particular - the government has been cracking down on Christian missionaries as of late.
- The Strathcona Artisan Market. Pray for an abundance of vendor applications and wisdom in how best to support and empower our applicants.
- Lance. His sister is on her deathbed after a protracted fight with cancer. Please be praying for the entire family as they face this new reality and the mourning period.
- The season of discipleship. Continue to pray for meaningful and creative opportunities for Bill, Robert, and Johnny to pursue deeper relationship with Jesus.
Thank you for your faithful support. July 26th marks a full year that I've been in the Downtown Eastside. Praise the Lord!
Peace be with you, Steve |