How am I wired?

You were blessed with natural talents and gifts at birth. You have developed them over your entire life. What are these and how are they to be used? What drives and motivates you? You will investigate personality and behavioral styles. These characteristics are proven to be cornerstones of success in work and relationships. These insights give key pointers toward your God given purpose in life.

We have all heard the terms “Alpha Male”,”A-Type Personality”, and “Perfectionist.  What do these terms mean and more importantly, what personality type are you.  Our personalities began developing at about the age 3-5 years old.  Our brains starting making connections and applying meaning to every scenario we encountered.  How we handle and respond to situations today, in many cases, can be traced back to the neurological connections that our brains made as children.

How you are wired is directly related to how your brain works.  One of the great things about our brains is that it can be reprogrammed.  For the purpose of this lesson we will be discussing your current personality state and how you can use it to best serve the body of Christ. 

One of the most well known personality type indicators is the Myers Briggs Type Indicator.  One of the first things we must identify is your personality type along with your passion in order to make sure that you go down the correct path when it comes to your ministry.  Being able to correctly market your ministry begins with knowing where your strengths and weaknesses are.

In ministry it is very important to know what your weaknesses and strengths are.  If we look back at our lives it is very easy to see where we have excelled and where we have been lacking.  What is important to understand is that the personality that you have is a very important part of why God mad you.  Your unique personality, gifts, and talents are important to the Body of Christ.  Knowing how to properly apply them in the true spirit of love is what is needed.

Since the Myers Briggs Type indicator is rather long and also has a cost associated with it, we have found a way for you to still find out what your personality type is by taking the Carl Jung Typology assessment for free.  It is based on the Myers Briggs model and will give you some instant results right now.

The information below is taken from their website www.humanmetrics.com

According to Carl Jung's typology all people can be classified using the following three criteria:

• Extraversion - Introversion
• Sensing - Intuition
• Thinking - Feeling

Isabel Briggs Myers added the fourth criterion:

• Judging - Perceiving

The first criterion, Extraversion - Introversion defines the source and direction of energy expression for a person. The extravert has a source and direction of energy expression mainly in the external world while the introvert has a source of energy mainly in the internal world.

The second criterion, Sensing - INtuition defines the method of information perception by a person. Sensing means that a person believes mainly information he or she receives directly from the external world. Intuition means that a person believes mainly information he or she receives from the internal or imaginative world.

The third criterion, Thinking - Feeling defines how the person processes information. Thinking means that a person makes a decision mainly through logic. Feeling means that, as a rule, he or she makes a decision based on emotion.

The fourth criterion, Judging - Perceiving defines how a person implements the information he or she has processed. Judging means that a person organizes all his life events and acts strictly according to his plans. Perceiving means that he or she is inclined to improvise and seek alternatives.

The different combinations of the criteria determine sixteen possible types. Every type can be assigned a name (or formula) according to the first letters of the combination of the four criteria. For example:

    ISTJ
Introvert Sensing Thinking Judging or
   ENFP
Extravert INtuitive Feeling Perceiving

The scales of criteria are dichotomic (bipolar) e.g. Extraversion-Introversion (E-I) criterion ranges from 100% on E to 100% on I so it is 200% long and 0% meaning in the middle between 100% E and 100% I. By taking the Jung Typology Test, you will discover your type formula along with a quantitative measure of each of the 4 criteria (strengths of the preferences). Once formula and strengths of preferences are obtained, you can:
- Learn about your personality type by reading your type description. This may help you identify your life style in general as well as your style with respect to specific areas such as business, love, education, communications, conflicts
- Get the list of the most suitable career choices based on your personality, along with some educational institutions where you can receive a relevant degree or training - Jung Career Indicator™

What you will need to do now is answer the 72 personality questions on this site http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp and discover what your personality type is. 

Once you are presented with your answer you will need to write a 6-10 page paper in Arial 12 font double spaced.  In this paper you will need to include:

·         Your personality type with description.  Use the guide above but make it personal to you.

·         How your personality type will help you in ministry, how it can help a congregation, how it will help you reach your goals.

·         What are your talents and gifts

·         How your personality helps your specific talents and gifts

·         How your personality may be a challenge to you exhibiting all the fruits of the Spirit.  What will you have to pay close attention to because of your personality?