The Canmore Accord

[Anna]

In the North American, mainstream church, I believe we expect our pastors to operate in the fivefold ministry gifts which is not the way God intended His gifts to be used. Pastors shepherd their people, they guard the spiritual wellbeing of their “sheep”. This is a very important position, but the like the Canmore Accord states, all the gifts are equally important. I believe that churches could do well to find a well balanced team of 3 to 5 people who operate in these various gifts, giving the body of Christ the gathering, grounding, guarding, guiding, and governance it needs. Some churches are doing really well at making sure these gifts are in operation in their congregations. But I do believe there is a lot of work that needs to be done to get this understanding out to more churches.

[Zach]

I think that what is lacking today is the genuine apostolic and prophetic ministries that Eph. 2:20 speaks of in their foundational role of keeping the church connected to and built after the pattern of the chief cornerstone. I think too often these ministries are confused for and often mislabelled as being in operation by those who manifest gifts sets that we think an apostle or prophet would need to manifest to accomplish the external fruit we think they should. (e.g. we call someone a prophet who hears God well, and an apostle simply a pioneer who manifests a measure of building capacity). In reality these foundational ministries, wise-master builder ministries, see the foundation of Christ laid and carry a measure of his authority to do so at a foundational level that is much deeper than simply recognizing the gifts that these types of ministries might operate in. It is so much deeper than a measure of gifting unto a manifestation. It is as Eph. 4:11 says, a gift of Christ Himself in a person. The Canmore accord I think does real well in creating space to even entertain the idea that we might not have the full story when it comes to these gifts, and serves as a great stating place to teach them, defend them, and seek to recognize and celebrate them in a biblical and not superficial manner.

[Jaylen]

I think we are lacking in evangelists. Now this is not to say we are lacking in street preachers (although maybe we are), but rather I believe we are lacking in how often each individual person is actually investing time in trying to share the Good News with other people. I think it’s easy to tell ourselves that “its not the right time to really tell them about Jesus” or “I’m playing the long game here”. I believe that these things can sometimes be good, but also we must be eager and ready to share the gospel, and be sensitive to God’s Spirit on that matter. If we really are modeling after the apostles, they were probably very bold in the way they shared the gospel, we should have a smidgen of that as well.

[Kimberly]

I personally see prophet as lacking in our community. I have seen an uprise in teachers and apostles, highlighting teaching and guiding. I think that the “guarding” aspect could be focused on more though. It is so important to have the guard included in the walk with the guide. They may be mistaken for each other at times but it is vital to have both – especially for people new in their faith.