Graced for service

How did ELS2025 equip the saints last month? By uniting the Elim family around five empowering God-given “graces”, says Mark Pugh. Chris Rolfe reports

Ephesians 4:11-13 says: “Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service so the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith.”

The apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic, pastoral and teaching ministries mentioned here were like Jesus’ parting gift to “equip the saints for service”, says Mark Pugh.

They are five keys to faith-building and outreach, yet they often go misunderstood and uncelebrated. That’s why, at last month’s ELS, the Elim family took time out to recognise and honour them together.

“We explored how we as a movement can release and express them in our lives, how we can honour them in one another in unity,” he says.

Graces

Before we go any further, it’s important to choose the right word to describe them, Mark says. “Gifts” or “graces” are both options, but he prefers “graces”.

“A gift is something that’s given to someone then it’s theirs to use as they see fit, whereas a grace feels like it has a connection to its giver.

“I use the term graces because it reminds me that these ministries are not owned or about status but are given through the generosity of the Spirit. We must remain connected to him in order to steward and operate them well.”

Busting myths

Time was spent during the three days of ELS exploring all five. One issue addressed was the misunderstandings that can hamstring us operating fully in them, Mark says.

“There’s a problem, for example, with people using titles like ‘prophet’ or ‘apostle’ as badges of office. Over the years this has been a really difficult topic because people have seen them as stereotypes in terms of how they operate and relate to each other.

“If you take apostles, it can feel like they are the leaders of the pack, so in Elim today you’ll notice we never use the title ‘apostle’. It’s like we’re concerned it might elevate some above others or create a sense of superiority.

“We call everyone ‘pastor’ and as a result have lost the beauty, wonder and joy of seeing all five graces working in unity for God’s glory.

“We have ministers who have a prophetic grace on their lives but have never understood themselves in this way. It’s the same with graces for evangelism, shepherding and teaching.”

There's also the issue that we’re more comfortable embracing the idea of teachers and shepherds than of apostles, prophets and evangelists. All are essential to the church, Mark says. Just as a human body can’t live without a heart and brain, the church body can’t function fully if some graces are missing.

So ELS asked what the different graces might look like in action and unity in Elim.

“We looked at how we can embrace all five and what the impact might be. My hope is that everyone at ELS left fully affirmed in the predominant graces of God on their lives.”

Team Elim

In order to achieve this, Mark made a radical departure from the typical conference programme: there were no guest speakers this year. Instead, the event was led fully from within Elim.

“We are a family; a team together,” says Mark. “I wanted us to have time as that family to talk together, so everyone who contributed this year is part of Elim; voices from within the movement speaking to the movement. It gave a platform for some voices we don’t usually hear.

“We celebrated our different gifts, honoured one another and what God has done. It was like a family gathering where we chewed over meaty issues together and heard God speak to the family through the family.”

Equipping everyone

This move was also linked to the graces.

“At most conferences we choose speakers who inspire; communicators who are innovative, pioneering, often with an apostolic grace who have incredible insight to share,” says Mark.

“The problem, however, is that listeners with apostolic giftings are encouraged but the shepherds, say, start off feeling inspired then feel like failures later when they go against their primary grace trying to emulate what they heard.

“At ELS we had an audience made up of apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic, shepherding and teaching graces and our speaker line up reflected this.

“Everybody was affirmed, built up, encouraged and had their belief renewed that we all need each other.”

This was important, he concludes, as Elim looks ahead to the next year.

“We can’t fulfil the purposes of God unless we know how to celebrate and release one another in our gifts and callings and to work together in community.

“There’s no predominant gift that will save this nation or make a difference in the church. It’s all five graces working together to equip the saints to serve.”

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.