“So that’s what’s 'wrong' with Kevin!” was my church’s response after our church leadership participated in a gifts discovery workshop. “Now we understand,” they said. My primary gift is giving, and I was expressing that loudly as chair of our church’s missions committee. I was constantly pushing for our well-to-do church to do more beyond our church doors. Most of the leaders didn’t understand my passion, and they were concerned about the impact that such giving might have on our very tight church budgets. After discovering my gift, two things changed.

First, the friction was greatly reduced between my vision and that of the rest of the church. The leaders now understood the root of my passion and were able to see how that passion could help the whole church grow. Second, discovering and naming my gift helped me understand that my passion for missions was based on a spiritual gift, that of giving. This concept helped me have the courage to use my gifts beyond my local church.

In 2000, I accepted the role of conference missions resource person. I’m driving more than 7000 miles each year, visiting churches and events in all four districts of our conference. I always include in my introduction that I am a layperson, not a pastor. I feel it is important that other laity understand that an active calling in the church doesn’t require seminary training. If The United Methodist Church is going to make a difference in the world, the laity need to get out of the pews and use their God-given gifts!

I shared my gifts as an alternate to the 2000 General Conference. I am now a member of the Northeast Jurisdictional Conference Finance Committee, the Africa University Development Committee, and the President’s Advisory Council at Wesley Seminary. Several years ago, I developed a course for our Conference’s Lay Speakers School on Missions.

When I recommend that churches hold gifts discovery workshops, I emphasize the two most important lessons I learned:

1. Knowing my gifts gives me the freedom to say "no" to tasks outside those gifts.
2. Knowing how God has gifted me helps me when the journey becomes stormy.

Kevin Goodwin is a member of Hockessin United Methodist Church in Hockessin, Delaware, in the Peninsula-Delaware Annual Conference.