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Week 5 / 5

How Do We Help Others Use Their Gifts?

Spiritual gifts aren’t just personal—they’re meant to be shared and nurtured in community. This week, we’ll focus on how to come alongside others to help them recognize, grow in, and confidently use the gifts God has given them. Through scripture, honest discussion, and prayerful reflection, we’ll explore what it means to encourage, support, and even gently challenge one another in love. Helping others grow isn’t always easy—but it’s a vital part of being the Church.

A man and a woman seen from behind sitting side by side in warm evening light, her head resting on his shoulder

Helping others to use the gifts

Opening Prayer & Reflection

Begin your time in prayer. Ask God to reveal something new to you today.

Group Questions

  1. What did you learn or experience during last week’s practice?
  2. What are some ways you imagined using your gifts to build up the Church?
  3. Take notes of the main points:

Read together

Instead of reading one passage, here are a few stories where people help one another to grow in their giftings. Pick out one or two of these stories, and read them together.

Background concepts

The Bible is full of stories of believers who used the gifts God had given them to mature those around them. This, of course, required humility for the learner, and a mixture of boldness and patience for the teacher. It is interesting to note that even those who are thought to be amazing leaders, often need others to help them take their next step of faith.

Our growth process requires a mixture of encouragement to try new things, and the maturity and accountability to doing them well. We see this in multiple places in Scripture. For one example, we can return to looking at the Church in Corinth. The believers there had amazing gifts, but little discernment in how to use their gifts. To be fair, they didn’t have the Bible like we do, but thankfully they had great teachers. Paul & Sosthenes (who wrote this letter) & Apollos and Timothy (who are also mentioned in the letter) clearly felt great freedom to speak into the life of the church in Corinth. Their wisdom and even correction certainly made a big difference in the lives of those who listened then, and also for those who still read these letters today.

This encourages us to be involved in the lives of our church family; to encourage them, and also to correct them, and to help hold them accountable to living lives that truly reflect Jesus’ life and message.

That being said, being either an encourager or a teacher requires a big measure of grace, and a fair level of emotional intelligence–something that is often missing in those who feel they are free to correct others often.

Group Discussion

  • How does accountability benefit the church and individuals?
  • How can we hold each other accountable in a loving, biblical way?
  • Describe the kind of person you would like to offer you correction. How would you like them to approach you? What should they avoid?
  • How can we communicate what we believe God has placed on our hearts without manipulating others?
A hand holding a lens through which a dirt path and a lone tree are seen in sharp focus, with the surroundings blurred

Application

Considering the concept of helping others use their gifts quite possibly comes with a lot of baggage for some of us. Maybe there was someone who was too aggressive in their attempts to push you along in your walk. Or someone who overstepped in their attempts to hear the Lord’s voice and speak into your life. Or maybe it’s been the opposite, and you’ve felt completely unseen and alone in the church.

Ask the host of your group to moderate a prayer time. Maybe put on some instrumental worship if it will help everyone focus.

Prayer Time

Guided Prayer Time

  • Take a few minutes in silence in your group today, so each person can have an honest discussion with God about this subject.
  • Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to make it clear to everyone in the group if they are holding onto pain surrounding this subject. Give them time in silence to process this, and to listen to the Holy Spirit’s voice.
  • Ask the Holy Spirit to help each of you to walk in forgiveness and not judgment.
  • Thank God that he sees each of us, that he began a good work in each of us, and that he wants to “carry it on until it is completed” (Philippians 1:6).
  • Ask the group members to all pray aloud, and commit to being people in the church who love others well.

For your individual time with the Lord

The Practice

Day 1 Accountability

  • Who have you given freedom to speak into your life? Do they know it?
  • Take some time today to write about the kind of person who you will allow to walk with you on this journey of growing in the understanding and use of your spiritual gifts. What are you looking for in their character?
  • Do you know anyone who fits that description?
  • How might you approach them to talk about this?

If you have an accountability partner, or just a close friend who could be one, make time for a conversation with them about how you can build one another up in your faith, and in the operation of your spiritual gifts.

Day 2 Growing

  • Now, this is getting personal–but we only grow if we’re honest with ourselves.
  • Do you live in such a way that others should seek you out to help them grow? What might you add to your knowledge or character that would encourage others to seek you out?

© Copyright 2025 - Copyright notice
All photographs and graphics as well as the design of this online-document are protected by copyright. Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright of the cultivate-series lies with generations church Leipzig e.V. Please ask Tyler Charvat (Legal Notice generationschurch.de) if you would like to use the mentioned contents of this document.

Texts of this document are licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0. This means you may distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, for noncommercial purposes only and you are required to give credit to the creator.

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are taken from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Helping others to use the gifts

Opening Prayer & Reflection

Begin your time in prayer. Ask God to reveal something new to you today.

Group Questions

  1. What did you learn or experience during last week’s practice?
  2. What are some ways you imagined using your gifts to build up the Church?
  3. Take notes of the main points:

Read the Word

Instead of reading one passage, here are a few stories where people help one another to grow in their giftings. Pick out one or two of these stories, and read them.

Background concepts

The Bible is full of stories of believers who used the gifts God had given them to mature those around them. This, of course, required humility for the learner, and a mixture of boldness and patience for the teacher. It is interesting to note that even those who are thought to be amazing leaders, often need others to help them take their next step of faith.

Our growth process requires a mixture of encouragement to try new things, and the maturity and accountability to doing them well. We see this in multiple places in Scripture. For one example, we can return to looking at the Church in Corinth. The believers there had amazing gifts, but little discernment in how to use their gifts. To be fair, they didn’t have the Bible like we do, but thankfully they had great teachers. Paul & Sosthenes (who wrote this letter) & Apollos and Timothy (who are also mentioned in the letter) clearly felt great freedom to speak into the life of the church in Corinth. Their wisdom and even correction certainly made a big difference in the lives of those who listened then, and also for those who still read these letters today.

This encourages us to be involved in the lives of our church family; to encourage them, and also to correct them, and to help hold them accountable to living lives that truly reflect Jesus’ life and message.

That being said, being either an encourager or a teacher requires a big measure of grace, and a fair level of emotional intelligence–something that is often missing in those who feel they are free to correct others often.

Questions

  • How does accountability benefit the church and individuals?
  • How can we hold each other accountable in a loving, biblical way?
  • Describe the kind of person you would like to offer you correction. How would you like them to approach you? What should they avoid?
  • How can we communicate what we believe God has placed on our hearts without manipulating others?
A hand holding a lens through which a dirt path and a lone tree are seen in sharp focus, with the surroundings blurred

Application

Considering the concept of helping others use their gifts quite possibly comes with a lot of baggage for some of us. Maybe there was someone who was too aggressive in their attempts to push you along in your walk. Or someone who overstepped in their attempts to hear the Lord’s voice and speak into your life. Or maybe it’s been the opposite, and you’ve felt completely unseen and alone in the church.

Take time for prayer. Maybe put on some instrumental worship if it will help you focus.

Prayer Time

Guided Prayer Time

  • Take a few minutes in silence today, so that you can have an honest discussion with God about this subject.
  • Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to make it clear if you are holding onto pain surrounding this subject. Take time in silence to process this, and to listen to the Holy Spirit’s voice.
  • Ask the Holy Spirit to help you to walk in forgiveness and not judgment.
  • Thank God that he sees you, that he began a good work in you, and that he wants to “carry it on until it is completed” (Philippians 1:6).
  • Pray and commit to being someone in the church who loves others well.

For your individual time with the Lord

The Practice

Day 1 Accountability

  • Who have you given freedom to speak into your life? Do they know it?
  • Take some time today to write about the kind of person who you will allow to walk with you on this journey of growing in the understanding and use of your spiritual gifts. What are you looking for in their character?
  • Do you know anyone who fits that description?
  • How might you approach them to talk about this?

If you have an accountability partner, or just a close friend who could be one, make time for a conversation with them about how you can build one another up in your faith, and in the operation of your spiritual gifts.

Day 2 Growing

  • Now, this is getting personal–but we only grow if we’re honest with ourselves.
  • Do you live in such a way that others should seek you out to help them grow? What might you add to your knowledge or character that would encourage others to seek you out?

© Copyright 2025 - Copyright notice
All photographs and graphics as well as the design of this online-document are protected by copyright. Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright of the cultivate-series lies with generations church Leipzig e.V. Please ask Tyler Charvat (Legal Notice generationschurch.de) if you would like to use the mentioned contents of this document.

Texts of this document are licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0. This means you may distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, for noncommercial purposes only and you are required to give credit to the creator.

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are taken from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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