In the Advanced Training Institute (ATI), your spiritual gift often became part of your identity. “I am a mercy,” or “I am a prophet,” became commonplace statements which people used to identify and explain themselves. I still vividly remember encountering Mr. Gothard’s teachings on spiritual gifts in the Advanced Seminar. I really latched onto this section of the seminar because I had always felt different, and here was a teaching that being different was good and a reflection of a spiritual gift. That I totally fit the description of a “teacher” only reinforced my attachment to this teaching. Even the fact that the ATI teaching on spiritual gifts was so often used to excuse wrong practices (eg. Mr. Gothard is just being a exhorter when he took that verse out of context) or to belittle others and put them in their place (eg. You disagree with this teaching because you are a teacher and teachers are weak in faith) didn’t dim my enthusiasm for this teaching. But when I began to look more closely at some of Mr. Gothard’s teachings, I found that he consistently abused Scripture. So I also reexamined his teaching on spiritual gifts and, sure enough, I found that he abused Scripture in supporting this teaching as well.
Before going into how Mr. Gothard’s teachings on spiritual gifts represents an abuse of Scripture, let me state a few things up front. First of all, let me be clear that Scripture clearly teaches that there are spiritual gifts given to believers. My critique of Mr. Gothard’s teachings should not be seen as an argument that there are no spiritual gifts. There are spritual gifts, but Mr. Gothard’s system of spiritual gifts is not scripturally sound. Secondly, I want to recognize that there are some good things about Mr. Gothard’s teaching on spiritual gifts. There is good in that it helps people to recognize that people are different, that they have differing motivations and outlooks, and that these differences are good.
So what are the problems with Mr. Gothard’s teaching on spiritual gifts? Mr. Gothard makes arbitrary distinctions without scriptural support, and then twists or ignores what Scripture does say.
One of the key verses in Mr. Gothard’s teachings on spiritual gifts is I Corinthians 12:4-6:
“Now there are diversities of gifts (charisma), but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations (diakonia), but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations (energema), but it is the same God which worketh all in all.”,
Mr. Gothard uses this verse to separate spiritual gifts into three categories – each of which are said to be identified by a specific Greek word:
a) charisma = motivational gifts (the seven gifts you hear the most about in ATI)
b) diakonia = ministry gifts
c) energema = manifestations
This proposed distinction is not a problem in itself since Paul does state things in such a way that it could be taken as a listing of three different things. But it’s also just as possible that Paul is emphasizing his point by restating the same basic idea in three different ways. But, for the sake of discussion, let’s assume that Mr. Gothard is correct in seeing this passage as denoting three different categories of gifts. If he is correct, we should find evidence for it elsewhere in Scripture since the topic of spiritual gifts pops up in various places throughout the New Testament. So, as Mr. Gothard expounds on his system and brings in other verses, we can see if his system at least remains consistent with itself and with Scripture.
Two problems become apparent once a closer look is taken. First, if there are three different types of gifts, how are we to know which gifts go in which category? Well, there are three passages Mr. Gothard cites where different spiritual gifts are listed. Three different lists1, and three different categories of gifts–what could be simpler? Just match up the appropriate list with the appropriate type of gift, right? And this is what Gothard attempts to do–the list in Romans 12 he says are motivational gifts2 (charisma), the list in Ephesians 4 are ministry gifts3 (diakonia, and the list in I Corinthians 12 are manifestations4 (energema). It seems his claim of three distinct categories of gifts must be accurate, right? Well there is the slight problem that there is no indication in these passages that Mr. Gothard has made the correct match. Sure Romans 12 talks about the list being charisma (motivational gifts according to Gothard), but the list in I Cor. 12 is also introduced with the idea of charisma.5 Additionally, the list in Ephesians 4 makes no mention of being related to energema. So, it seems that the match-up proposed by Mr. Gothard is largely arbitrary. And, of course, that’s even assuming the three distinct categories he creates are valid to begin with.
And what of the three different lists? Well first, it should be noted that these three lists are not really that distinct – there are many similarities between the lists with some gifts showing on multiple lists. Secondly, there is no reason to see any of these lists as complete. The point of the list in each passages seems to be that there are many different gifts which can be given to a believer and that each is a benefit to the Body, not that this is an exhaustive list. Thus it would be perfectly reasonable and consistent (certainly more consistent than Mr. Gothard’s system) to see each list as a partial list of the same general category.
The second problem with Mr. Gothard’s proposed distinction is that it leads to clear inconsistencies with Scripture. For example, Mr. Gothard goes on to teach:
“Ministry gifts are confirmed by ordination, as when Paul said to Timothy, ‘Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.’ (I Timothy 4:14)”
Remember that, according to Gothard’s classification, ministry gifts are identified by the Greek word diakonia. So if his classifications are accurate and consistent with Scripture, then we would expect that the word for “gift” in I Tim 4:14 would be diakonia. After all, diakonia = ministry gifts and ministry gifts are confirmed by ordination, right? Well, contrary to what Mr. Gothard claims, the type of gift Paul says is confirmed by ordination is, in fact, charisma. So, either Mr. Gothard never bothered to look up I Tim 4:14 in the Greek, or else he is just hoping no one else will do so.6
If Mr. Gothard were to keep his system consistent with Scripture he would have to teach that motivational gifts are the ones confirmed by ordination. But doing so would lead to all sorts of other inconsistencies within his system of spiritual gifts: “Sorry, you aren’t a mercy because you haven’t been ordained.” It should be obvious by now that Mr. Gothard’s system of spiritual gifts is arbitrary in its distinctions and inconsistent with the rest of Scripture.7
But not only does Mr. Gothard make three distinct categories of gifts, he also gives a detailed listing of characteristics and abuses of each of the “motivational” gifts. How does he comes up with this detailed list? Did he search Scripture to find these characteristics/abuses for each gift? No he doesn’t. The list he created came by having people in a meeting group together based on what gift they thought they had and then come up with a list of characteristics/abuses they all agree on. So, not only are his categories of gifts arbitrary and inconsistent with Scripture, the characteristics/abuses are not even determined scripturally.
In the end, Mr. Gothard’s system of spiritual gifts is nothing more than a personality system with spiritual and scriptural twists added on. It’s not sufficient that he teaches about people being differently motivated and with different personalities, he has to turn a good message about personalities into scripturally-unsound teaching about spiritual gifts. It is therefore no wonder that his system can so often become a means to excuse wrong teaching and/or belittle and intimidate those who disagree with his teachings.
1 Actually there are 4 lists. See I Pet 4.
2 prophecy, service, teaching; exhortation, giving, leadership, mercy
3 apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers
4 utterance of wisdom, utterance of knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues
5 In fact, in the I Cor 12 list of spiritual gifts, Paul specifically says the charisma of healings. Then he ends the list by saying that we should desire the best charisma, thus indicating that the preceding list all falls under the heading of charisma.
6 2 Timothy 1:6 repeats this same thought while again using the word charisma to describe the gift.
7 Referring back to I Pet 4 we find another inconsistency for Gothard’s system. Peter says in vs. 10: “As each one has received a gift (charisma), minister (diakoneo, the verb form of diakonia) it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” So Peter seems to lump together the idea of charisma and diakonia, thus providing further confirmation that I Cor 12:4-6 should not be seen as Paul creating 3 distinct categories.
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David Moeller is married and is a father of five children. He grew up in the public school system, but after his family joined the Advanced Training Institute he worked in various training centers from 1995 to 2001. David has been writing about Bill Gothard's abuses of Scripture for over a decade.
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I used my "spiritual gift" of prophecy as an excuse for bad behavior. I appreciate this article because I've always been skeptical of "gifts" since IBLP days.
great article. i couldn't agree more.
So Gothard and his team made up all these personality types? Or did they borrow it from somewhere else? The Spiritual Gifts reinforced my idea that I couldn't understand Scripture without ATI because I couldn't see these specific gifts mentioned and described. (But I loved figuring out my gift and talking about them with others.)
The gift names Gothard pulls from Rom 12. The names of the 7 "motivational" gifts of Gothard are therefore Scripturally based. The characteristics and abuses Gothard gives though are mostly made up. That's not to say everything about them is unScriptural (for instance, obviously the gift of giving involves giving and the gift of service involves serving), but Gothard created a system that goes far beyond what Scripture actually says.
I believe he actually got them from Gary Smalley... but changed them around quite a bit as well.
Thanks for writing this article, David. I'm a fellow "teacher" and had my feelings hurt constantly by people calling me one whenever they found me annoying. Of course, I probably was being annoying, but I didn't always mean to be. :) And having friends in ATI be surprised when they found out I was a "teacher" - the assumption was that nobody liked teachers. It's helpful to know that the personality part of this system is not Scripturally based. Though my parents are no longer in ATI and long ago have found true grace, this is one teaching they still seem to believe. I'm debating on whether or not I should share it with them.
This teaching always bothered me mainly because of the prophet and mercy labels. I found that most people claiming to be prophets were extremely obnoxious (and many times women) who used their "gift" as an excuse for being a miserable hag. Usually the husband was a "mercy" but really he just didn't have a backbone. The wife would say "oh isn't it perfect how God put us opposites together" *gag*.
I'm not trying to pick on women because I know the situation can be reversed but it's just my experience.
That's so true about the prophet/mercy pairing of controlling woman and spineless man! I can attest to it from an experience too - 2 1/2 years in a ATI/IBLP-thumping church run by a domineering pastor's wife who claimed she was a prophet and her husband (who basically served as her "yes man") was a mercy. Funny how half the couples in that place had the exact same pairing - one visiting family remarked that my family seemed like the only "normal" people in that place. And I was seriously messed up from my time there, so that says a lot. :)
Totally agree too with how it became an identity in itself. I remember taking the test and scored prophet first and mercy second. I shared this at a Children's Institute teachers' meeting and someone told me later not to tell others that I was a prophet-mercy as the two were supposed opposites and others would think I was just confused. Wow, so did the test diagnose my identity crisis? Or was I simply driven by a motivation to be balanced in the way I treat people?
I love reading about personality and even now, I use the more psychologically-based theories to better understand myself and other people. Personally, it's actually helped to leave too much of the "God-stuff" out of the picture of personality and see it as basically a human thing. (Some authors have even tried to ascribe a personality type to Jesus - I'm so not going there!) We all have strengths, weaknesses and unique gifts. Develop your strengths and gifts and use them to help others, and balance your weaknesses by welcoming others' perspectives and contributions. I'm happy to leave it at that.
I can not tell you how helpful these reviews of various ATI and IBLP teaching have been for me. My family was in ATI formally for one year but during my later high school years we attended a church for 2 1/2 years that was very strong on ATI. We ended up leaving the church because there was a major split and to this day I don't know exactly what it was about but part of it had to do with abuses by leadership in regards to finances. I remember one thing that HUGELY bothered me about teaching from ATI circles was coming across people who claimed to be "prophets" and they would use that as an excuse for speaking badly of people behind their backs (gossiping) in the name of exposing sin or calling things black and white. It made me so angry that they would use this label to get away with very clear sin (gossiping, tail-bearing, backbiting) that Christ, Paul, Peter and others in Scripture clearly warned against. I hate to say it, but even today I am weary of anyone who calls themselves a "prophet." I have also received personal attacks on my character from some who claim to be prophets and put me down for working outside the home as a "career woman." They claimed I was rebellious and unsubmissive because I didn't work for my father but ironically, I still live under my father's roof (at age 29), and he is the one who strongly encouraged me to go to college and get an education so I could make a living. So if I would have bucked him on that I would indeed have been rebellious. I do have significant health issues that made it needful for me to attend college for a degree and work for a larger company outside of home so I could get affordable and comprehensive medical benefits. My dad knew this would be the case and he wisely steered me in that direction.
The other deal with this spiritual gifts model as outlined by Mr. Gothard is that I could never quite figure out what my own gift was and that had me somewhat concerned. I would think it was mercy, then maybe teaching, or maybe serving but could never decide on just one. Finally I gave up and just tried to use whatever gifts God had given me in ways that would be useful. Now, I think possibly my gift is teaching or at least one of them is teaching. I really love Bible study, reading commentaries, cross-referencing, etc. and truth is very important to me. I have taught in several settings either for children or women in Bible study and I feel very comfortable in this role and have great joy in doing it.
I think this "Twisted Scriptures" section of the site has been the most helpful for me to read. I have believed many of these inconsistencies and outright lies from "scripture" for years. There were things I heard at the Basic and Advanced Seminars that bothered me and just didn't quite seem right but I didn't know enough for what was really wrong with them. Now I have a much clearer picture of it. My mom still heavily buys into this teaching and we tend to have rifts in our relationship I think partly based on this. She was exposed to it early on back in the 60's and wanted to continue following it after she had children. I am thinking of printing out a few of these and having her read them. We disagree on music very much but I try to be respectful and "not cause the weaker brother to stumble" by not listening to it or talking about it around her. I listen to what I like privately in my car. I don't think I could totally convince her to give up on ATIs teaching as she has been steeped in it and believed it for so long. But I do think it will be beneficial in regards to our relationship and possibly my future marriage. I don't want to marry someone involved in this "ministry" but I don't know if she would accept someone who is not part of it. Uggh. And I do think it is important to have your parents' blessing on your marriage. I do respect my parents and think they are good people and have done well in how they raised us. I just wish they would recognize us as intelligent, capable adults more.
"How does he comes up with this detailed list? Did he search Scripture to find these characteristics/abuses for each gift? No he doesn’t. The list he created came by having people in a meeting group together based on what gift they thought they had and then come up with a list of characteristics/abuses they all agree on."
I agree with your refutation of IBLP's stance on gifts, and frankly suspected that the charts of characteristics/abuses were formed mostly from personal observation or experience from a group of friends, but I was wondering how you know this? Was there a specific time documented?
It was how I recalled it being described in the Advanced Seminar I attended. While I can't find any written documentation, several other people have confirmed my recollection as aligning with theirs. If someone has any more solid information on this (either in confirmation or refutation of my recollection) I would be thrilled to have it.
Yes, Gothard does state this in the Advanced Seminar. I believe it is the second night, when they talk about spiritual gifts?
Yes. My memories of this in the actual seminar is vague, however it was strongly taught in my home and church. Everything he said brought back memories. I haven't thought about this in years, it was a good article, I'll probably have to re-read it multiple times to really get the hang of it.
Thankful that you brought up this topic. I have known too many people in IBLP who justify their rude mean, arrogant, inappropriate, etc. behavior because they are/are not a (fill in certain spiritual gift/personality type). In a recent conversation with my pastor, he said that the prophets in the OT were not harsh to judge and quick to talk a lot, but often sorrowful and reluctant to speak.
That is a really good point!
Hey, I appreciate the commentary and I'm not a fan of Mr. Gothard's teaching in general (and I loathe the legalism it has bred), but I'd like to say something in support of this view of Spiritual gifts...
I give much broader definition to the term "charisma" than you do. Because the word is based upon the Greek word for "grace" ("charis"), I have concluded that the definitions are linked.
Mr. Gothard's definition of grace is limited (as has been pointed out at this site) but the verse that he uses to define it *IS* the best source of the true definition (in my mind):
"For it is God who is at work in you..." (Stop there!)
That's what grace is. God at work in you. God at work in me. And because He is good, such work is always for our good.
Now, "charisma" is God working in someone else *through* me (or anyone). It is God's grace expressed through one person towards another.
So, whether it is a motivational gift or a ministry gift or a manifestation gift, the term "charisma" still fits.
How committed am I to this view of Spiritual gifts? Not especially firmly, but in all honesty, it offers the best holistic view of a confusing and unclear topic in the Bible. Other views tend to say, "you can have many, but you surely have one" ("why does he have 10 and I only have one??") or "the biblical list is not complete" (which really bothers me because of what it implies about God's revelation).
So, despite the difficulties you've pointed out, I still find this explanation of the Spiritual gifts to be the most reasonable that I've heard anywhere or discerned from my own studies.
David Martin
Hi,
I've been doing my own study on redemptive gifts and spiritual gifts. I don't have anything to say about Bill Gothard because I'm not familiar with his ministry. I came upon this website and wanted to share my findings on the Greek words. I did actually find that 'charisma', was used in Romans 12, as you say here...and energema is clearly used in the 1 Corinthians 12:10, but also "diakonia" is used in connection with the Ephesians 4 list in verse 4:12. I know it's not super direct just I find it interesting. I think these studies on personalities can be helpful and fun...but if a teaching that isn't clearly spelled out in scripture is made too Paramount or foundational it can be unhealthy and maybe that is what has happened here. People have different angles and interpretations on things that can be helpful, but maybe we need to stick with the main and plain with what we make our focus. Just some thoughts. I'm still learning.
Diakonia is actually used in Ephesians 4:12 in context to that list of gifts, energema in 1 Corinthians 12 list and charisma is used in Romans 12. But I hear you it's not clearly spelled out-- it is someone's angle on things. I don't know anything about Bill Gothard really I am only doing my own study about the redemptive gifts teaching and the gifts in the Scriptures and came upon your website and just wanted to share my own Greek word study. My heart goes out to anyone who has truly gone through spiritual abuse.