Lutheran Hour Ministries partners with Barna Group—an industry leader for research-based insights about faith and culture, leadership and vocation, and generational groups—in ongoing studies of faith in America. This collaboration allows LHM to create resources and online courses that address the needs of the individual Christian, the Church at large, and those who don't yet know the Gospel message.
New this year, the Gifted for More Church Campaign offers congregations an extensive menu of digital resources to discover, grow, and share the gifts of their members. In partnership with Barna Group, LHM has made these materials available so churches can uncover the abundance of gifts already present in their midst, which often go unrecognized and underutilized.
"Strengths, talents, and abilities," according to research done by Barna Group in 2022, these personal assets of church members often go by the wayside as simply unnoticed. Consequently, building up the body of Christ and reaching out to others with the Gospel languish, as the possibilities of gift discovery and implementation aren't even on the radar. The truth is many today "struggle to understand or even see the gifts that they possess," Barna reports. The good news, however, is that people want to take hold of and develop their gifts!
- To help congregations and individuals do this is what the Gifted for More Church Campaign is all about. Featuring an extensive five-week sermon series to help churches engage with the journey of understanding their giftedness, the Gifted for More Church Campaign includes in-depth sermon outlines and accompanying slide sets that highlight key concepts and Scriptures. There's a five-session small group Bible study with videos and a handy leader's guide. The curriculum piece has video prompts, discussion questions, Scripture verses, and suggestions for putting concepts into practice.
- Also included is the EveryGift™ Inventory, an easy-to-take online assessment of your giftedness in 12 distinct areas, which takes about 20 minutes to complete. When you do, you will take away a sharper awareness of your aptitudes, innate abilities, acquired skill sets, and mastery of these items. You can also share the EveryGift Inventory with others, so they too can see what kinds of untapped potential they possess!
- And as a way to engage others, both Christian and non-Christian, in the journey of comprehending their own life's purpose, four "Path to Purpose" videos offer real-life insights from guests who assess their lives, their careers, and their long-range journeys.
- A 30-slide PowerPoint presentation (also available as a PDF), a video presentation, and the Gifted for More monograph are additional resources available to those loving to drill down for more data.
- To help churches promote the Gifted for More Church Campaign, a number of promotional tools are provided: an instructional PDF, an extensive file of social media/email images, ready-made copy to plug onto your images, and a video "sermon bumper" to preface messages based on the Gifted for More sermon series. A short how-to guide is included as well.