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Whether you are looking for team building, personal development, or women’s ministry ideas, check out how to use Enneagram numbers in your church ministry.

What’s Your Number?

I sat in a coffee shop in Carlsbad, CA, a few months ago when a young woman walked in to join her friends. Before she even sat, someone asked, “So, what’s your number?” And a conversation about the Enneagram ensued.

If you are wondering if you should jump on the Enneagram train, then here are a few reasons why you might want to take the leap.

  • It’s a big trend.
  • Everyone’s talking about it.
  • It could benefit your ministry.

But it’s really not new. Personality inventories & self-assessments have been used for generations in team building and for personal growth. Although they all have different emphases and varying validity, when used correctly, they can have far-reaching results.

Benefits Of The Enneagram And Other Personality Inventories

For your church ministry, personality inventories can:

For you as an individual, personality inventories can:

  • Identify your strengths
  • Help you understand others better
  • Give valuable insight to your stress reactions

Do We Really Need Another Personality Test?

My name is Laurie. I am a Relator/Activator, ENTJ Lion, in addition to being an Orange, Enterprising Crocodile with a High D, Result-Oriented Pattern.

Whew!

And, now (thanks to Enneagram!) … I’m also a “3 wing 2.”

When I first heard about The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery (by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile), I twitched a little.

You see, I’ve done lots of personality assessments. And I’ve done most of them more than once.

  • Myers Briggs (MBTI)
  • DISC
  • True Colors
  • Gary Smalley’s Lion-Otter-Beaver-Golden Retriever
  • StrengthsFinder
  • WAAI (Surviving Your Serengeti)

I experienced self-assessments in psychology classes, with multiple church staff, in women’s ministry, on a MOPS leadership team, in pre-marital counseling, at leadership retreats, and on my own.

I learned and grew from all of them. Each and every time.

What’s Unique About The Enneagram Personality Test?

As with all different inventories, the Enneagram also has a bit of a twist.

If you search for the origin, you’ll find a mix of disputed facts and theories. Some date back more than 4000 years.

Varying cultures. Religions. Generations. Continents. And a whole slew of Great Thinkers throughout history who developed and utilized the Enneagram system in various ways.

Most fans of the Enneagram say that although it looks complex, it’s very simple.

However, I’m not sure I agree with its simplicity.

One Basic Personality Plus A Whole Lot More

With this inventory, you identify a basic personality (one of nine) that is primarily influenced by inborn qualities that emerge through childhood.

According to the Enneagram, your basic personality does not change.

In addition to the basic personality, you also end up with a center and wings. Plus a direction of integration (growth) and a direction of disintegration (stress). Also part of the program is understanding your 3 instincts.

Does that sound simple to you? (After reading the book, doing 5 different Enneagram inventories, and a bit of researching, I’m still sorting it out.)

While I question its simplicity, there’s a lot to learn from the Enneagram if you can hang in there!

Note: If you want simple instead, check out True Colors and Lion-Otter-Beaver-Golden Retriever –– both insightful and fun! For more depth than those (and more money because it’s not free), check out StrengthsFinder.

Enneagram Growth & Stress Differentiations

I do appreciate the growth and stress differentiations in the Enneagram descriptions.

All in all, raising awareness of our own stress reactions can be a really healthy step in taking captive our thoughts (2 Corinthians 10:5) and being more in control of our responses.

Personality Inventories Are Fallible Tools

… And I still love them!

I love tools. Especially power tools.

And self-assessments are great tools to have in your tool belt.

They are invaluable in personal growth and can also be highly effective in team building.

However, just like when my jigsaw blade breaks, my shovel can’t break through caliche in my Tucson yard, and I can’t use my cordless drill to fix a plumbing leak.

… Inventories also are imperfect, fallible, and limited.

All Tools Are Imperfect, Fallible, & Limited

Even though I am a 3 wing 2, Relator/Activator, ENTJ, Lion, and an Orange, Enterprising Crocodile with a High D, Result-Oriented Pattern …

I’m so much more than that.

I’m also a complicated, deep-feeler who is a decisive leader. But genuinely longs for everyone to be happy. I walk a tension of being firm and gentle. I cry when people yell at me, and more than most people think. I’m passionate. I filter myself constantly. I’m harder on myself than anyone else. I smile through tears –– not because I’m fake, but because I’m in a constant state of, “God, help me feel your joy even if I’m not happy.” I’m also a disciple of Christ, striving to be more and more like Him. In the process of being transformed by His Spirit.

And all those assessments put together don’t show what God sees when He looks at me. (And they also will not show you what God sees in you.)

So we need to be thoughtful with personality inventories. And proceed with caution.

However, if we handle tools carefully, and put hearts before judgments, these tools can be life-changing!

Assessment Results Aren’t Always Accurate & Sometimes Change

I can confidently say that timing, mood, life stage, current relationships, health, and stressors all influence the results of inventories.

  • I took 5 different free online Enneagram assessments in the same evening and got 4 different basic personality numbers.
  • I took the StrengthsFinder Inventory twice a year apart (even though they tell you not to), and got different results.
  • With Myers-Briggs, even though I’m usually an ENTJ, I’m very close to the border on the I/E scale. Sometimes I end up with an INTJ assessment.

If this happens to you, it’s normal.

Once again, we just don’t fit in neat little boxes, do we?

5 Ways To Use The Enneagram In Church Ministry

Whether you are in women’s ministry, kids’ ministry, worship, or pastoring an entire church, there are multiple ways to use the Enneagram in church ministry.

Keep in mind, the Enneagram is a self-assessment tool and should never be used to diagnose or label others.

1. Use The Enneagram For Personal Development

Grow as a leader.

Read the book. Take the inventory. Journal. Reflect. Talk about it with your friends. Observe your own actions in light of what you are learning. Strive for your healthy self with God’s help.

2. Lead An Enneagram Workshop For Team Building

Lead a training workshop for your leadership or ministry team.

  • Get each person a copy of the book, The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery.
  • Have them read the first few chapters.
  • Take the inventory together.
  • Have each person share their results (give a time limit) and then answer these questions …
    • What were your results?
    • What did you resonate with?
    • Did anything surprise you?
    • Is God showing you anything new?
  • After each person shares, affirm the great things you see in them. If there is time, then invite others to do the same. Still focus on that one person. (Do not allow others to comment on negatives or challenges –– only positive traits.)
  • Have the next person share their results. And so on.
  • When sharing is complete, ask the team to share how this time might benefit the team in the future.
  • Finally, close the meeting with scripture and a devotion based on one of the scripture passages listed below.

3. Facilitate A 6-Week Small Group Exploring Enneagrams

Week 1: What is the Enneagram? Explain the history, philosophy, and how to use it.

Week 2: Do the inventory. Or even a variety of free Enneagram Inventories found online. (Emphasize the benefit of the tool while still recognizing it as fallible, imperfect, and limited.)

Week 3: Explore the Instinctive Center (Numbers 8, 9, & 1)

Week 4: Explore the Feeling Center (Numbers 2, 3, & 4)

Week 5: Explore the Thinking Center (Numbers 5, 6, & 7)

Week 6: Reflect on the Scriptures listed below. Study God’s view of His creations. Spend time affirming each person in the group.

Throughout Weeks 3-5: Encourage open ended questions, sharing, and reflection on results. What do you resonate with? Where do you find it incorrect? Is anything surprising? What are you learning?

Do not allow outside sharing on someone’s negatives or challenges. Each person can speak of their own negatives, but only affirming comments from others. Talking about negative points in others is unneeded and can be unintentionally hurtful.

4. Host An Enneagram Self-Discovery Event

Have an Enneagram Evening!

This could be an all-church event, a women’s event, a leadership event, or even a community event. Some ideas for extra fun:

  • Bring in a speaker.
  • Offer the inventory and do it on the spot.
  • Have some fun, Enneagram-themed mixers at tables.
  • Let your dramatic friends perform an Enneagram-themed skit.
  • Emphasize Enneagram as a tool: Limited but beneficial.
  • Conclude the Enneagram Evening with a call to use their new knowledge to help find their spot serving in ministry!

5. Plan An Enneagram-Themed Women’s Retreat

  • See ideas listed above in Hosting an Enneagram Evening Idea #4.
  • Base retreat workshops around ideas listed in 6-Week Small Group Idea #3. (above)
  • Hire an outside speaker for extra fun. (Me, if you like!)
  • Compile a simple retreat devotional book based on the scriptures below with space for journaling.

The Infallible, Completely Perfect, Limitless Word Of God

No matter what your results on any inventory and no matter how you feel about them, I want to leave you with the truth.

Unlike self-assessments which are fallible, imperfect, and limited, the Word of God is the opposite.

Here is the infallible, completely perfect, limitless truth about what God sees when He looks at you.

(Scriptures below are from the English Standard Version.)

Genesis 1:27

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Psalm 139:13-14

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

Matthew 10:29-31

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

1 Peter 2:9

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Romans 8:1

There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Isaiah 64:8

But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.

Ephesians 2:4-8

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.

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