YOUR PURPOSE IN LIFE IS TO CAUSE A CHURCH TO GROW

First and foremost, you must understand the purpose of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This will help you to more perfectly accomplish God’s will with the talent(s) that He gave to you. It will help you to focus in on and to fulfill your God-given purpose in life. When Paul taught about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, he concluded that when church members use their gifts it “causes the growth of the body” (Eph 4:16). So then, the main purpose of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is to cause the growth of the Christian church body. Below, read about this in its fuller context.

Subject: How to Cause Church-Growth (What or Who Causes the Church to Grow?)
Passage/Context: Ephesians 4:7-17
Points: 1. All Members Receive/Have Gifts to Cause Church-Growth, Not Only Some Members
2. Only Some Members Can Receive the Greater Gifts to Cause Church-Growth, Not All Members
3. Members Who Work Properly vs. Improperly with Their Gifts Cause Church-Growth
4. Members Must Cause Spiritual vs. Sensual Church-Growth with Their Gift(s)

“But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says, "WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN." (Now this expression, "He ascended," what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk”

Ephesians 4:7-17

Again, we see in verse sixteen that when church members use their gifts the result is that it “causes the growth of the body” (vs. 16). This is the purpose of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, growth. So when teaching about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, or when talking about the talents, or when attempting to get church members involved in various aspects of church work, growth must be our theme. Growth must be our goal. Likewise, when studying for the ministry or planning a ministry, growth must be the reason for it. In this study, you will learn four important points about causing church-growth. And you will be tested on whether or not you have or can receive any of the five greater gifts (apostle, prophet, pastor, evangelist, and teacher). But first, do you understand the difference between the gift & the gifts of the Holy Spirit?

.... more about this in the Bible Study on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit