Spiritual gift of systems analysis

This is for my Christian contacts, so all of you unbelieving atheists can stop reading.

(That is, if anyone at all is reading any of this stuff.)

Recently there was a series of sermons, at one of the churches I attend, on spiritual gifts.  Spiritual gifts, of course, are gifts, or talents, or abilities, given to Christians, intended for Christian service, or in the service of the Christian church.  At least, that's the way most Christians think about it.  For the most part, these gifts could be used in a variety of ways, although the theologically correct would probably assume that using them for non-Christian purposes would be contrary to the reason that the gifts were given in the first place.

In scripture there are lists of spiritual gifts.  Not all of these lists agree with each other, either as to the total number of gifts or as to the specific gifts.  However, most sermons on the spiritual gifts, or workshops on spiritual gifts, would end up by saying that it is important to find your spiritual gift; that is the gift that you have been given; and to exercise it in the service of the Christian church.

I have had some difficulty with determining what my spiritual gift might be.  Sometime ago, in a workshop, one of the other participants opined that my spiritual gift was that of discernment.  I didn't know quite what to make of this, since most of the time the gift of discernment is said to be discerning between different types of spirits.  I don't think I have ever identified a spirit, either angelic or demonic, but I suspect that I might have difficulty in that regard.  I strongly suspect that the person who suggested that I have the gift of discernment simply suggested it because I'm really cynical.

I have better luck with determining what gifts I don't have.  I do not have the gift of preaching.  I thought possibly I might have the gift of teaching.  I am a teacher, and I love teaching.  That is not necessarily an indication of a spiritual gift of course, so while it was a bit surprising, I wasn't terribly shocked when, going through an online spiritual gifts assessment tool, teaching ranked well down the list.  I guess the spiritual gift of teaching involves more than simply being good at it and liking it.

What kind of threw me was that this tool threw up wisdom, discernment, and leadership at the top of the list.  (Oh, and it also suggested administration.  I am possibly more organized than the average person, but in comparison to Gloria, and the girls, there is absolutely no way that I could claim a spiritual gift of administration.)  (I know.  Discernment.  Again.)

The reason it threw me was that I am in a new situation attending new churches.  Or, at least, new to me, and therefore I am new to them.  There is absolutely no way that any church is going to call on a new attendee to fill a leadership position.  Nor is anyone likely to ask me to provide wisdom in any situation within these churches.

But a couple of recent occurrences have thrown up another possibility.  I believe that I may have the spiritual gift of systems analysis.

Of course, the theologically correct among those few of you still reading, will immediately cry out "this man is an heretic!"  None of the lists of spiritual gifts include systems analysis.  Indeed, the Bible is relatively quiet on the topic of systems analysis.  But systems analysis does have aspects of wisdom, discernment, and leadership involved within it.

I am a systems analyst.  I look at a situation as a system.  I determine problems, either active or potential, and suggest solutions.  That is what I find I have been doing in the churches.  The problems may not always be major.  The most recent problem was a worship team participant who suddenly started to have a coughing fit during the service.  This went on for some time, without anyone making any move to deal with it.  So, finally I got up, went to the kitchen, searched in the cupboards until I found a mug, filled it with water, and brought it back to the person who was coughing.  Problem solved.

A number of the churches that I have been involved with have been holding community dinners.  These dinners are supposedly a chance for the community to get to know the church, and hopefully attend.  Apparently most of the congregants in these churches believe that the members of the community around the church will be so grateful for a free dinner that they, the community members that is, will besiege the church with demands to be allowed to be admitted as members to the church.  This doesn't seem to be happening.  So, I have taken a different tack.  When I'm helping out with the dinners, I actually talk to the people from the community who are not members of the church.  It's fairly easy to identify them: they are the ones looking slightly unsure and uncomfortable, standing on the edges of things.  I tend to point out where the plates are, and where the food is, and that you go to the guy who's manning (sorry, "personning") the barbecue to get your hot dog or a piece of chicken.  Having broken the ice this way, I usually get a chance to ask if they've ever been to the church and what kind of business they're in whether or not their kids like school.  Surprisingly, this often leads to a conversation.

As I say, not major problems, but problems nonetheless, and nobody else figured out how to deal with them.  I have been working on slightly larger problems on some of the cleanup days.  At one Church, nobody was had thought of what to do with all the kids that people had brought with them while they were working on other aspects of cleaning up the church.  So I collected the kids and got them planting in the garden.  When another church tore down a couple of sheds, we were left with a very high pile of very large pieces, sections of the shed, and a debris bin that was already pretty full.  Everybody else was ready to get six guys per section walking over broken boards with all kinds of nails sticking out of them.  I suggested that we parked the truck containing the sections of the sheds next to the bin and simply flip the sections over into the bin.  Problem solved.  There have been others.

I am not being entirely facetious when I claim to have the spiritual gift of systems analysis.  No, systems analysis is not included in the lists in scripture.  But most commentators would agree that the lists are not meant to be comprehensive or exclusive.  A spiritual gift of systems analysis could, as noted, relate to wisdom, leadership, or discernment, or even just helps.  (I tend to think that the spiritual gift of helping is a bit of a catchall grab bag, but will let that go for the moment.)