Pastor Rick Warren at Saddleback Valley Community Church in Mission Viejo, CA, coined the acronym S.H.A.P.E. and described it in his best selling book The Purpose Driven Church. As we’ve applied it here, it is a holistic and integrating concept of God’s activity in calling forth people for ministry. S.H.A.P.E. is a way of looking at how we are equipped by God for ministry that says, “God can use all of you, not just the ‘holy parts.’”
S.H.A.P.E. also affirms that no two of us are exactly alike, for no two people have exactly the same S.H.A.P.E. Not only are we different, but S.H.A.P.E. claims that our diversity is not an accident of fate -- it is intended by God! While no two of us are alike, each of us is needed by God and we need each other. God intends for us to be dependent upon one another. That is how we build true community. There is no such thing as a community of Lone Rangers |
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You work for weeks and weeks, searching through the pieces, finding a corner here, two pieces for a straight edge there. Finally, at long last, the puzzle picture begins to emerge. You are about to climax your labors and put in place the very last piece of your immense puzzle. But that final piece is missing. You search and search, but you cannot find it anywhere. Now, some value systems might say, “You have 99.99% of the pieces in place. How much can one piece be worth?” But in the value system of jigsaw puzzles, missing even one piece makes your labor less than complete. When you look at your puzzle, you don’t see the 9,999 pieces already in place. What grabs your attention is the missing piece. So it is with our S.H.A.P.E. God has hundreds of thousands of workers for ministry. You might ask, “Who am I? I’m just one tiny piece of God’s huge puzzle.” But each of us is unique, and the “picture” of God’s mission in the world is incomplete until we deploy our distinctive S.H.A.P.E. in it. If we are not deploying our S.H.A.P.E., what God sees when God looks at mission in the world is our missing piece!
Having briefly described S.H.A.P.E. as a philosophy for revitalizing lay ministry,
let’s take a closer look at each element.
“S” in S.H.A.P.E. stands for spiritual gifts. We understand spiritual gifts to be attributes given by God’s grace to disciples of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. Why? To empower disciples to do and be what God has called them to do and be - to glorify God and build up the body of Christ. S.H.A.P.E. therefore affirms the Spirit’s work of reawakening God’s people to the empowering and gifting work of God’s grace. But there is more, much more.
“H” in S.H.A.P.E. stands for heart. Heart is about what interests you, what you feel a special attraction toward, that which gives you emotional energy. It recognizes that there are some things we actually like to do. Some things make our heart pump a little faster. There are some things no one has to ask us twice to do, some things we do even though they are not in our job description.
“A” stands for abilities and recognizes those attributes given by God’s grace to all people, whether on behalf of the Church or not. Abilities are sometimes called “natural talents,” but they are not natural in the sense of not originating in God. Abilities are often confused with spiritual gifts. We’ll have more to say about this later. But for now, suffice it to say that S.H.A.P.E. affirms both spiritual gifts and abilities as God-given parts of us for use in serving others.
“P” stands for personality. Have you ever noticed that other people are not just like you? You relate to tasks, people, ideas, and things differently than others. Have you ever gone into a restaurant, and either you or your guest quickly looks over the menu, knowing immediately what to order, while the other one studies it forever, even asking the waitress to return later? Some folks are “people oriented.” Others are “task oriented.” (We see this difference operating in Paul and Barnabas in their disagreement over whether to take John Mark with them in Acts 15:36-41.) Some are energized by the experience of working with groups of people. Others quake in their boots at the thought and are drained being around lots of other people. They prefer to work quietly, behind the scenes. All these examples reflect a difference in personality. No one type is preferred over another. God uses all types of people in ministry. But it helps to know what type we are so that we can go to work serving in the right area.
“E” in S.H.A.P.E. stands for experience. Experience is the “stuff” life is made from. Experience is that collection of life’s happenings that we have lived through, and which have marked us - some for good, some for not so good. Experiences influence us, even the ones from long ago. Experiences come in “different flavors.” There is our family heritage, our spiritual journey, our education, our vocation, even our hobbies. Experiences can be positive - a warm, loving family atmosphere growing up; or experiences can be negative - abuse by a trusted family member or friend when we were very young. But S.H.A.P.E. affirms that all of our experiences can be used by God in ministry. S.H.A.P.E. affirms that God does not waste any experience. This does NOT mean that God causes all our experiences. But it does affirm that the God revealed in Jesus Christ and His Resurrection from the dead can and does transform vulnerabilities into victories. S.H.A.P.E. sees no accident of fate, for example, when a child of an abusive parent grows up with a heart to help other children avoid the same experience.
Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church (Zondervan: Grand Rapids, MI), 1995, pp 369-375
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