Moving Forward in Australia
An update from Riley Spring, Lead Pastor of Sovereign Grace Church, Parramatta, Australia…
It is a such joy to report on some of the key developments that are happening here as we seek to move forward in Sovereign Grace Churches Australia. The Lord continues to be so good us, and so here are some headlines for you:
Pastoral Internships
We currently have three men in the process of pursuing whether God is calling them to Pastoral Ministry! At Sovereign Grace Church, Sydney, there is Andrew Leung who already assists Dave Taylor on the Emerging Nations team and is now taking an extra day off work to give himself toward further study and training, and Simon Walker who has taken 6 months off work to undertake a full-time internship involving a mixture of study, character formation, and practical ministry experience. At Sovereign Grace Church Parramatta, Richard Song is now working for the church one day a week to explore his calling to ministry through study, fellowship with me, and practical ministry experiences. We are so grateful to God for these men, their wives and families, and their joy to sacrifice for the sake of our churches!
Simon Walker
Andrew Leung
Richard Song
Leadership Bootcamp
Dave Taylor is conducting a year long ‘Leadership Bootcamp’ for 18 men and women between our two churches, as well as a number of attendees from outside Sovereign Grace. This course is designed to help attendees see that biblical leadership is leadership which is fuelled and formed by the realities of the gospel, not by pragmatics of secular business texts, and to help them grow in their leadership in whatever sphere God has for them.
Outside Interest
Within a short-time of us praying and asking for openings the Lord has brought about three new opportunities to connect with people who are interested in exploring a partnership with Sovereign Grace in some form: a desire for a church plant in their city, an adoption of an existing church, and a church planter! Only the Lord knows what will come of this, but nonetheless it’s a joy to introduce these new friends to SG and to share with them our love for our family of churches, our appreciation for our doctrine, values, and practices, and to see their enthusiasm!
Future Plans
With a desire to build upon the good work and the health of our two current churches, our hope is to see planters trained, pastors cared for, and enduring churches built all across Australasia, and to do it as friends! To help make more of that happen, I now give some of my time each week to making new connections and relationships in the Seminary and Church Planting world, as well as establishing pathways, and creating resources to connect us with future planters, pastors and churches. To that end, we are aiming to start a ‘Leadership Podcast’ in the coming weeks, where we plan to steal all the good stuff we’ve learned over the years from Sovereign Grace Churches and share it with Australian Pastors. We’re also aiming to make videos to help newcomers understand how they can actually take next steps with SG here in Australia.
Please keep praying for us in all of this. We so need the Lord. May all the glory be His!
