What is the spiritual gift of organizing?

Understanding the spiritual gift of organizing

3 min

A Christian’s motivational spiritual gift represents what God does in him to shape his perspective on life and motivate his words and actions. Romans 12:3–8 describes “basic motivations,” which are characterized by inherent qualities or abilities within a believer—the Creator’s unique workmanship in him or her.

Through the motivational gifts, God makes believers aware of needs that He wants to meet through them, for His glory. Then, believers can minister to others through the ministry and manifestation gifts of the Spirit, in ways beyond mere human capability and ingenuity, with maximum effectiveness and minimum weariness.

Each person’s behavior will vary according to factors such as temperament, background, age, gender, culture, and circumstances. However, it is not unusual for individuals who share the same motivational gift to demonstrate common characteristics. Below are some general characteristics that are typically exhibited by those who have the motivational gift of organizing.

General Characteristics

An organizer’s basic motivational drive is to lead others to get a project done. He is able to solve problems and accomplish tasks through analysis and delegation.

  • The organizer leads others to complete projects. He might not necessarily do the job, but through organization and delegation, he makes sure the job gets done.
  • A person with the gift of organizing has the ability to discern the strengths, weaknesses, and talents of others. When a project is launched, the organizer does not focus on how the job can be done but rather on who can do it best.
  • As a general rule, organizers tend to judge spirituality (including their own) on the basis of accomplishment, and they evaluate accomplishment on the basis of doing the best job with the fewest resources in the shortest amount of time.
  • They are masterful at making long-range goals.
  • Organizers always see the big picture. They can look past today’s circumstances and see where the group needs to be tomorrow or next week or next year.
  • Organizers are willing to take whatever time is needed to do the job well.
  • Organizers are goal-oriented, and sometimes an organizer’s goals may not match everyone else’s goals. For example, if the goal is to construct a water tank, the organizer will oversee the construction of an efficient, sturdy water tank, but it may not be an attractive water tank. However, the goal—to build a functional water tank—would be accomplished. If the goal had been to construct an attractive water tank, the organizer would have focused on that goal.
  • An organizer is even-keeled—it takes a lot to ruffle his feathers. He sees emotional expressions—good or bad—as a waste of time.
  • Although organizers are designed to lead, they don’t always have the personality of an obvious leader. Therefore, they can easily go unnoticed when the need for a leader arises, and the job will frequently be given to an aggressive prophet or server.

An Organizer’s Strengths

  • An organizer is efficient, thorough, and loyal.
  • An organizer invests his time wisely. Since he measures spirituality by the accomplishment of tasks—crossing them off of his list as fast as possible—to him, to waste time is to be an unprofitable servant. (See Luke 17:7–10.)
  • God gave organizers “thick skin.” They patiently address the frustrations of their workers, and they can handle pressure extremely well. Even if he is misunderstood, he will press on toward the goal.
  • They seem to be able to implement the impossible and use the unusable.
  • He delegates in order to achieve maximum efficiency, not as a means to express favoritism or avoid work.
  • An organizer makes decisions based on what is best for the sake of the project, not what is most convenient for the laborers.
  • As a result of his God-given ability to discern true character, an organizer can quickly recognize a sloth and remove him from the team, if necessary.

An Organizer’s Weaknesses

  • Because of their need to constantly be “conquering new mountains,” organizers can easily frustrate others who do not share their vision. Family members or co-workers may interpret the organizer’s insatiable desire to plan ahead as a reflection of discontentment, which is not actually the case.
  • On his priority list, he tends to put projects before people.
  • The organizer tends to take an interest in others in order to find out the best way to use them rather than the best way to serve them. People tend to feel used and discarded when their usefulness is over.
  • He sees unnecessary expressions of emotion—good or bad—as a waste of time. This can earn him the reputation of being cold-hearted or unconcerned. This is not actually true, however. The organizer is simply preoccupied with tasks, not with feelings.
  • As a result of their focus on the big picture, organizers often appear to be uninvolved and/or uninterested.
  • Rather than accepting responsibility if something goes wrong, immature organizers will delegate the blame too—not just the work assignments.
Explore more about this topic in Understanding Spiritual Gifts

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