Compare · The test
Spiritual gifts tests compared: GiftWell beside Lifeway, Team Ministry, SHAPE and the free inventories
How GiftWell's spiritual gifts test differs from the Lifeway Spiritual Gifts Survey, Team Ministry, SHAPE, the UMC and CRC inventories, GiftsTest.com and other free tests, on length, the gifts measured, how the questions are written, how results are shown, and what happens after.
Checked 20 October 2026. Prices and features are from each vendor's own pages on that date. Where a page does not mention something, this says so rather than guessing.
The tests on this page
Every test here is one a church might hand out on a Sunday. Prices and formats are from each maker's own pages, checked 20 October 2026.
| Test | Maker | Length | Gifts | How the result is shown | Cost to take |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GiftWell | GiftWell (began at RockPoint Church, Newberg, Oregon) | about 60 statements, about 10 minutes | 9 | bands with a ±2 margin drawn, in Romans 12 order | free |
| Lifeway Spiritual Gifts Survey | Lifeway | 80 statements on a 1 to 5 scale | 16 | self-scored totals out of 25, bar graph drawn by hand | free printable PDF |
| Team Ministry Spiritual Gifts Survey | ChurchGrowth.org | 108 questions | 9 | bar graph of scores with the dominant gifts named | free online |
| SHAPE | Saddleback's framework, in many versions | varies by version; one online version uses 72 gift statements | varies | a short list of gifts beside heart, abilities, personality and experiences | free to paid, by version |
| Spiritual Gifts Assessment Inventory | Discipleship Ministries (United Methodist Church) | 80 questions | 20 | five gifts emailed in weighted order | free |
| Discover Your Gifts | Christian Reformed Church | not stated on the page we checked | 20 | results emailed | free |
| GiftsTest.com | Rock Church, San Diego | not stated on their about page | not stated | a private scores screen | free |
| SpiritualGiftsTest.com | SpiritualGiftsTest.com | not stated on the pages we checked | grouped into four colour-coded categories | a chart | free to take |
| Pastor Center and Spiritual Gifts Plus | Pastor Center / Spiritual Gifts Plus | 112 questions including a DISC section | 24 and 26 | "top five gifts" with Scripture references, plus a DISC breakdown | taken inside a church's paid subscription |
"Not stated" means the maker's page we read does not say. It does not mean the test lacks it.
Length and time
GiftWell asks about 60 statements and most people finish in about ten minutes on a phone, with progress saved on the device so a person can stop at the sermon and finish in the car. There is no account to create.
The Lifeway survey is 80 statements, the Methodist inventory 80 questions, Team Ministry 108, and the Pastor Center and Spiritual Gifts Plus tests 112 (38 of those are personality items). One online SHAPE version states 30 to 60 minutes.
Length is not accuracy. A survey with five statements per gift gives each gift a score out of 25, which is enough to tell gifts apart when the statements are good. More statements mostly add more of the same, and people answer the last twenty with less care than the first twenty.
Which gifts are measured
GiftWell scores nine gifts: the seven in Romans 12 (prophecy, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading, mercy) plus administration and hospitality. The gifts of the Spirit from 1 Corinthians 12 are not scored. A church that wants them can turn on an optional third part that maps them by a person's own experience, stored only with separate consent.
The other tests cover more: 16 (Lifeway), 20 (Methodist, Christian Reformed), 24 (Pastor Center) or 26 (Spiritual Gifts Plus). Longer lists usually mix the Romans 12 gifts with the 1 Corinthians 12 gifts and sometimes with roles from Ephesians 4, such as apostle or evangelist, which GiftWell treats separately in a short second part.
If your church teaches that tongues, healing or miracles are gifts to be measured on a scale, a longer list will serve you better than GiftWell will. If you would rather keep those out of a scored test, nine is the point.
How the questions are written
The GiftWell statements describe things that have happened, mostly within the past year: who people come to, what you did when a need appeared, what you volunteered for. Statements about self-image ("I am a natural leader") are avoided because people answer them with the person they hope to be. The research on this is on why we ask what we ask.
The Lifeway survey's own instructions describe its items as a mix of "concrete actions, descriptive traits, and statements of belief". The older inventories that many free tests descend from include items that read oddly now; one scored "I tend to have few or no close friends" toward the gift of prophecy.
No published spiritual gifts inventory, GiftWell included, has the reliability and validity evidence that a clinical instrument would carry. One 2013 review of gift inventories concluded they are best used as conversation starters. GiftWell is built on that view: the test opens the conversation, and the follow-up list is where the church has it.
How results are shown
A score out of 25 from five statements is honest to within about two points either way. Most tests hide that. They print the gifts in order and the person reads "third" as meaning something, when a two-point gap is noise.
GiftWell draws the margin. Every gift within three points of the highest score is in the lead band, which usually holds two to four gifts. The next gift, if it is within two points of the lowest lead gift, is named "at the edge". Inside a band the gifts sit in Romans 12 order and then alphabetically, so no ranking can be recovered. Bands, not a ranking.
The other formats, as the makers describe them: Lifeway, a hand-drawn bar graph of totals; Team Ministry, a bar graph with dominant gifts; the Methodist inventory, five gifts emailed in weighted order; Pastor Center and Spiritual Gifts Plus, a "top five"; SpiritualGiftsTest.com, a chart in four colour-coded categories. We did not find a drawn margin of error on any other maker's public pages.
What happens after
Most free tests end at the results screen or an email. The person has a list and the church has nothing, unless the person forwards it.
A GiftWell result goes two places at once. The person keeps their own page, can ask a friend to confirm what they see, and can take a 90-day serving experiment in a team that needs their gifts. The church's team sees the result in a follow-up list with the person's own words, whether they consented to contact, and which serving teams need those gifts. A pastor marks the conversation as it happens.
Of the tests on this page, only the ones sold to churches (SpiritualGiftsTest.com, Pastor Center, Spiritual Gifts Plus, ServeWire's SHAPE) report to a dashboard. The free inventories do not, by design.
Where another test is the better choice
- You want the 1 Corinthians 12 gifts scored on the same scale as the rest: the Methodist, Christian Reformed, Pastor Center or Spiritual Gifts Plus lists cover 20 or more gifts.
- You want paper. The Lifeway survey is a PDF a person can score with a pencil, and that is a real virtue in a room with no phones.
- You want a personality profile in the same sitting: Team Ministry, SHAPE and the Pastor Center test bundle one.
- Your church already teaches SHAPE and has years of results: keep the framework. GiftWell can import SHAPE and homegrown results on the Growing plan, but the teaching is yours.
- Your church management system already has a test built in, such as Rock RMS, and you are content with its results page.
Where GiftWell is the better choice
- You want people to finish. Ten minutes on a phone from a QR code in the bulletin, with no account to make.
- You want results that tell the truth about their own precision, so that a pastor and a person talk about two or three gifts instead of a number three.
- You want behaviour statements, because what a person did in the past year predicts what they will do next year better than what they think of themselves.
- You want the result to reach your team on the same day, with the person's own words and consent, inside your serving teams.
- You want it on your own website, in your colours, or on your own subdomain, and never on a GiftWell address you did not choose.
Questions people ask
Which spiritual gifts test is the most accurate?
None has the kind of evidence a clinical test carries, including GiftWell. A 2013 review of gift inventories found little published reliability or validity work and recommended using them as conversation starters. The honest difference between tests is whether they admit their precision. GiftWell draws a two-point margin on every result; the others on this page print a ranked list or a bar graph without one.
How long is the GiftWell spiritual gifts test?
About 60 statements, about ten minutes on a phone. Progress is saved on the device, so a person can stop and come back. There is no account to create and nothing to download.
How many spiritual gifts does GiftWell measure?
Nine: the seven in Romans 12 plus administration and hospitality, each with five statements scored out of 25. A short second part gives a first look at Ephesians 4 leanings. An optional third part, which a church turns on, maps the gifts of the Spirit by experience and is stored only with separate consent.
Is the GiftWell test free?
Yes, for the person taking it, always. A church's first 50 people are free as well, with no card to enter. Paid plans start at $100 a year for 150 people and are priced by people assessed, never by leader seat.
Can a church keep using the Lifeway survey or SHAPE and still use GiftWell?
Yes. The Growing plan imports SHAPE and homegrown results so earlier work lands in the same follow-up list, and the assessment builder lets a church add its own statements. Many churches simply run GiftWell for new people and keep the old results where they are.
Does GiftWell rank my gifts?
No. Every gift within three points of your highest score is in your lead band, and inside the band gifts sit in Romans 12 order, then alphabetically. A two-point gap on a 25-point scale is within the test's own margin, so GiftWell does not pretend it is an order.
See the result for yourself
Ten minutes on your phone, then the pastor's view of your own result in a demo church. If it fits, your first 50 people are free and there is no card to enter.
This page as Markdown, for notes or an AI assistant. Every GiftWell feature named here is explained in the documentation.