Discover Purpose
Discover your purpose
Part of our mission statement at NECC is to help you discover purpose. We believe with all our heart that Scripture teaches God has designed you with intention (Ps. 139:13-16; Jer. 1:4-9; 1 Cor. 12:4-31). Your gifts, personality, and temperament are designed, redemptive, and valuable to other people — we need each other. Take a look at the tools below to help identify how God has shaped you, and how you might make a difference in this world for God's glory.
Questions
Does this really matter to God?
- Is my personality valuable to God and others?
- Yes. God has uniquely created and shaped you — nature and nurture — to be the person that you are. We recommend the Enneagram and Myers-Briggs personality tests as tools for introspection; understanding who you are is an important first step in healing, wholeness, and meaningful work in this community. We also recommend CliftonStrengths, a paid strengths-based inventory, to help determine where you thrive. It's about what's right, not what's wrong, about you.
- Does God work through me?
- Yes. Each of us has been given gifts of God's Spirit — "manifestations of God's Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:7) — to build other people up. No one's gifts are less or more valuable than others; we all need each other, which is why being part of a local church body matters so much. Take some time to discover how you best connect with God through Spiritual Pathways, and how God manifests Himself through you through Spiritual Gifts.
Take a Test
Tools to help you discover how you're shaped
Free (or in one case, paid) tools other NECC members have found helpful — not required, just useful starting points.
Enneagram
A system of personality describing people in terms of nine types, each with their own motivations, fears, and internal dynamics.
Myers-Briggs
An introspective self-report questionnaire indicating psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions.
CliftonStrengths
A starting point for self-discovery in strengths-based development, built on the Clifton StrengthsFinder.
Spiritual Pathways
Rate your response to a series of statements, and this online tool reveals your Spiritual Pathway.
Spiritual Gifts Test
A free, brief, but thorough multiple-choice survey to help you discern the spiritual gifts God has given you.
Keep Going
Take what you learn and put it to work
Find a small group or serve team where your gifts fit — that's the whole point.