The 7 ‘P’ Inventory
As we look to help Hubs find an outward focus, we’re entering into a time of asking God for guidance. This discernment will involve prayer, pushing doors, exploring and testing.
One tool for this is the 7 ‘P’ Inventory. It involves looking at what we ‘have’ as a way of discovering where we might ‘go and give’.
The 7 ‘P’s are: Passion, Problem, Provision, Providence, Project, People and Places.
The idea is when we see what passions, problems, provision or providence we have, they might point us towards a project, people or place to do something.
The first step is to make a list under four headings.
We shouldn’t self-censor or worry about ‘wrong’ ideas… we don’t want to miss what God might be doing because we think it seems silly to us, just as the boy with the loaves and fishes still offered them to Jesus despite the hungry crowd of thousands.
Here’s an explanation of the ‘P’s to make lists for:
PASSION: What do you get excited about? What do you enjoy doing? What gives you energy?
PROBLEM: What do you see around you that bothers you? What do you wish someone would do something about? What problems are you personally experiencing?
PROVISION: What do you have? Especially, what are you thankful for? This could be physical ‘stuff’, but also could be other things that are in your life, like community? What resources do you have that not many other people have?
PROVIDENCE: What’s going on in your life that feels a bit random? It might be a person you’ve met or an opportunity that’s come up. What might feel a bit more significant than normal? Are there new opportunities opening up for you?
We’re going to see if the lists we male for these four ‘P’s help point us towards:
PROJECT: Is there a project to make a difference that fits with your lists? Or maybe you need to start one?
PEOPLE: Do a certain type, age or stage of person come out of your list? What could you do to be a blessing to these?
PLACE: Is there a particular place, or sort of place, that emerges? What could you do there?
Here is a downloadable template for making your lists, but you can just as easily do it on your phone or a spare piece of paper - the important thing is you just make the list!