Friday, November 12, 2010

What would you say is the difference between the practice of Christians coming together around the idea of the church 'body' as a body of diverse parts (people) specifically gifted by God to work together as a unity and being at its best when working together AND secular society which also values things like group work and bringing people of diverse fields or backgrounds together saying that it produces better understandings and results?

When someone in the church gains insight or help from the gifts of someone else in the church it is attributed to God's gifting of the body. If the same thing happened outside the church it could be attributed to the value of diversity.

What are spiritual gifts in this context, when things often considered spiritual gifts (by the holy spirit) within the church also seem to be present and helpful outside of it? Does the typical concept of spiritual gifting (that of 'discover your spiritual gift' questionnaires) need to be narrowed?