Don Polston

Christian Spiritual Gifts -: God's Presence and Power Don Polston

This book on Christian spiritual gifts is the fulfillment of over twenty years of work. The major thrust of the book is to help churches understand the giftedness of their members. The nominating committee of any church striving to place workers in church positions knows this is a difficult job. Most of the time, workers are asked to fill a position with no regard given to their spiritual ability to do the work. This book helps with this difficult problem. Chapter one has straightforward definitions of the nineteen listed gifts. We know there are more, but Paul choose these nineteen. Chapter two defines the gifted men Jesus gave to the churches; plus, deacons and the non-ordained are listed to complete contemporary membership. There is an exercise to help the reader align the needed gifts to each office. Chapter three reveals the correlation of the gifts by placing them in six categories. This exercise will give the reader a deeper understanding of what a gift looks like. Chapter four provides a different perspective of the gifts. In Paul's discussions of both the gifts and the body, usually the two are in direct relationship with one another. The exercise is to divide the body into eight sections and then place the gifts with the corresponding body parts. Chapter five will definitely separate this book from anything else written about spiritual gifts. There are five contexts within which Paul has placed all the gifts. This has been a stunning revelation to all who have taken this study. Chapter six is a study of the Corinthian problems with the gifts. Plus, there is an encouragement to positively discuss each member of the study group as to their usefulness to the church.