Mark Elder

Hello! I’m Mark Elder and I've been part of Fresh Streams, and before that Mainstream, for nearly 30 years. I owe much to its 'word and Spirit' emphasis, the stacks of friends and contemporaries I’ve met and worked with, and the many memories of great gatherings and conferences. It has given me a spiritual and theological home and the confidence to be a ‘thinking charismatic’. In the last decade I’ve taken the lead for organising our biennial theology school, when we’ve taken a deep dive into a range of topics that are relevant at the coal face of ministry, more recently sexuality and ecclesiology. Watch out in June ’26 for our next one on ‘eschatology’.

Since ordination I’ve been a Minister in Poynton, Newcastle, Worcester and now Tarporley, in leafy Cheshire. I’ve seen so many changes in church life but continue to have an unerring belief in the power of the gospel, the captivating nature of the person of Jesus, a deep love for scripture and the joy of seeing the Spirit at work. It’s not always been easy but it’s definitely been worthwhile, and I’m one of these who thinks that the local church, with all of its faults and frustrations, continues to be God’s primary chosen instrument to see more of his kingdom in our land.