As members of the church, we do not all have identical gifts for ministry. Ephesians 4:11 says, “The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers….”

The Mission Planning Resource Team would like to invite Ohio Conference participants, both pastors and lay leaders, to take either one of two APEST (Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Shepherd, Teacher) surveys.

There is a $10 survey available at theforgottenways.org, which is geared towards people (pastors) who have been in church leadership.

There is a free survey available at fivefoldsurvey.com which is geared towards lay leaders.

Alan Hirsch has done significant work in his book The Forgotten Ways on the Apostolic model of the church as outlined in Ephesians 4.

Every person in the pew has a tendency towards one of these five gifts within the body of Christ.

Often our gifting in the APEST becomes our expectation of what church should be and what the church should prioritize. However, each gifting is different and prioritizes different things, which can lead to tension within the body if we do not understand each other’s expectations and role within the body of Christ.

We believe that Ohio Conference can be made stronger if we could develop a common language for our own personal hopes and dreams for the Conference (via our APEST profile) as well as learn a common language of honoring others’ gifts that may not be the same as ours. Please join us in becoming more fully the Body of Christ that we are called to be.