St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
Brunswick, Maine

How We Serve
An invitation from the rector to discover your spiritual gifts in order to glorify and serve God:

Dear St. Paul’s Friend,

I invite you to enter into this marvelous resource of St. Paul’s ministries to discover how our ministries serve God in the parish, the town of Brunswick and in the world.

If you are a Newcomer or Guest, there are many different ways you can meet people and become a part of our thriving Christian community in addition to participating in the vibrant worship of Sunday Holy Eucharist. You might even eventually answer a call to serve.

If you are a parishioner, I invite you to behold how God is calling you to service for Christ’s sake in this part of the world.

In First Corinthians 12 and in Romans 12, our patron saint, St. Paul lists some of the spiritual gifts that build up the Body of Christ and then expands on how they apply in a Christian community. After we celebrated St. Paul’s feast day on June 29 last summer and learned more about our own spiritual gifts, some of you spoke to me about the gifts you have and how you are living into them to the glory of God.

Just after that feast day, a member of St. Paul’s introduced me to a “Ministries” booklet she had produced for a former parish. She hoped to use her gifts of administration and helps to organize our many ministries to produce this resource so that it might stimulate God’s Spirit in each of us to serve.

I want to thank Sally Jeanne Kappler for exercising those gifts to create this resource for St. Paul’s.

And thanks go to Pat Ryan who organized the purpose statements and names of chairpersons of each ministry in order that the members of the Vestry might liaise with one of them.

Thank you to all the committee chairs who saw the importance of this project and acted immediately to give your purpose statement and important information to complete this booklet.

And finally, thanks go to our Parish Administrator, Susan Tyler who is charged with the updates.

Please use this tool as a kind of “field guide” to assess your spiritual gifts, pray for discernment about how God is calling you to use them and then inquire about how to be of service.

Here are some more questions to ask yourself as you begin your discernment, “How am I to contribute to the building up of Christ in this community?” “What is my passion?” And “How is God calling me to use my passion?”

O heavenly Father, who has filled the world with beauty: Open our eyes to behold your gracious hand in all your works; that, rejoicing in your whole creation, we may learn to serve you with gladness; for the sake of him through whom all things were made, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, p. 814)

In gratitude and faith,
The Rev. Carolyn H. Eklund, Rector

workers 4st

How Do I Determine My Spiritual Gifts?
The first step in discerning the special gifts God has given you to use for ministry is prayer. Ask that your spiritual gifts be made known to you and where they may be used in the Body of Christ and the world.

The second step may be to utilize one or more of the spiritual gift inventories readily available.

Here is a sampling of those found on the Internet:

  • http://www.spiritualgiftstest.com/test/adult
  • http://www.elca.org/Our-Work/Congregations-and-Synods/Faith-Practices/Assessment-Tools
  • http://sgi.churchdb.com/staustinsgi/StAustinIntro.asp

For those who prefer a pencil-and-paper format, one is available in the church office. Also several books in the parish library include questionnaires and present the topic in greater depth. The names of the spiritual gifts may differ from resource to resource. One particularly helpful resource is a list of topics compiled by Dr. C. Peter Wagner, the developer of the Wagner Modified-Houts Questionnaire and the author of several books on the topic.

Once you have determined your dominant and subordinate gifts, read through the following descriptions of various opportunities at St. Paul’s to see where God may have equipped you to serve. You can download a list of opportunities here: HOW WE SERVE

If you do not see something that connects, it could be that you are being called to create a new ministry. After prayer, the next step would be to discuss this with the rector or the wardens.

Note: For more information, you are invited to contact the church office at (207) 725-5342 or via email to stpauls@stpaulsmaine.org. Specific recommendations where applicable are noted with the activity in question.