You are in: Church Life | Short coursesNetwork - Gift Discovery Course 

Why Do we Need a Gift Discovery Course?

One of the problems facing any church is that of fitting round pegs to round holes across the various ministries of the church. Some people are permanently overstretched and tired out, whilst others would love to offer their energy and talents to the Lord’s work, but don't know where to start. Certain areas of church life always seem to be short of the staff they need. Meanwhile some Christians genuinely believe that they have nothing to offer.

Imagine a church where every member had a solid understanding of where their spiritual gifts lay and an appreciation of the motivations and passions that God had placed in their heart. Imagine a church where every member was actively serving in a role that corresponded with their spiritual and natural gifts. That, in a nutshell, is the vision of the Network programme.

The Network Programme

Network has been developed by Willow Creek Community Church as a tool to help people to discover their gifts and then to help churches marry up gifts and openings for service within the fellowship. The programme has two distinct phases:

Phase 1 – The Network ‘Discovery Course’

The course runs over six evenings and uses a mixture of up-front teaching, discussion groups and personal reflection. During the course each participant will work through a number of self-assessment exercises and psychometric profiles to attempt to determine what Network terms their spiritual gifts, their passion, and their personal style. The course also includes a good background of teaching on motivations for serving, every-member ministry and so on.

Phase 2 – The Consultation

In the weeks immediately following the course, each participant is given the opportunity to have an hour-long consultation with one of the course leaders. During this meeting they will discuss and pray through the results that they arrived at and consider which areas of church life they are drawn to and what roles may be open to them. This consultation is not a job interview, but is designed to give the participant the encouragement and motivation to actively pursue and test out the areas of service that God may be calling them in to.

Network at TBC

The next open course for the church will be run during September to October 2010. This course would be ideal for Growth Groups or home groups who wanted to attend together, as well as individual older teens and adults.

Alpha Is there more to life than this? Explore the Christian faith - A new course will start in the Autumn as part of Hope in Tonbridge