This fall, as I have done many times before, I helped to teach a spiritual formation class at my church. Together with a team of three other women, we organized and taught a weekly class in which 70 women read and discussed John Ortberg’s book The Life You’ve Always Wanted.

As a team, we created solitude exercises and discussion questions, planned what each class would look like, provided opportunities for women to connect, learn and grow. Three of us shared the teaching duties, taking turns planning, crafting and delivering a 30 minute message to the women on the topic of whichever chapter we were reading.

I love studying and researching, preparing and organizing information, and the challenge of making that information accessible to a wide range of people. I enjoy teaching, watching the light bulbs that sometimes go “doink” over people’s heads. I love facilitating “aha” moments. So I’m grateful that I have the opportunity to volunteer my time at church to help teach this class.

The Bible says that every believer is given one or more spiritual gifts, divine enablement to do certain things that help the body of Christ. (See 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, Romans 12). The Bible mentions gifts like teaching, mercy, leadership, giving, prophesy, service, encouragement, and others. It also includes the true stories of men and women who were given these gifts, and how they used them to serve God and the church.

I didn’t hear much about spiritual gifts in the church I grew up in, because the work of ministry was done mostly by the pastor and staff—which was normal in most churches at the time. Gradually that began to change, though. By the time I really learned about spiritual gifts, I was at a church that taught that every believer not only has gifts but is called to put them to use in the local church, that being a part of a church meant serving the body in some way, not just attending on Sunday.

In some churches, it’s difficult to be is a Christian woman with a leadership or teaching gift. But even in very conservative churches, women can still use those gifts—but are restricted from using them in certain roles (i.e. teaching or leading men).

Now, I could write quite a bit about differences of opinion on various passages that seem to instruct on or restrict the roles of women in the church. That’s not my purpose, at least not today. But I do believe that each of has a responsibility to serve God to the best of our ability. Jesus’ parable of the talents is a call to take what he’s given us and invest it. The story serves as a metaphor for the importance of investing our skills, talents and passions to bring about change and gain a return for the kingdom of God.

I’m grateful to be a part of a church that allows me to use my gifts without restrictions based on gender. But even if your church says that as a woman, you may only teach or lead other women, you still are responsible before God to do that with excellence, to develop your gift and try to grow.

Growth happens not just when we use our gifts, but when we tend to our souls. It often helps to gather with others to talk about how best to develop our gifts, how to sustain our spiritual energy. It helps to realize we are not alone. If you have a leadership gift, finding other like-minded women may not be easy. I feel blessed that I’m on a team that serves together, so that we can encourage, pray for, challenge and teach each other.

If you’re looking for that kind of connection, you may want to attend the Synergy Women’s conference. The purpose of Synergy is to “connect, equip and encourage women in vocational ministry to be effective leaders.”

Synergy is led by author and speaker Carolyn Custis James, author of Lost Women of the Bible, an excellent book that I highly recommend. (A review is below).

If you are not in full-time ministry, you might still consider attending, especially if you hold a volunteer leadership position at your church. Or perhaps there is a woman on staff at your church who could benefit from this excellent conference. You may want to consider getting a group together to sponsor her attendance at Synergy.

Synergy is held each year in March in Orlando, FL, but this year for the first time, they are also holding conferences in other cities, including Chicago. I’m honored to be serving on an advisory board for the Chicago conference, which will be held Saturday, January 23, 2010, at Christ Church Oak Brook, 501 Oak Brook Road, Oak Brook IL.

Join the facebook group for synergy at

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=48039211919

You can also learn more at www.synergytoday.org

“Spiritual leadership emerges from our willingness to stay involved with our own soul—that place where God’s Spirit is at work stirring up our deepest questions and longings to draw us deeper into relationship with him. Staying involved with our soul is not narcissistic navel gazing; rather, this kind of attentiveness helps us stay on the path of becoming our true self in God—a self that is capable of an ever-deepening yes to God’s call on our life.”

                        ~Ruth Haley Barton, Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership

Do you know what your spiritual gifts are? What are you doing in your church or your community to use and develop those gifts?