All of us have gifts, whether we know Christ or not.
I have found that one of the most powerful ways to lead people toward Christ is to give them a chance to use their gifts in serving others. In using their gifts they will experience, to borrow a famous idea from the film Chariots of Fire,
“the pleasure of God.”We would generally agree that leading people away from strange views and perspectives to a scriptural view of Jesus is extremely difficult. Once people have given themselves to a “cultic” view of Jesus, it is difficult to find their way back to a clear-cut biblical view of him.
Yet I have seen a number of Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses, both of those groups believe in the Arian view of Christ that he was only man and not God, come to a saving relationship with Christ through using their gifts to serve others.
Early on in my stint as a leader there was no way that I would have allowed a non-believer any shot at serving along side of other believers. But then along came a handful of Mormons who initially said they were interested in caring for those in need. Could they help in giving groceries and clothes away? After thinking it through we said they could, but they had to be paired up with older, mature believers who were grounded in the faith. Read the rest here.
I found this principle to be true when I was involved in leading The Alpha Course. New and nominal believers were often given small group co-leader positions.. they proved to be great in small group settings and brought a lot of life with them.. experienced believers often had the opposite affect as they spouted bible verses and had a hard time relating to new people. Giving people a chance to use their gifts in serving others is the heart of what leadership is.. at least what it should be.
