Elim Communities
Elim Communities is a family of Catholic communities dedicated to the Lord’s service. In biblical times, Elim was the second encampment of the Israelites after they had crossed the Red Sea:
“Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; and they camped there by the water.” (Exodus 15:27)
Their first stop was Marah where there was bitter water. But in this Elim oasis, they found refreshment from its 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees. Similarly, Elim Communities serves as spiritual oases where people can dwell and be revived by the rivers of living water.
THE VISION: THE SEED OF COMMUNITY
On September 28, 1980, Sis. Luli Nakar received a spiritual revelation. The late Fr. Pascual Adorable confirmed that it was, indeed, a vision from the Lord. Sis. Luli saw herself walking along a highway where she heard a voice from across the sky. It roared like thunder, and yet was gentle, saying, “Go and spread the Good News.” As she looked behind her, she saw her husband, Bro. Willy, walking about 10 feet from where she stood. He was followed by their four children: Didi, Dondi, PY, and Dondon. It was a call for the family to follow and serve the Lord.
On February 14 of the following year, during a Life in the Spirit Seminar, both Bro. Willy and Sis. Luli got renewed in the Spirit and accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. In September of the same year, the rest of the family attended the same seminar together with other relatives and friends. After this, they became actively involved in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.
Soon enough, their parish priest assigned Bro. Willy to lead a weekly prayer meeting in their parish. And in 1982, His Eminence, the late Jaime Cardinal Sin, appointed Bro. Willy as Lay Coordinator for the District of Pasay, Catholic Charismatic Renewal, Archdiocese of Manila.
A HOUSEHOLD OF FULLTIME
SERVANTS
In 1983, the Nakar couple was inspired by the commitment of Joshua who told the Lord, “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). They then considered their family and household to be fulltime for the Lord, and called to “live by faith” (Romans 1:17; 2 Corinthians 5:7). As a number of other believers joined them, they started to call themselves “Elim—a household of fulltime servants of the Lord.”
DEDICATED TO THE LORD’S SERVICE
By January 1985, their ministry of proclaiming and spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ attracted many people from different levels of society. It was at this time that Bro. Willy and Sis. Luli were inspired to elevate their household into a community where people could regularly come for worship, teaching, and fellowship.
While they still called themselves “Elim,” they now referred to themselves as “a Christian community dedicated to the Lord’s service,” with Bro. Willy as Presiding Elder and Sis. Luli as Keeper of the Vision.
REVIVAL
On August 10, 1999, Elim experienced a rebirth when a sovereign move of God touched community with the revival fire of the Holy Spirit. Bro. Willy and Sis. Luli discovered that this revival fire was making waves in the Catholic Church.
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Monsignor Vincent Walsh of the Blessed Virgin Mary Shrine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the US said, “Catholic revival is the next step beyond charismatic renewal.”
Revival then became the major thrust of community in reaching out to other members of the Body of Christ as well as to unbelievers. Suddenly, a rush of new life flooded every Elimite, as each experienced a renewed hunger for holiness, prayer, God’s Word and the Sacraments. This new life also pervaded every aspect of community life—its Bible studies and prayer meetings, its ministries and conferences.
In October 2005, during its 25th anniversary, Elim expanded its borders and became “Elim—a family of Catholic communities dedicated to the Lord’s service.” Elim is now a network of local communities across the globe, established to effectively raise up disciples of Christ. Communities may be classified as a startup, branch, outreach, or cluster.
MISSION
The broader mission of community, in line with the Church’s call for the laity to renew the whole temporal order (Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People, November 18, 1965, numbers 5, 7), was revealed to the Elders at the outset. This mission was to actively participate in the ministry of the Holy Spirit to “renew the face of the earth” (Psalm 104:30), especially in our country (national renewal), in the hope that the Philippines shall one day become light of Asia (PCP-II, 249-250).
His Eminence, the late Jaime Cardinal Sin, also had occasion to refer to the mission of Elim as involving “the work of renewal and evangelization of the Church in the Philippines and the world.”
CHARISMS
Elim Communities is blessed to have the following charisms:
1. Witnessing to a life of faith in God, His Word, His power and His providence (Romans 1:17; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Acts 1:8; Matthew 6:33)
2. Prophetic and teaching gifts (Romans 12:6, 7)
3. Charisms for evangelization characterized by “the newness of [its] fervor, methods and expressions” (PCP-II, 186) through an active ministry in media, music, and the performing arts
4. Revival fire
To date (2024), Elim has close to 200 communities across the Philippines and abroad. This is a fruit of revival fire: new life in every respect, and missionary zeal. Because of revival, Elim has had the privilege of sharing its charisms with the greater Body of the Church. The events mentioned thus far are but a few watershed events in a long string of missions that Elim has embarked on, in the effort of strengthening the greater Body of Christ. While Elim is largely a lay community, the support of the clergy has been a pivotal factor in Elim’s fulfilling its apostolate to “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19).