I grew up in a movement in which the phrase, "The need is the call!" was frequently pronounced or strongly inferred by many at different levels of authority. The notion was that, if you want to know what God is calling you to do in the world, meeting the need you see is the answer. Whatever the need and whatever the cost, you are the answer to the problems you see. In a culture quite high in compassion, such a call was and is responded to with commitment and conviction.

In NCD terms, the classic scenario that reflects such a culture is one in which Need-oriented evangelism scores relatively high and Gift-based ministry scores quite low.

Need-oriented evangelism coming most naturally to a church and Gift-based ministry coming least naturally according to their NCD Survey result.

Some years ago in Australia, we did a little bit of research on church plants in their first year of existence. Having recently planted a church (with plenty learnt through the experience), we were keen to help others identify their minimum factors early on to help them launch out on the best footing possible. The most disturbing discovery during that research was that 40% of those plants had Gift-based ministry as their minimum factor. Many say, "Well, when you start off a new church, everyone just has to get in and get certain things done." Really? What has to be done? Why? According to whom?

Of all the things you could "get right" within a brand new church plant, before making plans it would seem that looking around the room and working out what raw materials you had to begin with would be one of them. Unfortunately, too many times a grand (and godly sounding) vision, without much connection to the actual gifts, life experiences, and passions of those asked to fulfil it wins out. Such visions should not be called vision since they depend so little on actually seeing anything that is real. Without vision the people perish. And without vision that involves seeing things as they are as well as how they could be, people burn out, suffer, and cease meeting needs anymore.

There is little point in ministering like a light on a hill that is super bright for a short time, only to have darkness follow when the fuel is all exhausted, having been burned out on things you weren't called to do. This is especially problematic since those who are saved when the light is on will then have to contend with their own journey becoming dimmer the further they travel with you. This itself raises the question of what people are being saved to when gift-based ministry is not strong within a gathering. Outside that gathering, they have experienced incredible love and compassion. But if they become part of the gathering, they are not as likely to experience the same compassion if they're not able to commit to the task at hand, because it is outside of who God made and saved them to be. It only makes sense for them to stay on the fringe.

This disconnect in their journey to life is well illustrated when we look at page 2 of the Summary Guide for such a church. Whenever you see any side-by-side quality characteristics on the compass with results at opposite ends of the spectrum (in this case scoring first and last respectively) it is a clear sign that something is dis-integrated within the church. In this case, aspects of Service are simply not supporting each other.

A sign that there is something dis-integrated about the Service of such a church is that the area that comes most naturally to them (need-oriented evangelism) is right alongside the area that comes least naturally to them (gift-based ministry) in the Summary Guide compass diagram.

This dis-integration at the church level will lead to the disintegration of the ministries of some people at some stage as their work becomes unsustainable.

Some who want to keep commitment to meeting needs as high as possible worry that a gift-based approach is, in some sense, a "soft" option in ministry. After all, presumably taking up your cross must be a painful experience. It is true that it is far easier to minister according to your gifts than when trying to function outside of them. However, this concern of soft ministry makes the mistake of not seeing the difference between being challenged because you are working outside of your giftedness versus being challenged within your area of giftedness. In the context of a faith-stretching life, there is no space for moving into your gifts and then sitting back and relaxing. We must be willing to be stretched by God within the area of giftedness he himself has chosen to empower within us.

So how do you deal with this, sometimes, enormous tension between the needs that surround you and the gifts that you have?

The first step is to consider which is less negotiable from a biblical perspective—using your gifts or meeting all of the needs that present themselves. It seems quite clear that God gives gifts to people as he chooses and for reasons known and sometimes unknown for now. Furthermore, failure to make use of what you've been given seems to be something that greatly displeases God (see parable of the talents). Of course, none of this minimises the biblical imperatives to meet the needs of suffering humanity, but it does strongly suggest the need for boundaries and sober self-assessment.

Of the NCD quality characteristics, Gift-based ministry is one with a particular affinity to the principle of sustainability. The reason for this is that those who operate within their giftings are constantly renewed in their zeal due to the fruit they get to see in their partnership with God and others. It is better fruit and there is more of it. Even when challenges arise, it's not so difficult to sustain ministry over the long-haul when you see that the power that is at work within you is more powerful than the challenges of need that surround you.

Irrespective of context, Jesus' statement that, "the poor will always be with you", is as true today as it ever was. Individually or as a church, you are not likely to reach a point where you have run out of needs to meet. So the tragedy of not following a gift-based approach is that you will end up meeting far fewer needs over the long-term. And those whose needs are met will also be less likely to join the workforce, because the jump from being treated as a special unique child of God when 'outside' the church, will be too large to cope with when they are made to feel that they do not have a unique contribution to make once 'inside'.

So, if your church, or one you are working with is something like the one described, do some gift discovery through discussion and experimentation and perhaps with the help of the Gift Test. Be sure to not only celebrate the gifts that you have, but celebrate the ones you do not have, and in the process, acknowledge your need for others and the unique contribution they can make. Then, ask yourself what God would have you do as a church that matches up with the gifts and identity he has given to each person and the church as a whole. Stop doing some of the things that you do not have the gifts or passion for and start some other need-meeting activities for which you do. And accept that to do otherwise is defiance of God himself.