Confession: I Hate Spiritual Gifts—for The Mudroom

We all have weird things we dislike. Some people don’t like mayonnaise. Some people don’t like dogs or synthetic fabric or Cincinnati.

My pet peeve is the phrase “spiritual gifts”.

I’m a little embarrassed that this phrase makes me cranky, especially because my church of thirty years talks about spiritual gifts A LOT. All our congregants get encouraged to take an assessment to help them decide where and how to serve.

It’s not all bad. Rather than just guilting people into volunteering for whichever ministry is loudest, our church nudges to people to consider where they’re called. I’m a big fan of that approach.

Here’s the con: every time someone discusses “spiritual gifts” I want to roll my eyes and then sigh audibly like a thirteen-year-old. Because—well—I don’t think spiritual gifts are a thing. Personally, I think those who have come up “spiritual gift assessments” have made strange sausage out of the words of Paul.

What Do I mean by Spiritual Gifts?

First, a definition: by “spiritual gifts” I specifically mean the idea that the Holy Spirit gives Christians gifts just like Clark Kent gets superpowers once he leaves Krypton for Earth.

The idea comes from a few disparate places in the Bible, mostly from Paul’s letters, and especially 1 Corinthians 12.

Here are some Christian cultural assumptions about how “spiritual gifts” work…

I might have ranted a LOT about a seemingly innocuous theology over at the Mudroom this month. Join me there!