DISCUSSION GUIDE

STRENGTHS AND CAREER WELLBEING

9/5/2010

Message by Dan Davis

Guide by Andrew Goff

 

Connect:

1) How did you spend your Labor Day weekend? How
do you wish you’d spent it?

2) Go around the room, and briefly answer the
question, “What am I good at?”

3) Do you feel you are on a life/career path that
utilizes your individual giftings?

Discuss:
 
“There are different kinds of spiritual
gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds
of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is
the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each
of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to
give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special
knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else
the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to
perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the
ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another
spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown
languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said.
It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides
which gift each person should have.” – 1 Corinthians 12:4-11

4) Discuss the above passage with your group. In
your time as a Christian, how have you seen churches you’ve attended interpret
Paul’s advice to the Church at Corinth
on spiritual gifts?

5) Despite being a favorite film of many
Americans, Dan discussed his less-than-positive view of the film Rudy (1993).
Instead of seeing Rudy’s attempts to realize his dream of playing college
football for Notre Dame — despite his unimpressive physical stature — as
inspirational, Dan pondered if Rudy’s time might have been better spent in an
activity he had more potential in. Do you agree with Dan’s assessment of Rudy’s
story? Have you ever worked hard at something only to decide it was you were
wasting your time?

6) Go around the room, focusing on one person at a
time, and tell the members of your group what you believe their strengths to
be. 

Challenge:

7) Take an informal poll of your
friends/family/acquaintances this week and ask them what they believe to be
your unique strengths. 

8) For the next week, pick one person per day and
encourage them in an area you feel they are talented in. 



9) Consider signing up for the Strengths Finder
workshop Dan discussed next Saturday: http://provokechange.org/strengths_finder