“Matthew 25 tells us that some have five talents, some have two talents, and others have one talent. At the very least, we are the one talented ones. A saint cannot say that he has not received a talent. We have to strongly stress this one thing. We have to convince every saint among us that they cannot say that they do not have any gift and cannot do anything. This is a lie. According to the biblical truth, every believer has a gift. You may have the smallest gift, but you still have a gift. Everyone is talented; everyone is gifted.

Of course, Ephesians 4:11 speaks of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers. The gifted persons mentioned here are those who have been endued with a special gift. But verse 7 says, “To each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” Each one includes every member of the Body of Christ, each of whom has received a general gift. This shows that everyone is a gifted person and is responsible to use his gift. The Brethren did not like to use the title elders, so they used the term responsible. This is a wrong term because every believer is responsible. Who is not a responsible brother or sister? We have to be careful not to use the term responsible brothers, because all of us are gifted and are responsible before the Lord to use our gifts for the building up of the Body of Christ.”

(Basic Lessons on Service, chapter 13)