Frenquently Asked Questions about TheSHAPE
WhatsNew:
New Approach, Same Purpose
March 2, 2012
Thank you for visiting our new web site. It is our hope that the new look and the presentation of our ministry is appealing to you. We invite you to comment on our web site and any part of our ministry by going to our contact page and leaving a comment.
Our ministry, coaching/consulting with churches, has not changed. We have made some adjustments in how we go about approaching church coaching/consulting. 
We have prioritized three coaching/consulting areas--preparation (a move toward leadership readiness), leadership (a move toward the search and calling of a pastor), and ministry (a move toward church health which includes coaching/consulting in how a church experiences intervention of the church life-cycle). These priorities are the result of the experiences with dozens of churches and pastors.
Current News:
Church Health and Renewal
March 2, 2012
We are excited about what God is doing world-wide in developing healthy churches. Many churches are experiencing a need for renewal. Those familiar with the church life-cycle know that when a church beings to plateau or decline intervention is necessary for the church to reverse the trends.
MinistryConnect is committed to helping churches through coaching/consulting experience renewed vitality and growth. Many pastors and church leaders are not equiped or trained to lead the church through this renewal process. If you are interested in having professional assistance in leading the church through this process, contact MinistryConnect by e-mail at verlyn@ministryconnect.net or by phone at 573.690.5562.
RecentEvents:
Chillicothe FBC Calls Senior Pastor
January 20, 2012
First Baptist Church of Chillicothe, Missouri, called Rob Hurtgen as Senior Pastor.
MinistryConnect had the privilege of serving as coach to the Pastor Search Committee through the entire process. God has blessed the church with a warm and gifted pastor and we are grateful for the privilege of serving the church.
Frequently Asked Questions
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- Is TheSHAPE© considered psychological tests or assessments?
- Why don't you use the more objective tests?
- How many different forms of TheSHAPE© exist?
- I am uncomfortable with using the Internet for any reason. We don't even have e-mail. How can I do this?
- Why don't you use the spiritual gifts listed in the Bible?
- What are the best uses of TheSHAPE©?
- I am wondering what it means in the "Ministry Gifts and Abilities" section, Section I of the tool, when all my gifts are Moderate or Strong.
- I just don't understand the point of the Values section. Help me!
- Some of scores in Section III [Ministry Roles, Leadership, Personality and Age-Group Preferences] seem fairly close. Why is that?
- Some assessments I have taken over the years do not have the same results as the SHAPE tool I took, especially in the Personality section. This bothers me that they are not the same.
- Why did you put the "Experiences of Life" section in the TheSHAPE©? I really struggled with completing this section since I consider it confidential information.
- As we work on TheSHAPE©, can we go back and change our answers or open our already-completed assessment and change some answers?
- Can I retake this instrument again?
- My results do not seem to reflect what I just know to be true. What could have gone wrong?
- How can this tool be used in our church?
- How long does it take to get my results back from MinistryConnect?
- I am a member of the clergy who has taken the TheSHAPE©. I am wondering if this would be a useful tool to place with my resume in seeking a place of ministry.
- Who will see my TheSHAPE© Report?
- As a minister this does not seem to help me know what job in the church or ministry I would be best suited for. How can this tool help me know whether I would make a good senior pastor or youth pastor or a missionary?
- Is TheSHAPE© available in other languages?
Do you have another question that is not cover here?
1. Is TheSHAPE© considered psychological tests or assessments??
- No, they are not. These assessments are in the area of the social sciences and are considered a subjective self-assessment. They are not to be confused with objective assessments, such as, the Meyers Briggs, Taylor-Johnson Temperament Analysis, Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey, Post-Traumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale, the 16PF, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, and others. There are no negative findings or "areas for improvement" in the SHAPE series that we find in more scientific and objective inventories.
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2. Why don't you use the more objective tests?
- Because the team at MinistryConnect is not in the professional counseling business although we both have done and do pastoral counseling. The SHAPE products are designed to help believers find their best fit in the life of the church based on their gifts and abilities, their values, their age-group preferences, their preferred role in ministry, their leadership style, personality and the experiences they have had in their lives which God can use in ministry. There is a different purpose for the SHAPE pieces than for psychological pieces. Our pieces are more in the realm of spiritual gifts inventories which are readily available and have been used by churches for years.
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3. How many different forms of TheSHAPE© exist?
- There are two forms only. The first is the Internet; the other is a Manual Edition. For more information on how to access either of those and the differences, please see the website, www.ministryconnect.net
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4. I am uncomfortable with using the Internet for any reason. We don't even have e-mail. How can I do this?
- Lay persons do not have to use the Internet or e-mail to participate. A leader at your church can input your information once you have completed the Manual Edition and can receive the report and even print it out for you.
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5. Why don't you use the spiritual gifts listed in the Bible?
- First of all, most theologians believe that the lists we find in the New Testament in several different passages are not necessarily meant to be inclusive of all gift's God gives to believers to build up the Body of Christ. We have also found in our ministry over the years that just using the gifts as worded in the Bible, generally believers still do not know what those mean to their personal ministry in the church. [for example, prophecy or discernment]. We like the definition used by Christian Schwarz in his work, The Three Colors of Ministry : A spiritual gift is a special ability that God gives, according to his grace, to each member of the body of Christ to be used for the development of the church .
- What we have tried to do is be as specific as possible about gifts that can be used in Kingdom work. We have placed sentence descriptions in the accompanying Interpretation Guide helping individuals to understand the gift we have listed. Our list of gifts and abilities is not exhaustive, but we believe there are enough identified that almost everyone can find and use at least one of their best gifts for ministry.
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6. What are the best uses of TheSHAPE?
- We believe they are useful in two areas. The SHAPE tools describe many different aspects of who you are. We hope this helps you understand yourself as someone whom God has gifted to serve in a particular place in the church. MinistryConnect believes that until you discover how God made you and how God leads you into a ministry, you will not feel completely fulfilled. MinistryConnect created the SHAPE series to help people just like you find a fulfilling ministry. The second use of the SHAPE relates to the church. As a believer participating in the life of the church, you need to find ministry opportunities that are unique to your SHAPE. Churches can find this tool to be an easy way to invite you and others into service with your gifts, abilities and values. More energy and enthusiasm occurs when a person's unique life provides an avenue for a better fit in church life. As Rick Warren says in his great book, The Purpose-Driven Life, "The better the fit, the more successful you will be." [p.148]
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7. I am wondering what it means in the "Ministry Gifts and Abilities" section, Section I of the tool, when all my gifts are Moderate or Strong.
- Every assessment has some limitations, and every person approaches a tool like this in his/her own way. We have tried to be very descriptive with the use of more user-friendly English so that almost everyone knows the meaning of each word. If the Gifts and Abilities are all identified as mostly Strong or High Moderate, then perhaps you may have had much responsibility for many things and have picked up experience and developed skills that others have not had opportunity to do so. It is also possible that you are dealing with a Superman or Superwoman issue! There is no single human being that has Strong Gifts in 34 arenas of life. The ability to accurately assess your gifts is important so that one is "not everything to everybody" in ministry or in the life of the church. You had an opportunity to choose from "1" to "7" in the strength of that gift. It is highly improbable that one can honestly choose a "6," or "7" in all areas. People who have somewhat of a mix of Non-Gifts, Lesser Gifts, Moderate Gifts and Strong Gifts may be able to more accurately assess who they really are than someone who has many in only one of the categories. Please re-read page 4 of the Interpretation Guide which has more information.
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8. I just don't understand the point of the Values section. Help me!
- Thanks for asking. Be sure you have read pp. 8-9 of the Interpretation Guide that explains in some depth what we mean by values. Values are what you care about, and they are what drive you. For example, say you highly value "Challenges" in your life as identified in the SHAPE tools. If you have a ministry position where you come to work everyday, do the same job, sit in the same office, no one asks your opinion on how to solve a problem or break down a barrier toward a solution, it doesn't make any difference if you can do the ministry position or not. Before long, YOU WILL NOT LIKE THIS MINISTRY AT ALL! You will be looking for something that provides a "challenge" because that is a high value to you in ministry. We're just saying that you will want to have a ministry that provides challenges since solving them is what really gets you up in the morning. Is this clearer?
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9. Some of scores in Section III [Ministry Roles, Leadership, Personality and Age-Group Preferences] seem fairly close. Why is that?
- More than likely the reason is that you have the ability to move from one area to the other with great ease. For example, if in your "Role in Project/Process" section, you have very close scores in both "Visionary" and "Designer," you are able to do well in creating the picture of where you need to go in the process or project. You see it out there. You are also adept at drawing or thinking up the next steps to get it going.
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10. Some assessments I have taken over the years do not have the same results as the SHAPE tool I took, especially in the Personality section. This bothers me that they are not the same.
- We have a number of persons who like to talk about this. Because we are living human beings, we change like everything else that lives in our universe. Aspects of our personality change over the years as well. Sometimes this occurs when significant or traumatic life events occur or being in a job or ministry position helps us learn some new skills. Sometimes parts of our personality change as we age. For example, a person who is a high Director in leadership approach may find the direct approach does not work as well with adults as with children or teens the person may have taught in school. With some coaching and a persistent, positive attitude to "tone it down," he or she learns to bring people along in the church in different ways that are not so direct. Another example is that of people who early in their life were fairly passive and took directions always and without question. As they enter the adult years, they find confidence in their decision-making, and even start assuming a more proactive attitude in their own lives. As a matter of fact, if you would take TheSHAPE© perhaps ten years from today, you may see other changes from the one you have just taken. This tool is a picture, a snapshot, of who you are at the time you take this as reported by you.
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11. Why did you put the "Experiences of Life" section in the TheSHAPE©? I really struggled with completing this section since I consider it confidential information.
- We understand that this Section IV holds information that may trigger a lot of emotion. We go back to what Rick Warren wrote in his chapter, "Understanding Your Shape," in The Purpose-Drive Life . [pp. 241-248] Warren says that God allows the experiences of your life for the "purpose of molding you." There are all types of life experiences-family, educational, vocational, spiritual, ministry and Warren says many of these may be "painful." God can use these painful experiences to help ready you for ministry.
- As the instructions to Section IV say, you do not have to complete anything in that section if you choose not to. However, we would strongly encourage you to reconsider if you are choosing not to answer that section. It is very important for you to heal from life's painful experiences. If you have lost a loved one recently, you are not ready to use that experience in ministry until you have moved to a place where you can walk with other people through their fresh pain.
- Finally, as you read this, you may realize that there are some things that have not been dealt with in your life that you know needs attention. It is never too late to become healthy! Pick up your phone today and call your pastor or a Christian counselor who specializes in the area of your struggles. You can get names of counselors from your pastor or another professional you trust. MinistryConnect has access to a counseling ministry [under "Links" on our website] with which we would be happy to connect you. Please feel free to call us for additional resources.
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12. As we work on TheSHAPE©, can we go back and change our answers or open our already-completed assessment and change some answers?
- Unfortunately, the technology we use with the development of this tool does not allow a person to go back and "undo" or "do over" once the person has completed the assessment. We ask you to take some "down time" to complete this in as accurate way as you can.
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13. Can I retake this instrument again?
- Of course, you can take it as many times as you like, but we would encourage you not to do that unless you have serious errors in your assessment. For example, if you misread directions and you reversed the numbers in the "Experiences of Life" section, this can provide very inaccurate information. Maybe you selected a "4" that meant you had the experience and did not want to use this in a ministry at this time [This should be a number "1."] Perhaps your Gifts section is reversed as well. This should not happen if you will read instructions very carefully before beginning./li>
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14. My results do not seem to reflect what I just know to be true. What could have gone wrong?
- It is possible that human error in providing you the final report is the cause. Please contact the MinistryConnect office, and we will work together to be sure. It could be that you may have misread or misinterpreted what was being asked. Your scores are based on what you chose. Maybe the wording of the items led you to believe to answer one way when it was asking something else. Be sure you realize what was being asked and maybe what was not asked.
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15. How can this tool be used in our church?
- Because we believe the biblical teaching that gifts are to be used for the building up of the Body of Christ, MinistryConnect has created a Church Program that contains the information for all the persons who have taken the SHAPE instrument. You can see a description of this program on our website, www.ministryconnect.net . In other words, an Equipping Pastor/church staff can search in the church's database for one or more persons who feel called to work with preschoolers, have the ability to influence others well to make a good decision, and have experience with single parents. We would be happy to visit with you more about this.
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16. How long does it take to get my results back from MinistryConnect?
- MinistryConnect does everything it can to return your report within 48 hours maximum. If you have not heard anything in three days, please e-mail info@ministryconnect.net, or call the offices of MinistryConnect, 573.291.9800 or 573.690.5562.
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17. I am a member of the clergy who has taken the TheSHAPE©. I am wondering if this would be a useful tool to place with my resume in seeking a place of ministry.
- In fact, when churches are looking for staff members through MinistryConnect, the final candidates complete a profile plus the TheSHAPE© . That's how important we think this information is to church search committees. It doesn't make any difference if it is the senior pastor or a youth minister, this is very important information to understanding how the new member will work and relate to others. Moreover, we have had entire church staff teams who have taken this instrument as a means of creating relationships and synergy to perform better as a team.
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18. Who will see my TheSHAPE© Report?
- Since your report is created at MinistryConnect, we have it in our database. However, that report is not accessible to anyone on the Internet nor is it sold or sent or displayed for anyone else to see. That would be a violation of our ethics as a ministry organization. Of course, we send you a copy of the report which you may do with as you like.
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19. As a minister this does not seem to help me know what job in the church or ministry I would be best suited for. How can this tool help me know whether I would make a good senior pastor or youth pastor or a missionary?
- First of all this tool is not designed to do that, and, quite frankly, we don't know of an instrument today that is designed to do that. Why not? We think it is because the roles that God would lead us to in Kingdom life ministry are many. They are also called by different names in various traditions. Also, as we have learned from other organizations, one can have the same gifts and abilities and values and basic personality and do absolutely two varied ministry roles. There are too many variables, and the greatest reason of all is that just making a decision off a tool like TheSHAPE may tend to leave God out of the decision-making process. Throughout the Old and New Testaments God chose the person and called him or her to the task even when by outward appearances people thought the person was not suited for the task. Finally, what we do for God in ministry may and often does change over the years as do other parts of our lives. This is natural and part of the "all by itself" principle as described by Christian Schwarz in the Natural Church Development process. A Christian counselor or trusted pastor can help you on your journey to discovering what God wants you to do with all that God has given you.
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20. Is TheSHAPE© available in other languages?
- Not at the present time. English is the only language available. However, we are exploring the possibilities of making TheSHAPE© available in other languages.
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