I am pleased to officially announce that the Sovereign Grace Churches Young Adults, ‘RELAY’ Conference is back for 2025! 2-4 Jan in Philly.

The RELAY Conference exists to inspire young adults to live for the glory of Christ. Our desire is to inspire this generation to personalize and carry forward our shared doctrine, values, and mission that we cherish as Sovereign Grace churches. As we gather together from many churches to hear God’s word, sing God’s praises, build relationships across churches, and invest in future leaders, we are asking God to use this conference for his glory and the strengthening of our churches for decades to come.

Check out the highlights video from last year: https://vimeo.com/907123248

And the conference messages and sessions here

Are you going to go?

We are hoping that another crew of SG AUS young adults will make the pilgrimage to the US for this event. This year we won’t be running an official trip like we did last year but we do want to help co-ordinate between our two churches who is thinking of heading over. Please email me, Rebecca Song, my assistant, to let her know if you are interested in being put in the WhatsApp Group.

We are hoping we can organise billeting to reduce costs this year.

Conference Details

Date: Thursday—Saturday, January 2-4, 2025 at Covenant Fellowship Church, Glen Mills, PA.

Speakers: include C.J. Mahaney, Jeff Purswell, Dave Taylor and more!

Age: While the conference is aimed at college students and young adults (18-25 years old), as well as their leaders, we welcome mature high school students (aged 16 & 17) and those in their late 20s or 30s. We don’t have strict age limits. And while the conference aims at serving Sovereign Grace churches, we welcome and encourage those in other churches to attend.

Cost: If you booked now, flights are roughly $3200. Accommodation, conference, logistics, and food costs would bring this up to about $5K…so start saving! Of course you can make this a broader trip and go visit other parts of the US too.

“Let no one despise you for your youth,

but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”

1 Timothy 4:12

We are so excited to be holding our first Women’s Conference for our family of churches here in Australia this year!

Life can be a lot, whether it’s managing family or work commitments, handling big emotions or generally spinning the plates of life. The Bible has lots to say to us on this topic. It brings us real people, in real life situations, coming to God in varied ways. The Bible also shows us a God who invites us to come to Him with everything we are carrying...the big things and the small.

We would love you to join us for our Women’s Conference to enjoy time eating and having fun together, as well as worshipping God through singing and opening up God’s Word to look at how God calls us to respond and come to Him, when life is a lot. 

Date: 7:30-9:30pm, Friday 3 May & 9am-4pm, Saturday 4 May
Location: Beecroft Uniting Church (82 Beecroft Road, Beecroft)
Guest Speaker: Trish Donohue from Covenant Fellowship Church in Philadelphia
Cost: General Entry $40; Student $20 (All food and drink included)

This is an open event, so please feel free to invite friends and family along! We are so looking forward to seeing you there.

Registrations will be open until 28 April.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Next week on the 16th-18th of April, the pastors and wives from SG Australia will be heading to a retreat with the purpose of strengthening our marriages to better serve our respective churches. We will be spending our time being trained, caring for one another, bearing one another’s burdens and also building upon our friendship with one another. In particular the focus will be on communication.

Please be praying for our time together:

• for a spirit of unity

• for wisdom and love as we care for one another

• for protection against the enemy

• that our marriages will be nourished, strengthened and deepened!

Thank you!

A recap from Dave Taylor, Director of Global Missions

There are some trips that you go on, that as you sit on the plane to return home you can’t help but smile, and this last trip to the Philippines was one such trip for me.

I have had the privilege of travelling over to the Philippines many times over the last 8 years. When I first went over, Sovereign Grace had two churches that were in partnership with us, and many loose associations. It was clear we had a whole lot of friends, which was wonderful. But there’s a big difference between ‘friends’ and ‘partners’, and so I committed at that point to going over and running two Pastors Conferences a year, to seek to establish who wanted to ‘stay friends’ and who wanted to ‘build partnership’ together. It was a sweet season, as we taught through the seven-shared values and laid out what partnership could look like. Not everyone stayed, for some Sovereign Grace was not for them, but for others, it was home… God was so clearly on the move in the Philippines.

Fast forward then to just a couple of weeks ago on the plane. Having experienced such an incredible week, my heart was full... God has done so much more than I could’ve ever asked or imagined!

The week was full in terms of schedule. Tuesday through Thursday, we led a Pastors Conference for about 200 people, primarily pastors, wives, and key leaders from Sovereign Grace Churches, as well as around 10-12 guests who were invited to join us. These numbers included folks from Pakistan, Nepal, Australia, the Philippines & South Korea, and for three days we focused in on the values of corporate worship. Singing was as loud as ever, God’s Word was freshly built into people’s lives, and friendships were newly strengthened. As we heard testimonies and updates from Pakistan, Australia, the Philippines, and Global, it was a faith-building and strengthening time for everyone involved.

Friday night, Sovereign Grace Music led of night entitled ‘Gathering Around the Gospel in Song, Scripture & Prayer’, for around 3800 people. It was a wonderfully Christ-exalting evening, to be honest, I’ve not seen anything quite like it!! God was so good to us!! Here’s a short video for you.

On Saturday, Sovereign Grace Music then led a day seminar for around 1000 musicians that focused on why Jesus is greater than music, and how to arrange your music to best serve your congregation. Before Bob Kauflin and the team led the music and Bob preached for CCSGM in Manila, Jeffrey Jo’s Church, on the Sunday. It was a very special morning, as the four CCSGM Churches in Manila came together for this.

This week in the Philippines provided a wonderful example of how Sovereign Grace Music is helping to plant and strengthen Sovereign Grace Churches. For so much of the week they were sowing into leaders and potential leaders of Sovereign Grace churches, and having conversations about how they can use music to edify the church, proclaim God’s Word, and exalt Christ. It was a sweet, sweet time!

Big shout out then to Bob Kauflin, Devon Kauflin & Dave Zimmer for serving so tirelessly and excellently throughout the week. Also, to Jeffrey Jo and all of the 80 plus volunteers from CCSGM who helped run all of these events. As well as Riley Spring, our big event MC extraordinaire… All of you served so incredibly well, not only in what you did, but also in the way you did it.

I so love our partnership. How kind of the Lord that we get to do these things together, as we make much of His great Name... Surely lines have fallen for us in pleasant places. Soli Deo Gloria!

An update from Dave Taylor, Director of Global Missions

As I consider how the Lord has grown our work over the past few years, I stand amazed. We’re now serving in 46 different countries, on 6 different continents, with a long list of Sovereign Grace pastors involved. It’s an amazing work of His grace in our family of churches, and yet as each nation and work has grown, so have the complexities and workload.

To that end, after some long reflection, discussion, and planning, a ‘Global Development Team’ was created, comprised of five of the finest leaders I know.

Four of them will be serving as ‘SGC Area Leaders’, involved in leading, engaging, and providing oversight and process, for specific areas of the world. Whilst one of them will be serving as our ‘US Global Missions Coordinator’, with the responsibility of being ‘on point’ for coordinating questions from our US Pastors and regions, as well as providing up-to-date opportunities for involvement.

I am so very blessed to be working with each of these men and wanted to introduce them. May His grace abound us all!!

Greg Dirnberger

Emmaus Road Church - SGC Area Leader for Asia-Pacific

Bart Lipscomb

Christchurch - SGC Area Leader for Africa

Ed O’Mara

SGC Torino - SGC Area Leader for Europe

Rich Richardson

Centre Church - SGC Area Leader for Latin America

Leo Parris

Covenant Fellowship Church - US Global Missions Coordinator

This post originally titled Global Operations & Development - Meet The Team first appeared on the Sovereign Grace Missions blog on February 28, 2024.

A team from Sovereign Grace Churches Australia made their way over to the Philippines earlier this week to join Sovereign Grace Music who will be hosting a number of events this week!

Please be praying for them as they serve and worship with the saints in the Fils!

Here’s a brief overview from Riley Spring (Director of SGC Aus) on what will be happening this week:

At the heart of Sovereign Grace Music is to produce Christ-exalting songs and training for the Church from our local churches. And it’s our hopes that this trip will strengthen our local church in the Fils and more broadly. As the gospel is sung and the word is taught, lives will be changed!

There will be three different events over this week time: Worship God Conference for 150 Pastors and Worship Leaders, A Gathering Around the Gospel concert for 2000+ people, and a musicians day for over 500 people. Please pray for Bob Kauflin, Jeffrey Jo, Dave Taylor, and the Sovereign Grace Music Team as they lead these three events.

The final day will be Sunday as we gather with all the Cavite churches for a combined service.

With over 3000 people already registered across these three events, please be praying that God would meet us and bless our time together this week.

For more information about Sovereign Grace Music head to: https://sovereigngracemusic.com

We are so excited to be holding our first Women’s Conference for our family of churches here in Australia this year!

Life can be a lot, whether it’s managing family or work commitments, handling big emotions or generally spinning the plates of life. The Bible has lots to say to us on this topic. It brings us real people, in real life situations, coming to God in varied ways. The Bible also shows us a God who invites us to come to Him with everything we are carrying...the big things and the small.

We would love you to join us for our Women’s Conference to enjoy time eating and having fun together, as well as worshipping God through singing and opening up God’s Word to look at how God calls us to respond and come to Him, when life is a lot. 

Date: 7:30-9:30pm, Friday 3 May & 9am-4pm, Saturday 4 May
Location: Beecroft Uniting Church (82 Beecroft Road, Beecroft)
Guest Speaker: Trish Donohue from Covenant Fellowship Church in Philadelphia
Cost: General Entry $40; Student $20 (All food and drink included)

This is an open event, so please feel free to invite friends and family along! We are so looking forward to seeing you there.

Registrations will be open until 28 April.

We look forward to seeing you there!

From March 12-17 Sovereign Grace Music will be heading to the Philippines to partner with our churches and serve that wonderful country. There will also be a crew of Aussies heading over with Dave Taylor and myself as we partner with our region.

At the heart of Sovereign Grace Music is to produce Christ-exalting songs and training for the Church from our local churches. And it’s our hopes that this trip will strengthen our local church in the Fils and more broadly. As the gospel is sung and the word is taught, live will be changed!

There will be three different events over that time: Worship God Conference for 150 Pastors and Worship Leaders, A Gathering Around the Gospel concert for 2000+ people, and a musicians day for over 500 people. Please pray for Bob Kauflin, Jeffrey Jo, Dave Taylor, and the Sovereign Grace Music Team as they put the final preparations in place ready to lead three events in Manila Philippines in March.

The final day will be Sunday as we gather with all the Cavite churches for a combined service.

With over 3000 people already registered across these three events, please be praying for our remaining preparation.

For more information about Sovereign Grace Music head to: https://sovereigngracemusic.com

Sovereign Grace Church Wahroonga will be launching a Sunday Evening Service this coming Sunday!

Starting on 18th February, SG Wahroonga will officially debut its second Sunday service of the day at 5.00PM! We’d love to have you come out to join us to immerse yourself in soul-stirring worship, enriching fellowship, and a Gospel-centered sermon.

Home to people from over 30 different countries, we’re a church with a family-like atmosphere and a heart for connecting people with the God who loves them.

Whether you’re looking to visit a church near you, looking for answers to life’s biggest questions, or not even quite sure what you believe, you’re welcome at Sovereign Grace Church.

Come as you are – we can’t wait to meet you!

Read why Josh Taylor, a new member of the 5pm Evening Service, is excited to join:

“I am joining the 5pm service in Wahroonga for a number of different reasons. Firstly, it enables me to in some way shape of form be part of a service plant, and I really believe this can help me grow in the faith and really keep spurring me on to love Jesus more and live for and serve Him. But also, sadly in this post Christian country, a lot of my non-Christian friends wouldn’t even consider coming to church on a Sunday morning, however, an evening option such as 5pm, they’d be more likely to attend and hence another reason I’m joining is purely for missional opportunities.

My hope for this new 5pm service at Wahroonga is that it would become a community of believers and unbelievers in which people feel comfortable to come as they are, learn about Jesus and be either spurred on in their faith, or if they don’t believe, challenged to think about what they believe and why, and come to the realisation that the true faith / religion is Christianity and that is through our great and wonderful saviour Jesus! Would this new 5pm service grow and grow and grow, and would it be shining light in our darkening world, but not for our names sake but for Jesus.”

Come and join SG Wahroonga as they launch this new service this Sunday!

When: 5PM Sundays, starting 18th February
Where: Sovereign Grace Church, Fox Valley Community Centre, Wahroonga
Childcare will be provided.

We look forward to seeing you there!

“As I've traveled throughout Sovereign Grace churches this year, I thank God for the young people in our churches. I see younger generations of people, and I'm thinking particularly the teen years into the twenties, early thirties, who really love Jesus and are excited about the work of the gospel and love their Sovereign Grace church. It really is encouraging to see and maybe an evidence that we might be a multi-generational family of churches by the grace of God. And that's why I'm so encouraged by the Relay Conference that will happen this first week of January where we're going to have between 650 and 700 young adults there who are gathered together. And I think one of the effects of that conference is those young adults are going to leave together realizing, boy, we're not on gospel mission alone. We're doing this with other people of our generation throughout the world in Sovereign Grace Churches. So I'm very grateful to God for the young people in our churches.” ~ Mark Prater

“The future of the church is indescribably glorious." ~ Jared Mellinger

The 2024 Relay Conference talks are now uploaded and available to view/listen to! These include a Main Session talk by Dave Taylor and a Breakout Session by Riley Spring! They are messages that speak to those in all seasons of life - not just young adults!

We pray that these resources bless you!

This year, we will be holding SG Aus Men’s and Women’s Conferences where our family of churches will come together for a day of teaching, fellowship and Gospel encouragement!

There will be more details to come, but for now, please save these dates in your calendars!

SG Aus Women’s Conference:
Friday Evening 3rd May - All Day Saturday 4th May
We have the privilege of having Trish Donohue (from Covenant Fellowship Church in Philadelphia) coming out to teach us at this event!

SG Aus Men’s Conference:
Friday Evening 18th October - All Day Saturday 19th October
We have the privilege of having Eric Turbedsky (from Sovereign Grace Church Orange, CA) coming out to teach us at this event!

We look forward to our time together as a family of churches and we hope to see you there!

SYD TO LA

On New Years Day 12 of us flew out from Sydney at 11am and arrived in LA at 6am for the longest New Years day of our lives! We instantly met up with Eric Turbedsky, and a crew of young adults from the Sovereign Grace Orange Country church, including three of Turbo’s kids. We had two days of sight seeing and bonding visiting the coastline and seeing where the Jesus Revolution took place in Costa Mesa, Old Towne Orange, Downtown Disney, Beverly Hills and Hollywood. We had such a wonderful time making new friends and exploring this beautiful part of the world

LA TO PHILLY

We then travelled from LA to Philadelphia, landing in the evening, resting up and getting ready for Relay. We got to visit downtown historic Philadelphia with Andy Farmer giving us tour, seeing where the U.S. Constitution was written, where many scenes of Hamilton took place, and places where the great George Whitefield preached to 20,000 people with no microphone. We did this tour with a crew from the church in Roseburg Oregon, it was so lovely to meet them

RELAY CONFERENCE

Finally by Thursday night the RELAY Conference began with 700 young adults from 50 different Sovereign Grace Churches around the US, Canada and the UK. It would be hard to catalogue all that took place in this time and all that God did in our team but it truly was amazing. As we had a debrief it was moving to hear of all the different ways God used the preaching, fellowship, singing and ministry time to affect and change us all. There were sermons from CJ Mahaney, Jeff Purswell, Jared Mellinger, Jon Payne and, the final fantastic message was from our Dave Taylor. We looked at living with extravagant devotion for Jesus, the supremacy of the Word of God, the vital importance of the local church, the desperate need for the Holy Spirit, and the urgency of mission. We also had breakout sessions on a variety of topics. I was able to teach on “When the Mission Calls: Faith for Evangelism, Church Planting and Joyful Sacrifice”, it was a lovely time.

There was such a spirit of unity, joy and fellowship amongst us all and so many people made new friends across our churches. All of us Pastors were deeply encouraged by the time together.

PHILLY TO NEW YORK

We finished our trip by heading to NYC via train for two nights of debriefing and sightseeing. It was a great way to finish the trip in such an epic city.

We are so grateful to God for this trip and very hopeful for the future of Sovereign Grace Churches!

Here is a reaction from Lydia:

“Relay 2024 was such an incredible time of getting alongside other young adults and delving deep into the word of God as well as forming relationships with many from all around the world. A true highlight from the trip for me was worship, where 700 young adults came together lifting their voices to the Lord and it was such a privilege to serve alongside Bob Kauflin and many others during this time. I can’t wait to come home and put what I learnt in the conference into action within our local church.”

Here is a reflection from Esther:

“I am so grateful to God for the amazing Relay conference 2024! It was a beautiful time of fellowship, meeting new young adult friends and listening to the treasure of God’s Word through incredible preaching. C.J Mahaney was a highlight sermon on the first night, afterwards he shared his testimony and the history of Sovereign Grace Churches which had powerful evidence of God’s work; building his church, the body and bride of Christ. In our worship time, it was so sweet to be surrounded by over 700 young adults singing their hearts out to our Lord Jesus in adoration and reverence to him. It has been the most amazing experience encountering God through his Word, worship, prayer and fellowship with his people. ”

An update from Dave Taylor, Lead Pastor of Sovereign Grace Church Wahroonga and SGC Director of Global Missions.

In an previous prayer email to our Pastors, Mark Prater wrote the following…

‘One of the ways Jesus taught us to pray is to ask that God’s "will be done" (Matthew 6:10). Praying that short phrase, “your will be done” has wonderful theological and practical implications for our lives. In his book, “Prayer and the Knowledge of God” Graeme Goldsworthy writes, "God graciously allows us to be involved in the carrying out of his will. He gives us the privilege of identifying with his will by asking him to do what he has already determined to do.” It’s stunning that God allows us to be involved in the carrying out of His will, and that begins with us asking Him to do what He has already determined to do.’

Stunning it is! In God’s kindness, we get to participate in the carrying out of His will for our family of churches, and so with that in mind, here’s how you can be praying for us in the month ahead…

1. Please pray that God would draw unbelievers to Sovereign Grace churches, and save them, as we hold our Christmas related events and services across the world this month.

2. Please pray that God would use the Sovereign Grace Music “Prepare Him Room” concerts in various cities in December to celebrate the birth of Christ and to declare the good news of the gospel.

3. Please pray that God would give the members of Sovereign Grace churches opportunities to share the gospel, a powerful reality, with unbelieving family members, friends, neighbors, and coworkers over this holiday season.

4. Please pray for our two church plants in Mexico, one in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, and one in Huajuapan Oaxaca asking God to provide for their needs, strengthen their church planting teams, and draw unbelievers to both churches.

5. Please pray that God would bring peace and end the wars in Ukraine and in Israel. Pray that God would turn the tragedies of war into gospel opportunities in both nations. Please continue to pray for the Ark Church, our sister church in Dnipro, Ukraine, asking God to protect them, and to use them to meet practical needs, and to offer gospel hope to people impacted by the conflict in Ukraine.

6. Please pray that God would continue to provide financially for Sovereign Grace Churches so that we can fund the gospel opportunities He is giving us throughout the world.

… Thank you for praying for our family of churches. May His grace abound to us all!

An reflection from Maddison Spring, wife of Riley Spring (Lead Pastor of Sovereign Grace Church Parramatta).

Before leaving for conference, I was feeling tired and sluggish in my faith. I was excited to go to conference and catch up with old friends and to sit under the word uninterrupted by mothering and unburdened by the responsibilities of homemaking, but I didn’t anticipate just how the Lord would meet me.

The theme of the conference this year was ‘The Church of Christ and the Triumph of Truth’. With that glorious title came 5 incredible talks that re-centred my heart on the centrality of the Church built upon the sure foundation of the word of God. It was a balm to my weary soul to have scripture after scripture applied and to be reminded and taught afresh on the importance of not swerving to the right or to the left of the truth of God. As I help my husband Riley in his role as a Pastor, I was reinvigorated to give him wise counsel and care and to point him back to the word of God to evaluate our lives and ministry. The women’s breakout session also wonderfully diagnosed my weariness in being the wife of a Pastor and again enlivened my passion for running the race and serving Jesus in this hidden yet public role.

Aside from the talks and the glorious worship times, the fellowship that I experienced was tremendously refreshing. Seeing people and friends that I hadn’t seen in over five years was extremely precious. I was able to catch up with the ladies that I attended Pastor’s College with and we encouraged one another in our roles as Pastor’s wives. Our time in Louisville was also special in that regard. Being able to show the SG Parra team around our home away from home was memorable and precious as I watched their hearts being knitted to my Kentuckian friends.

All in all, this year’s Pastors Conference was a real treat. It seems ridiculous that I had to travel to the other side of the globe to find refreshment, but the Lord was gracious to answer my prayers. I know that the others who travelled with me from Australia would agree that our faith was bolstered to withstand the tides of culture. The sessions encouraged us to send our anchor down even deeper into the truth of the word of God while the fellowship reminded us that we are not alone. We are running the race with likeminded brothers and sisters cheering us on all around the world.

Planting Plans!

I am very grateful to God and excited to announce that we are working towards planting another church!

Over 13 years ago Dave and Emma Taylor came from the UK to plant Sovereign Grace Church Sydney, 9 years on from that, Riley and Maddie Spring were sent out with a team to plant Sovereign Grace Church Parramatta, and now we are hoping, by God’s grace, to send out Joel and Jamie Seric to plant a church in the next couple of years. Joel and Jamie, with their children Amaliah and Tobias, and foster child (who can’t be named or shown) are members of Sovereign Grace Parramatta, joining our church plant on week 2!

The Story

It’s always been our prayer as SG AUS and as local churches to be raising up pastors and planters, which is why we started the ‘Pastors and Planters Academy’ in 2022 to help create a pathway for that to actually become a reality. Joel Seric was one of the men who stepping into that program. He took a leap of faith by reducing their single income family to only 4 days of pay rather than full-time so that he could investigate his calling into Pastoral Ministry.

Over the year it seemed clear to myself and the team that Joel is a man fit and able for Pastoral Ministry, and in Jamie he has an excellent helper for the task, along with their wonderful kids. So Joel continued in 2023 with a Pastoral Internship leading in our Maturity and Membership spheres at church as well as establishing and running our Youth program, G2G.

After our Together Conference in July with Mark Prater, we had a meeting with the Pastors and Interns from our churches to pray about and dream about our future as SG Aus. Mark had shared in this meeting about the need for risk taking and the need for leaders to believe in faith that God will bless us, “God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!” (Psalm 67:7), and so I asked in light of that “what do you see as the future of SG Churches Australia?” We went around the room and various guys shared great thoughts and then we came to Joel Seric who said, “I don’t usually do things like this but…I believe the Lord may be calling me to step out and plant a church!” There was a pause in the room as we took it in. And then there was a sense of joy, even just in Joel’s willingness to step out and put himself forward, knowing all the hardship and sacrifice that will come. We prayed over him and said we’d now have to go away and think about it and discern that calling.

And I am glad to say, that after discussions and planning, we have a faith to go ahead and plan for Joel and Jamie to step out, raise a team, and plant a Church, if it be God’s will!

Pastors College 2024/25

To help them in this task, we have decided that the next best training step will be for them to go to the Pastor’s College in Louisville Kentucky, where Dave and I went. This is a 10 Month program, starting Sep 2024, designed with rigorous theological education, geared toward true Pastoral ministry, focused on life, character and family development, all in the context of an amazing local church. It’s a big step to move to the U.S. for 10 months and I am so grateful for the faith of Team Seric to do it!

The Future

In terms of timelines, locations, teams, for the Church Plant, that’s all a bit too far off to be concrete. But we could envision that when they arrive back in June 2025, that they will be ready to start gathering a team, Joel to complete his ordination, and be preparing to plant! At this stage we do have a location in mind: Blacktown, just 20 minutes from SG Parra and 30-40 minutes from SG Wahroonga. This is not set in stone, we want to be led where the Lord wants us to go. But I mention it so that perhaps some of you will begin to start praying and thinking about it!

Prayer Requests

Please be praying for the Seric’s (Joel, Jamie, Amaliah, Tobias) as they prepare themselves for this process of training, ordination, and deployment.

Please be praying for their financial provision, spiritual protection, marriage and family stability, and their joy in the Lord

Please be praying for myself as I seek to lead them through this process, along with Dave and Brendan.

Please be praying to raise up more Seric’s! We need more pastors, more planters, and more members who are willing to go all in for Jesus…maybe it will be you one day!

Recently our Young Leaders Internship came to a close with a final celebration dinner. We spent the evening revisiting all that God had done in their lives through their reading, fellowship and serving together. It was a truly impactful year for all! A big thank you to Brendan Willis who led the program and did such a great job. Also a big thank you to Emma Taylor and Maddie Spring who mentored the ladies throughout the year.

We look forward to seeing what God will continue to do through these young adults in the years to come! And we look forward to going to RELAY together with over 650 other Young Adults from Sov Grace around the world.

An update from Brendan Willis, Pastor at Sovereign Grace Church Wahroonga.

“How did you come to faith in Christ?” For many of us that question may raise memories of a specific moment or event that was pivotal in our journey towards faith in Christ.  

Yet for every pivotal moment, there is nearly always as many names and faces of those who have been deeply influential: praying for us, encouraging us and challenging us to consider following Christ. That youth leader. That parent. That aunty or uncle. That close family friend or neighbour.  

In fact ––though we don’t often like to admit it–– it is often the example of those closest to us that have far more profoundly shaped us than any single ‘moment’ or ‘event’ in our lives.  

All of us stand on the shoulders of those who have come before us.  We are a part of an incredible gospel chain stretching back from God’s calling of Abraham (Gen 12:1–3) through to the very first disciples of Christ (2 Tim 2:2). Generation after generation faithfully commending the message of Christ to the next. As King David himself wrote, 

“One generation shall commend your works to another,  
and shall declare your mighty acts.”  Psalm 145:4 

“Don’t break the chain.” This is the task of the church in every generation. It’s also the heartbeat of our Young Leader’s Internship! 

Ever since Sovereign Grace Churches Australia was founded in late 2010, we’ve had a deep desire to invest into the next generation of leaders, and so in January of this year we launched our very first Young Leaders Internship with 11 interns from our two churches. 

The aim of the year long program? Simply that our interns might fall deeper in love with the Lord Jesus and His Bride, the local church! 

The program consists of monthly readings, teaching sessions and assignments aimed at growing students in their character, competency, and convictions. These topics have ranged from ‘Humility’, to ‘the Doctrine of Scripture’, ‘the Gospel’ and ‘Engaging With Culture’. 

Alongside these monthly teaching sessions, each intern has also participated in a ministry mentoring group aimed at providing them with opportunities for further accountability, encouragement in their focus area of service, and a more detailed look at an area of character specific to serving (e.g. interdependence, joy, generosity etc). 

Lastly, each semester the interns have had a ministry project that they’ve participated in. In the first semester this was to run together a Holiday Kids Club: Egyptian Adventure, and in Semester 2 it has been to participate in our Team Leaders Training program. 

It’s been an absolute joy to watch the way the Lord has been at work amongst the cohort over the course of the year, stretching them and growing them together in friendship with both one another and the Lord!  

They served their socks off during our Kids Club which was a huge success with well over 40 kids in attendance–– we were stretched just to have sufficient leaders! It was incredible to see their devotion to everything from set design to Bible talks, and prayer for the families represented! In addition, many of them have stepped out in faith to take on new leadership responsibility in their home churches. 

More importantly, it’s been incredible to see the way God has been growing our interns in their heart for the Lord Jesus and the local church over the course of the year! Here are just two reflections from the group: 

“Over the past year, I have developed a deep love for serving the local church. I have embraced various areas of serving […] These opportunities have allowed me to experience the joy of serving God's people in different capacities.”  

Esther 

“My heart for the local church is something I pray people notice. Not to boast in myself, but instead to make known the unmatched beauty of Christ that is present in and through the local church. My heart to serve the local church is not something that may have been well displayed. I believe God is continuously working in my heart to increase my joy in serving, not doing it out of obligation, but out of love for my community.” 

Amy 

Excitingly, two of our interns are now even stepping into paid internships in 2024! Marcos Cabral will begin an internship focused on Youth & Evangelism and Hannah Payne an internship focused on Youth & Community! We couldn’t be more excited to see these guys want to continue to pour their time and energy into serving Christ and his Church! 

As we step into our final month of our Young Leaders Internship, how can we do anything but thank God for his work in our midst this year!  

The Pastoral Team and wives of Sovereign Grace Parramatta and Sovereign Grace Wahroonga are heading to the US for our Annual Pastors and Wives Conference for Sovereign Grace Churches. It will be a great time of worship, teaching, and friendship with our dear partners in the gospel.

The SG Parra team will head first to Louisville Kentucky where they will also visit Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville, where our friends Bob Kauflin, David Zimmer, CJ Mahaney, Jeff Purswell, and…Austin and Emma Momber are from. Riley Spring (Lead Pastor at SG Parra and National Director of SG Aus) will preach at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville in the morning also.

We will then fly to Orlando for the annual Council of Elders meeting and the Pastor’s Conference.

Please be praying for our time. It is a gift that we are able to go, and even more of a gift that we have such a great family of Churches to be united to.

An update from Riley Spring (Lead Pastor of Sovereign Grace Church Parramatta and National Director of Sovereign Grace Churches Australia)

We had such a sweet time with our Filipino brothers and sisters over the past month as they completed their ‘Sydney Pastoral Immersion Training’. This was the second month they had spent together, after spending 3 weeks in Cavite Manila with Pastor Jeffrey Jo and his team. They came to Sydney to experience other Sovereign Grace Churches and for targeted training with Dave Taylor and the Wahroonga Church Team.

The majority of their time was spent in our Wahroonga Church doing Biblical Counseling training, Marriage Enrichment, What is the Mission of the Church, as well as other topics. They visited the church, served in worship, went to Gospel Communities, and spent time in fellowship.

We had the joy of having them with us in Parramatta one Sunday, and for three Friday’s I taught them ‘Church Planting, the Sovereign Grace Way’. I really enjoyed my time with them. They love the Lord, are humble, joyful, and keen to learn and serve.

I will miss them!

One of our churches here in Australia, Sovereign Grace Church Parramatta, has moved to a new venue due to coming close to outgrowing their previous one. God has been kind to provide a School Hall for us to meet in and it has been a blessing to have more space to welcome more people in!

Please be praying for us as we continue to reach out to the local community - that many would come to hear and put their trust in the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ!

If you know anyone in the Parramatta area who is looking for a church, please feel free to invite them along to Sovereign Grace Church Parramatta! We are meeting at:

Parramatta East Public School (Gaggin St., North Parramatta)
every Sunday | 9:30 am for coffee | 10am for the service + SG Kids