Theory of Multiple Intelligences
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The implications to a church that acknowledges, engages, and empowers people through multiple intelligences are not only biblical, but also can be extraordinarily effective.
Every individual has a unique intelligence profile
The article describes how typical IQ tests and SAT’s are too narrow in their evaluative scope. It goes as far as saying that many individuals who are outside of what standardized tests look for are “the chief casualties of the single-minded, single-funneled approach to the mind”. The article broadens the scope of intelligence to “the ability to solve problems and to fashion products”, listing seven different types including, the traditional linguistic intelligence and logical-mathematical intelligence, but also, spatial intelligence, musical intelligence, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, and intrapersonal intelligence.
This is closely tied to the biblical idea of being uniquely created as God’s workmanship, with purpose in mind, and distinct spiritual gifting. The local church needs to work hard at redefining what it means to be human through the eyes of God, acknowledging that every individual is an original in their makeup. It has been a great tragedy within the church as we have ignored the uniqueness of many and exalted certain intelligences over others such as oral communication or worshiping through music. Understanding that every person can have varying level of intelligences can help transform even the marks of what we see as a healthy follower of Jesus.
One idea to further engage this in a congregation may be to begin by teaching and preaching on the various gifts, strengths, talents, and intelligences that God has uniquely placed within individuals. Quite often people don’t know how to affirm others because they do not know what they ought to be looking for. A box can be made available every gathering for people to specifically affirm the intelligences that they see in others. Rather than computing each individuals intelligence and inputting it into a database, this offers a much more organic and personal approach that gives direction for exploration without etching anything in stone. In this model the entire community has the opportunity to be “assessment specialists”
Unique intelligences necessitates more diverse paths for learning
The article states that there is a “natural development trajectory of an intelligence”. A progression from patterning, to developing a symbol system, to a notational system, to vocational and avocational pursuits is described. However what the article is implying is that quite often our educational institutions and by extension our churches are often getting in the way of this progression. People are pushed into certain paradigms for learning that they are not ‘intelligent’ in and left underachieving and frustrated.
Despite what many of our churches claim, the reality is the church primarily advocates a single form of intelligence in transformation and that is through the words that come from the pulpit. This may be because Christ is the Word, but might it be that we have forgotten how the Word became flesh, living and dynamic? If linguistic-intelligence accounts for only one of seven types, than this drastically needs to change. Part of the backlash against changing this I find is often in the name of effectiveness in connecting with the masses, but if the mandate of the gospel is life transformation, and it’s simply not happening through the preaching monologue, the church must make the efforts to change.
A helpful and effective approach to this can be through mentoring by intelligences. Having mentors who are further along in engaging and utilizing their intelligences for the Kingdom of God can be extremely beneficial as would be able to both communicate and engage their protégés at an optimal level. Although the church may not be able to facilitate life change through all seven intelligences, they can have mentors who help translate these concepts into a person’s native intelligence. On a more practical level, I would recommend that these relationships be time-bound, as mentors would have the capacity to see if this is really the area of intelligence that their mentee should be focusing on and give room for people to experiment and explore different areas of intelligence on their spiritual journey. A solid network of mentors can become what the article describes as “curriculum brokers”.
Expanding opportunities for contribution for multiple intelligences
“If we can mobilize the spectrum of human abilities, not only will people feel better about themselves and more competent; it is even possible that they will also feel more engaged and better able to join the rest of the world community in working for the broader good”. This is an extraordinary thought that the church must continually be thinking through. Could it be that many people are not engaged in service through the church simply because the range of opportunities is far too limited in scope?
Pressing individuals to only a few molds of how to serve God within the church is reminiscent of 1 Corinthians 12 where Paul is arguing that the distinct parts of the body of God remain distinct in the ways in which they serve. I can only conclude that many churches have a limited number of possible roles to contribute through because the church does not see a need for a greater variance of tasks. It causes me to think that possibly the roles are limited because the mission of the church has been limited. Otherwise, it would desperately need and honor every member to serve in the way in which they were crafted and gifted by God.
A simple step towards beginning to broaden the utilization of peoples’ intelligences can be through partnering with existing social service organizations within the neighborhood. This is similar to what are described as ‘community’ brokers that help connect people’s gifting with certain roles and vocations. This would not only be a step towards expanding the kingdom of God as Christians are involved in serving the community, but it would also provide a plethora of experts in different fields that may already know how to better leverage people with different intelligences.
