Leadership Spiritual Gifts Diagnosis Report

Purpose of this report:
This report is intended to help our leadership group read, reflect, pray, and wrestle together about the current spiritual gift profile of our leadership. It is not meant to shame, blame, or discourage anyone. Rather, it is meant to help us honestly discern where we are strong, where we are vulnerable, and what kind of leadership development is necessary for the future health and mission of the church.

The chart compares both the maximum and the average scores represented in each spiritual gift area. The maximum score shows whether at least one person carries notable strength in a given area. The average score shows whether that strength is broadly shared across the leadership group.

Because our church is small, with roughly 20-30 people in attendance, this matters greatly. In a smaller church, the spiritual posture, priorities, and leadership habits of the core leaders strongly shape the whole congregation.

1. Overall Diagnosis

The leadership group has real strengths. This is not a picture of a church with no gifts, no commitment, or no faithful people. There are meaningful strengths in areas such as administration, service/helps, mercy, giving, faith, knowledge, teaching, exhortation, discernment, and leadership.

These strengths suggest that the church has people who can organize, serve, give, care, teach, encourage, and keep the church functioning. This is a blessing, especially in a small church.

However, the chart also reveals a serious concern:

The leadership group appears stronger in maintaining and caring for the existing church than in expanding, evangelizing, shepherding newcomers, confronting spiritual drift, and leading the church into mission.

In simple terms:

The church has a committed maintenance-and-care leadership base, but it lacks sufficient outward-facing mission capacity and shepherding depth.

This does not mean the church is dead. It does not mean the church lacks sincere believers. But it does mean the church is vulnerable.

The church may be able to continue weekly worship, care for familiar members, and preserve existing relationships. But without intentional growth in evangelism, apostleship, prophecy, shepherding, and mission-focused leadership, the church may struggle to reach new people, assimilate newcomers, disciple young adults, and continue strongly through pastoral transitions.

2. What the Max and Average Chart Shows

The maximum score shows whether at least one person has strength in a given area. The average score shows whether that strength is shared by the group.

This distinction is important.

If the maximum score is high but the average is low, it means the church may have one person who is strong in that area, but the group as a whole does not carry that strength. That creates dependency.

If both the maximum and average are high, it means the gift is more broadly represented in the leadership culture.

The chart suggests that some strengths are shared reasonably well, while some crucial mission gifts are not broadly present.

This means the church is not simply lacking leaders. Rather, the church’s leadership energy may be directed more toward internal care and maintenance than toward outward mission and renewal.

3. Major Strengths of the Current Leadership Profile

3.1 Administration

Administration appears to be one of the stronger areas. This suggests that the church has the ability to organize, plan, manage tasks, and keep ministries functioning.

This is important. A small church cannot operate without people who are willing to coordinate responsibilities, handle details, and provide structure.

However, administration must serve mission. A church can be organized and still be stagnant. Administration becomes spiritually fruitful when it helps the church reach people, disciple people, care for people, and mobilize people for ministry.

Key reflection:

Are we using our organizational strength mainly to maintain what exists, or to advance the mission God has given us?

3.2 Service/Helps

Service/helps is also strong. This suggests that there are people willing to volunteer, assist, work behind the scenes, and support church activities.

This is a major blessing. Many small churches suffer because the same few people must do everything. A strong service/helps profile means the church has people who are willing to carry practical responsibilities.

However, service can easily become task-based rather than mission-based. People may serve to keep programs running without asking whether those programs are producing disciples.

Key reflection:

Are we merely helping the church function, or are we helping the church fulfill its mission?

3.3 Mercy

Mercy appears strong, especially at the maximum level. This suggests that the church has real compassion and concern for people.

This is a beautiful strength. A church without mercy becomes cold and unsafe. Mercy creates warmth, care, patience, and healing.

However, mercy must extend beyond familiar relationships. It must reach newcomers, young adults, the spiritually wounded, the lonely, and people outside our existing circle.

Key reflection:

Is our mercy mostly directed toward those already inside the church, or also toward those God is sending to us?

3.4 Giving

Giving is also a meaningful strength. This suggests sacrificial support, loyalty, and willingness to contribute to the work of the church.

This is encouraging. A church with generous people has real potential.

But giving must be connected to mission. It is possible to give generously to preserve what exists without investing in outreach, discipleship, young adults, and future leadership development.

Key reflection:

Are we giving mainly to preserve our church, or to participate in God’s mission through our church?

3.5 Faith, Knowledge, Teaching, Exhortation, and Discernment

The chart also shows meaningful strength in faith, knowledge, teaching, exhortation, and discernment.

This suggests that the church has spiritual seriousness. There is a desire for truth, Bible study, careful thinking, encouragement, and faithfulness.

These are important gifts. But they must move from information to transformation, and from internal encouragement to outward mission.

Knowledge without mission can become inward-focused. Discernment without courage can become criticism. Teaching without discipleship can become information transfer. Exhortation without action can become temporary encouragement without lasting change.

Key reflection:

Are our Bible knowledge, faith, and encouragement producing obedience, mission, and disciple-making?

4. Major Vulnerabilities

The most concerning part of the chart is that the weaker areas are precisely the areas most needed for renewal, growth, and long-term survival.

The key weak areas are:

• Evangelism
• Apostleship
• Prophecy
• Shepherding

These are not minor gaps. Together, they point to a serious vulnerability in the church’s future direction.

A church can survive for a time with strong administration, service, mercy, and giving. But if it remains weak in evangelism, apostleship, prophecy, and shepherding, it will struggle to reproduce disciples and prepare for the future.

5. Low Evangelism: Weakness in Reaching New People

Evangelism appears low in the group average. This means the leadership culture may not naturally think in terms of reaching new people.

The church may welcome people who come, but may not actively seek, invite, follow up, and lead people toward Christ.

In a small church, passive evangelism is dangerous. A church of 20–30 cannot depend on accidental growth, family growth, or the hope that former members will return.

Low evangelism may show up in patterns such as:

• Few personal invitations are made.
• Guests are greeted but not followed up.
• Outreach depends heavily on the pastor.
• Members care about church survival but do not regularly reach non-members.
• The church’s emotional energy is spent more on insiders than outsiders.

Key diagnosis:

The church may be friendly, but not yet evangelistically mobilized.

Key reflection:

Who are we intentionally praying for, inviting, reaching, and leading toward Christ?

6. Low Apostleship: Weakness in Pioneering and Expanding Mission

Apostleship is the gift that moves outward. It pioneers new work, crosses boundaries, starts new ministries, takes risks, and expands the mission of the church.

A low average in apostleship suggests that the church may prefer familiar patterns. Leaders may be more comfortable maintaining what already exists than attempting new mission.

This can become dangerous in a small church.

Small churches often decline not because they lack love, but because they become too comfortable with what is familiar. They may preserve the existing community while losing the courage to reach beyond it.

Low apostleship may show up in statements or attitudes such as:

• “We tried that before.”
• “That will not work here.”
• “We do not have enough people.”
• “We just need our children to come back.”
• “New people are welcome, but we are not actively reorganizing ourselves to reach them.”

Key diagnosis:

The church may have enough strength to preserve existing patterns, but not enough pioneering energy to create new pathways for mission.

Key reflection:

What new work is God calling us to begin for the sake of people who are not yet here?

7. Low Prophecy: Weakness in Spiritual Urgency and Courage

Prophecy here does not mean predicting the future. It refers to the courage to speak God’s truth, call for repentance, confront spiritual drift, and awaken the church to God’s mission.

Low prophecy may be one of the clearest danger signs.

It means the church may avoid hard conversations. Leaders may prefer peace over obedience, comfort over mission, and harmony over necessary change.

This is understandable. Most people do not enjoy conflict. But without prophetic courage, a church can slowly decline while everyone remains polite.

Low prophecy can cause leaders to avoid saying things like:

• “We are too inward-focused.”
• “We are not reaching people.”
• “Our children cannot be our only mission.”
• “Visitors are not being shepherded well.”
• “The pastor cannot carry the mission alone.”
• “If we do not change, the church may not have a future.”

Key diagnosis:

The church may have kindness and care, but not enough spiritual courage to confront the direction of decline.

Key reflection:

Do we love the church enough to tell the truth about its condition?

8. Low Shepherding: Weakness in Assimilating and Caring for People

Shepherding is the gift that notices people, follows up, visits, encourages, disciples, protects, and walks with others spiritually.

The chart suggests that while some shepherding strength may exist, it is not strongly shared across the group.

This is very important.

A church can have one or two naturally caring people, but if shepherding is not part of the whole leadership culture, newcomers will still fall through the cracks.

In a church of 20–30 people, shepherding is not optional. Every visitor matters. Every discouraged member matters. Every young adult matters. Every returning person matters.

Low shepherding may especially affect:

• Newcomers
• College students
• Young adults
• Visitors from outside the church culture
• Spiritually wounded people
• People without family connections in the church
• Members who are quietly drifting

A church can be friendly on Sabbath morning and still weak in shepherding. Friendliness says hello. Shepherding follows up. Friendliness smiles. Shepherding remembers. Friendliness welcomes people into a room. Shepherding welcomes people into a life.

Key diagnosis:

The church may be relationally warm to insiders but insufficiently intentional in attaching, discipling, and caring for newcomers.

Key reflection:

When God sends someone to our church, who takes spiritual responsibility for that person?

9. Leadership: Present, but Not Yet Fully Mission-Directed

Leadership does not appear absent. The chart suggests that there is real leadership capacity in the group.

This is encouraging. The problem may not be that the church has no leaders. The deeper issue is that leadership may not yet be sufficiently directed toward mission.

The leaders may be able to organize, discuss, decide, and help. But mission leadership requires more than keeping the church functioning.

Mission leadership asks:

• Who are we reaching?
• Who are we discipling?
• Who is drifting?
• Who is new and needs care?
• What needs to change for the sake of mission?
• What responsibilities must lay leaders carry without depending on the pastor?

Key diagnosis:

The church is not leaderless. It is under-mobilized for mission.

Key reflection:

Are we using leadership mainly to maintain the church, or to move the church toward God’s mission?

10. The Direction of the Church

The current profile suggests that the church is at a crossroads.

The church has enough strength to continue functioning. It has people who serve, give, organize, care, and teach. These gifts can preserve the church for a time.

But the direction of the church will depend on whether these strengths are redirected toward mission.

If the church continues mainly as a maintenance-and-care community, the likely direction is gradual decline. Not sudden collapse, but slow weakening.

This kind of decline often happens quietly:

• Attendance becomes older.
• Energy decreases.
• Fewer people carry more responsibilities.
• Young adults remain disconnected.
• Visitors do not stay.
• Programs continue, but with less fruit.
• The church becomes more dependent on the pastor.
• Leaders become tired but do not know how to change direction.

This is the danger of a church that is organized but not mobilized, caring but not evangelistic, faithful but not reproducing.

Key diagnosis:

The church is not in immediate collapse, but it is vulnerable to slow decline if the leadership culture does not become more outward-facing, shepherding-centered, and mission-driven.

11. The Real Possibility of Decline as Members Grow Older

One of the most serious concerns is the aging of the membership.

If the church does not develop evangelism, shepherding, apostleship, and younger leadership, decline is not only possible; it is likely.

As members grow older, several things naturally happen:

• Physical energy decreases.
• Volunteer capacity decreases.
• Financial giving may eventually decrease.
• Transportation and attendance become harder.
• Ministry responsibilities fall on fewer people.
• The church becomes less able to host, invite, visit, and serve.
• Younger generations may feel less connected to the church’s existing culture.

If new people are not reached and assimilated, and if younger adults are not discipled and empowered, the church will gradually lose capacity.

The church may still love God. It may still believe the truth. It may still have faithful people. But faithfulness without reproduction eventually becomes decline.

This is why the issue is urgent.

The question is not simply:

“Can we keep the church open next Sabbath?”

The deeper question is:

“Are we becoming the kind of church that can still be alive, fruitful, and mission-driven ten years from now?”

12. Lack of Responsibility Caused by Weak Mission Leadership

Another major concern is the lack of shared responsibility.

When leadership is not clearly mission-directed, members may assume that the pastor is responsible for the future of the church. They may help when asked, but they may not personally carry the burden of evangelism, shepherding, discipleship, or church renewal.

This creates a dangerous pattern:

• The pastor initiates.
• The pastor follows up.
• The pastor gives vision.
• The pastor carries urgency.
• The pastor worries about visitors.
• The pastor thinks about growth.
• The pastor pushes mission.
• The members help, but do not own.

That pattern cannot sustain the church long-term.

A church cannot be healthy if its members only assist the pastor but do not carry the mission themselves.

The lack of responsibility may not come from laziness. It may come from unclear leadership, lack of training, lack of expectations, and years of depending on pastoral leadership.

But whatever the cause, the result is dangerous.

Key diagnosis:

The church needs a shift from pastor-dependent participation to shared spiritual ownership.

Leaders must stop asking only:

“How can I help the pastor?”

They must begin asking:

“What part of the mission has God entrusted to me?”

13. The Danger of Becoming a Well-Maintained but Non-Reproducing Church

The chart suggests that the church has enough gifts to remain warm, organized, faithful, and active among itself.

But without stronger evangelism, apostleship, prophecy, and shepherding, it can slowly become a well-maintained but non-reproducing church.

This means the church may continue to have:

• Worship services
• Meals
• Familiar fellowship
• Board meetings
• Offerings
• Sabbath School
• Occasional events
• Sincere believers

But it may not consistently produce:

• New disciples
• New leaders
• New Bible studies
• New baptisms
• New young adult engagement
• New missionary initiatives
• New spiritual responsibility among members

This is one of the most dangerous conditions for a small church because it can feel stable while actually declining.

Key diagnosis:

The church’s greatest danger is not that it will suddenly die, but that it will slowly become comfortable, familiar, inward, and non-reproductive.

14. Summary Diagnosis

The leadership group has real strengths. The leaders are not faithless, careless, or useless. There is commitment, generosity, service, care, and spiritual seriousness.

However, the strongest gifts are mostly maintenance and support gifts, while the weakest gifts are the very gifts needed for renewal and future mission.

Therefore, the diagnosis is:

Our leadership group has meaningful strength in administration, service, mercy, giving, teaching, and encouragement, which means the church can maintain and care for itself; however, the group is significantly weaker in evangelism, apostleship, prophecy, and shepherding, which means the church is vulnerable in reaching new people, assimilating newcomers, confronting spiritual drift, raising future leaders, and continuing its mission after pastoral transition.

This should not lead us to despair. It should lead us to repentance, prayer, training, and intentional change.

15. What Must Change

The church does not need to become a large, flashy, program-driven church. But it must become a more mission-shaped church.

The leaders must grow in five areas:

15.1 Evangelism

We must develop a burden for people who are not yet part of the church.

Practical commitments:

• Pray regularly for specific people by name.
• Personally invite people to church, meals, Bible studies, and events.
• Make outreach part of every ministry conversation.
• Create natural invitation opportunities.
• Celebrate baptisms, Bible studies, and spiritual decisions.

15.2 Shepherding

We must take spiritual responsibility for people God sends to us.

Practical commitments:

• Every visitor should receive meaningful follow-up within 48 hours.
• Every leader should adopt one newcomer, young adult, returning member, or disconnected person for prayer and care.
• Leaders should check in personally with people who are absent.
• New people should be invited into homes, meals, and relationships.
• No visitor should remain anonymous after attending several times.

15.3 Apostleship

We must become willing to try new mission work.

Practical commitments:

• Start small outreach experiments.
• Evaluate what connects with people outside the church.
• Be willing to adjust old patterns for the sake of mission.
• Think beyond preserving existing programs.
• Ask what new ministry God may be calling us to begin.

15.4 Prophetic Courage

We must learn to speak the truth in love.

Practical commitments:

• Name spiritual problems honestly.
• Refuse to hide behind politeness.
• Invite repentance and recommitment.
• Keep the mission of Christ above personal comfort.
• Allow Scripture to confront our church culture.

15.5 Leadership Ownership

We must stop depending on the pastor to carry the future alone.

Practical commitments:

• Leaders must take ownership of mission.
• Board meetings should include spiritual and missional accountability.
• Leaders should develop other leaders.
• Responsibilities should be clear and measurable.
• The church should prepare for continuity after pastoral transition.

16. Recommended Leadership Commitments

The following commitments are recommended for the leadership group:

1. Every leader adopts one person to shepherd.
   This may be a newcomer, young adult, returning member, or spiritually disconnected person.
2. Every visitor receives follow-up within 48 hours.
   A warm Sabbath greeting is not enough. Someone must personally follow up.
3. Every board or leadership meeting includes a mission question.
   For example: “Who are we reaching? Who are we discipling? Who needs follow-up?”
4. Every event must have a next step.
   Events should not be isolated activities. They should lead people toward relationships, Bible study, worship, service, or discipleship.
5. Every leader practices invitation.
   Leaders should regularly invite people to church, meals, Bible studies, and spiritual conversations.
6. Every leader participates in one outward-facing ministry.
   No leader should only serve internal church functions.
7. The church must pray specifically for mission.
   Prayer should include names of people, outreach opportunities, young adults, visitors, and future leaders.
8. The leadership group must prepare for pastoral transition.
   The question should not be, “What will happen when the pastor leaves?” but, “What must we become before that day comes?”
9. Responsibilities must be named clearly.
   If everyone is generally responsible, often no one becomes practically responsible. Specific people must be entrusted with specific mission responsibilities.
10. The church must develop younger and newer leaders.
    Without leadership reproduction, the church will become increasingly dependent on an aging leadership base.

17. Questions for Group Reflection

These questions are intended for honest discussion and prayer.

1. Where do we see the strengths of administration, service, mercy, giving, teaching, and faith in our church?
2. Are those strengths mostly directed inward, or are they also being used for mission?
3. Who are the people God has already sent to our church that we have not shepherded well?
4. Do visitors experience us as a friendly church, or as a church that truly takes spiritual responsibility for them?
5. Are we more focused on preserving our existing group than reaching new people?
6. Have we made our own children and former young people the center of our concern in a way that has weakened our mission to others?
7. What hard truths have we avoided saying because we wanted to keep peace?
8. If the pastor left, what ministries would continue strongly and what would likely collapse?
9. What responsibilities must lay leaders begin carrying now?
10. Where are we too dependent on the pastor?
11. What would decline look like in our church over the next five to ten years if nothing changes?
12. What specific changes is God calling us to make in the next three months?

18. Closing Appeal

This report is not a criticism of the leaders’ sincerity. It is a call to deeper faithfulness.

God has not called the church merely to survive. He has called the church to be the body of Christ, a light to the world, a family for the lonely, a place of discipleship, and a witness to the gospel.

Our church does not need to become impressive. But it must become faithful to its mission.

The future of the church cannot depend only on the pastor. The leaders must become the mission carriers of the church.

The question before us is not simply:

“How do we keep this church open?”

The deeper question is:

“What kind of church is God calling us to become?”

And the most personal question is:

“Am I willing to become the kind of leader this church needs for the mission God has given us?”