Embracing Spiritual Gifts

By Adria DiCapua. Pendle Hill Pamphlets (number 490), 2024. 29 pages. $8.50/paperback or eBook.

Spiritual gifts, both the recognition of them and ministry facilitated by them, are foundational to my own understanding of Quaker ecclesiology and practical theology, so I was excited to read this new Pendle Hill pamphlet by Adria DiCapua, a lawyer and mediator whose ministry within the Friends movement involves teaching and writing about traditional Friends faith, practice, and ministry. On a complex topic, DiCapua has created a primer that is clear, concise, and accessible to a broad range of Quakers. In Embracing Spiritual Gifts, she encourages Quaker meetings to better understand the diversity of spiritual gifts present among their members and then foster those gifts within the worshiping community.

DiCapua relies primarily on Ephesians 4:11–13 (though other Scriptures are also referenced throughout):

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (NIV)

When substituting “shepherds” for “pastors,” the gifts listed in this passage conveniently form an acronym and have become known as the APEST framework (a model that was popularized by Christian thought leader and author Alan Hirsch in the 2000s).

DiCapua argues that the recognition and nurturing of these spiritual gifts will result in “powerful ministry; tender outreach; generous service; and loving, responsible relationships.” Failure to do so will bring a multitude of negative outcomes, including “unresolved conflict, pervasive frustration, and the ultimate destruction of our communities.” The goal is a meeting whose members recognize, nurture, and encourage each other’s spiritual gifts, as well as any public ministry actuated by these gifts.

DiCapua defines each gift in its own brief section that includes a secondary Scripture passage, concrete examples of the gift in action, potential blind spots of those with the gifting, and the gift’s value to a Quaker worshiping community. For example, DiCapua describes shepherds as having “a special concern for ensuring that those in the community feel they are welcome, safe, and cared for.” And she warns that a “shepherd might be so concerned about maintaining a harmonious community that they may not know how to respond to attitudes and behaviors that undermine the foundation of Quaker community.” Sometimes she names a historical Quaker who embodies a particular gifting, such as Mary Fisher, who was an evangelist: “She sailed to Barbados in gospel ministry, accompanied by Ann Austin, another Quaker preacher. By the end of Fisher’s trip, the lieutenant governor of the island had become a convinced Friend.”

The pamphlet also provides guidance for the nurturing of spiritual gifts, primarily through the recognition and naming of gifts in others (such as nominating someone because their gifting aligns with the position, rather than “we figured you wouldn’t say no”). If a worshiping community discerns a person’s giftings are part of God’s call to public ministry, DiCapua advises that the community must be willing “to support the ministry financially and logistically, as well as spiritually.”

At some points in this pamphlet, I would have appreciated a more expansive explanation of her argument. For instance, she doesn’t state the reason why she interprets Ephesians 4:11 as a list of gifts (a function or purpose) rather than a list of offices (ministry positions), as many other Christians view it. To me, interpreting the list as gifts lends a distinctly Quaker perspective to the discussion, one that removes the presupposition that these are structured ministry positions prescribed by Scripture.

Nevertheless, DiCapua deserves praise for providing a brief, accessible, and practical resource. Her approach aims to be inclusive by incorporating both an unprogrammed Friends context and an authoritative treatment of Scripture. Some Friends will find familiar examples taken from unprogrammed worship, while others may connect with her consistent use of Scripture throughout. All readers will benefit from her challenge to recognize, welcome, and nurture the fullness of God’s spiritual gifts in themselves and others.

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Derek Brown is president of Barclay College in Haviland, Kans. A recorded Friends minister, he lives with his wife and two daughters in Haviland, where they are members of Haviland Friends Church. His latest book, American Christian Programmed Quaker Ecclesiology: A Foundational Model for Future Empirical and Confessional Approaches (Brill), was published in early 2024.