Builder
Congrats on taking the first step in discovering your destiny! The Ministry Gift Assessment reveals your Ministry Gift. We also call it your Destiny Orientation (D.O.). It’s your core trait or design, and it influences the basic way you relate to your world.
General Orientation Traits
You are a Builder and have an apostolic orientation, based on the gift of apostle named in Ephesians 4:11, and have been “wired” by God to function in apostolic gifting, thinking and action. You have the potential to be a very effective leader, who sees the way things might be, how to make them happen and you lead the effort to do so.
You are a strategic thinker and leader who envisions new expressions—structures, groups, businesses, communities, etc.—and are able to assemble the right people, provisions and procedures to bring vision into reality. You are able to develop a plan and inspire, instruct and impart this plan to others to get the job done.
Builders tend to be leaders, visionaries, strategists, entrepreneurs, organizers and implementers. Most people with the apostolic orientation are able to function effectively in a wide variety of activities and are often seen as a “Jack-of-all-trades.”
You see the big picture as the most important thing and have the mentality that says, “Think big and don’t sweat the details!”
You are not merely concerned with results but with the way in which results are achieved. You are motivated to promote cultural values and priorities that keep your methods in line with your message. You are always looking for the most effective ways to mobilize and mentor others for meaningful service, maximum impact, and personal and professional multiplication. You are willing to take risks and invest heavily in hopes of establishing new enterprise or work among a new group or market.
You are most fulfilled and productive when you are launching new works such as a new business, project, ministry, community, church or group rather than maintaining an existing work. In fact, maintaining such groups may cause you frustration at times because you feel like you are not being “challenged” when you are not launching something new.
Issues
Although you pursue and expect excellence, your focus on the big picture may mean you miss important details that can turn into problems later. Builders need to have a variety of people with other gifts on their team in order to fill in the gaps and take care of the details.
Another thing to be aware of as a builder is the tendency for your commitment to your mission and vision to put purpose above people. If you are not careful, you can be utilitarian or a hard task-master in your approach to a job.
You can be vulnerable to feelings of anxiety as it relates to performance, and can be hard on yourself concerning feelings of powerlessness or unfruitfulness. As a result, watch out for the temptation to strive in unhealthy ways. It’s important to maintain a healthy respect for yourself and the process it takes to achieve greatness and to avoid pushing your team or motivating them mainly by anxiety and pressure. Remember that excellence is the goal in a given project, not perfection. It is good to have high expectations for your team and your project’s results in so far as you are able to support your team in their work and achievement of the outcome. It would be helpful for you to build a healthy, diverse, team of people who share your vision, and learn to empower them to add their unique gifts to the mix. Team plus task will produce fruitfulness.
The Builder in the Workplace
You are most alive in a workplace setting when you are able to drive the organization toward the fulfillment of missions, launch new projects or teams, or raise up new leaders who carry your same passion for fruitfulness. You are probably well-suited for a career as an entrepreneur or an upper level management/leadership role in any type of organization, corporate startup, or church planting endeavor. In business and social settings, you are often the one who is at the hub of gatherings and events, the one that the group looks to for direction and affirmation. You are usually the one who mobilizes the team and delegates responsibility to accomplish the purpose of the organization.
Church and Ministry Settings
In a ministry setting, builders are often key leaders who are able to envision heavenly plans and assemble people to become the “living stones” that create a “dwelling place for God in the Spirit.” (Eph. 2:22). Paul described himself as a “master builder” (1 Cor. 3) or a general contractor who assembled the workers, assigned their tasks and held the workers accountable for how they built. Additionally, apostolically oriented people often function as spiritual fathers and mothers, helping believers to discover their true identity and destiny in the Lord and provide insight into God’s Kingdom culture. They seek to get the Family of God to a place where they are able to fully reflect Jesus on the earth.
The apostolic individual will often have a unique ability to walk in supernatural wisdom and power, releasing the Body of Christ into healing, deliverance, signs, and wonders. Because of this natural affinity toward wisdom and understanding, it is important not to get to a point where you think you’ve “arrived”. It is a good idea to keep several close friends or family nearby who care about your success as an individual and are committed in providing honest feedback for your growth and long-term fruitfulness.
Relationship to Other Orientations
The apostle Paul tells us that the Church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ as the Chief Cornerstone. And in the next chapter, he describes how heavenly revelation is being revealed to and through these gifts. (Eph. 2:20 and 3:5) The Bible pairs apostolic gifting most with the prophetic gift. These two gifts often function like a “husband and wife team” in the family of God. In other words, these two orientations work together to find out what God is doing and then help to collaborate with Him here on Earth. These two gifts are a powerful start to fulfilling the prayer of Jesus: “Let your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” By nature, builders also work well with every other orientation. As an example, if destiny orientations were represented on the five fingers of your hand, the builder, or apostolic orientation would be like the thumb, easily interacting with the other fingers freely.
Biblical Example
The most pronounced example of an apostle in the New Testament is Paul. Not only was Paul responsible for starting churches among the Jews and the Gentiles, his missionary journeys introduced several nations to the Gospel of Jesus. He was an effective “father” to many spiritual “sons” as seen in his letters of both praise and correction. He knew how to be “all things to all people” because he had a heavenly vision for a people that went beyond what was visible in the short-term natural world. Paul’s love for planting churches and then turning them over to leaders in order to go out and plant again, makes him a prime example of a true builder.
You are made to pioneer and build. Go for it!