We are so excited to be attending the RELAY Conference in Jan next year with several young adults from Sovereign Grace Churches Australia!
The RELAY Conference exists to inspire young adults to live for the glory of Christ. This year’s theme is Living for Christ Alone
and will be taking place at Covenant Fellowship Church in Glen Mills, PA.
Speakers include CJ Mahaney, Jared Mellinger, Jon Payne, Jeff Purswell, and Dave Taylor, with singing led by Bob Kauflin.
There are just under 4 weeks left in the early bird registration discount for the January 4-6 Sovereign Grace young adult RELAY Conference - if you are interested in attending, you can find out more at www.sovereigngrace.com/relay2024
An update from Bob Kauflin, Director of Sovereign Grace Music…
David Zimmer and I recently had the joy of visiting Sovereign Grace Church Sydney and Paramatta, led by Dave Taylor and Riley Spring.
We arrived Friday morning, 28 April, and spent the day in Sydney. On Saturday, we led a workshop for musicians from both churches in the morning, rehearsed in the afternoon, and led a 'Gathering Around the Gospel' event that night for about 300 people. On Sunday we were with Sovereign Grace Church Sydney.
We spent most of Monday with Colin Buchanan, a humble songwriter/artist who is known in Australia for his kids' music. He also recently co-authored the song “Jesus, Strong and Kind” with CityAlight. On Tuesday we met with pastors from both churches to talk about priorities in our Sunday gatherings, and that night we met with the leaders and wives to talk about marriage, parenting, and ministry.
On Wednesday through to late Saturday we led a Worship Matters Intensive for musicians from our churches as well as churches in Sydney, Perth, Tokyo, and Manila. It was a feast of fellowship and encouragement.
On Sunday, we served at Sovereign Grace Church Paramatta, and after lunch with the church, spent the evening debriefing with Dave and Riley. We left the next day, but not before squeezing in a trip to a wildlife park where we could pet a koala and feed some kangaroos.
Of the many takeaways from our time in Sydney, here are four that deeply impacted us.
Gospel-rooted community marked by servanthood and generosity.
From the moment we arrived until boarding the plane for home we were surrounded by people who made sure we had everything we needed. It began with Dave and Riley, who spent what I’m sure was an excessive amount of time with us. Rebecca Song and other admins were also stellar. But the heart to serve extended beyond those whose job it was to care for us. Dave’s three older children joyfully served the groups that descended upon their home. Church members provided rides, meeting places, and meals. We never felt unattended to or uncared for. And that thoughtful generosity extended to others as well.
A commitment to train leaders.
David and I spent a good bit of time investing in leaders, whether it was the pastoral teams, leadership couples, or leaders from other churches at the Worship Matters Intensive. Dave and Riley aren’t simply interested in meetings that draw crowds but churches that invest in the future. Their example of friendship and mutual support both models what ministry can look like and inspires others to pursue the same kind of Christ-exalting leadership. We observed a number of present and potential leaders like Andrew Leung, Henry Burnett, and others who are joyfully laying down their lives to serve.
Sovereign Grace Music partnering with Sovereign Grace Churches.
I never tire of saying Sovereign Grace Music wouldn’t exist apart from our churches. We saw the fruit of that connection as numerous people mentioned they learned about our churches through singing our songs. It was also exciting to spend an evening planning two 'Worship God' conferences in the Philippines in 2024 that would capitalize on people’s awareness of Sovereign Grace Music as well as strengthen our already established churches.
A passion to proclaim the gospel locally and globally.
We encountered a mission mindset everywhere we went. One Sunday morning a mom with young kids told me how she had met with a new believer that morning for Bible study. Riley reached out to a gentleman passing by the church building during the intensive who showed up that Sunday. Church members surrounded guests, wanting to know more about them. Beyond the local church level, we saw a joyful expectation of planting and partnering with healthy churches in other parts of Sydney, Australia, Japan, Korea, the Philippines and more. Jesus’ words in Acts 1:8, “You will be my witnesses…to the ends of the earth,” clearly resounded in people’s hearts.
Looking back, I think we received much more than we gave in Australia. We came home strengthened, inspired, and changed by the real fruit of gospel partnership. And we’re more grateful than ever that Christ is building his church and “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).
Pastor Riley and Pastor Dave will soon be heading to Liberia to serve at the Pastor’s College there. They will be teaching on church planting in partnership as mother-daughter church plants in the hopes that they too would enjoy the fruit of being a part of a family of churches, not just globally, but locally as well.
Please be praying for them; that the Lord would sustain and empower them as they endeavour to serve faithfully and in a way that honours the Lord and builds up His church.
Austin is currently a student at the Sovereign Grace Pastors’ College who will soon be graduating, and he and his wife Emma have sensed a calling from the Lord to do mission and church planting work here in Australia. To explore this calling, Austin and Emma will both be coming out to Australia for about three weeks to spend some time with our churches, explore the country and see how God would lead them.
Please be praying for their arrival in mid-June and for their time here; that it would be fruitful and edifying both for them and for our churches.
This past month, we had the incredible privilege of having Bob Kauflin and David Zimmer from Sovereign Grace Music out in Australia!
It was a time of great encouragement as we got to enjoy the Gospel partnership that exists between our family of churches, whilst also being served so generously by both Bob and David.
Here are some ways that they blessed us in their time out here in Australia:
Band Training Morning
Our bands from both Parramatta and Wahroonga churches enjoyed a wonderful training morning with Bob and David where we were able to receive some hands-on training, teaching and fellowship. We walked away with an increased desire to keep the Gospel central in all we do and just a deep gratitude for the wealth of wisdom both Bob and David so generously shared with us!
2. Gathering Around the Gospel Concert
On one of the Saturday evenings, both of our Sovereign Grace Churches gathered along with many friends of our churches for the Gathering Around the Gospel Concert with Bob Kauflin. It was a night filled with triumphant praise, prayer and fellowship as Bob led us in worship under the common banner of the Gospel. Scripture was read, prayed and sung throughout the evening, making for a wonderful time of exalting our great King Jesus.
3. Time with Pastoral Team and Leaders
Bob and David also spent a day with some of the Pastoral Teams of both Sovereign Grace Churches, and also spent an evening with leaders and their wives from both churches. It was an extremely edifying time where we were reminded to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:1-3), not just in regards to our ministry or leadership positions, but in all of life.
4. Worship Matters Intensive
One of the main events of Bob and David’s trip was to hold the first ever Worship Matters Intensive, Australia! The Intensive was intended for worship leaders from all across Sydney, but we also ended up having applicants fly in from Perth, the Philippines and Japan!
It was a tremendous time of encouragement, teaching, building up and the equipping of saints for the work of ministry for each of their church contexts.
To read a more detailed recap of the Intensive, you can head to a stand-alone post here.
5. Sunday Gatherings at Wahroonga and Parramatta
For us, the icing on the cake of Bob and David’s trip was having them join and lead us in our Sunday gatherings whilst they were here. Concerts and intensives and training events are all a great means of grace, but there is nothing quite like meeting with the gathered local church to worship our great King and Saviour Jesus with Gospel-driven unity.
Bob and David visited both Sovereign Grace Wahroonga and Parramatta on separate Sundays and led us in singing, followed by a message from Bob on the reasons for why we sing.
You can listen to these messages here:
Sovereign Grace Wahroonga: Praise Fit For A King (Apple) or Praise Fit For A King (Spotify)
Sovereign Grace Parramatta: The Reason Why We Sing (Apple) or The Reason Why We Sing (Spotify)
We are so grateful to Bob and David for giving up their time and resources to be with us here in Australia and for their hearts to serve and build up the body of Christ. And ultimately, we thank the Lord for the way in which He is building His church - how scandalous it is that we get to be a part of it!
About a week ago, we had the privilege of having Bob Kauflin and David Zimmer from Sovereign Grace Music out in Australia to run a Worship Matters Intensive for worship leaders from all across Sydney. We also had applicants fly in from Perth, the Philippines and Japan!
It was a tremendous three days filled with teaching, worship and the fostering of new friendships. Over the course of the intensive, Bob taught on what God’s Word says about music and singing as a form of worship and how to best serve our congregations in this sphere. Each applicant also had the opportunity to lead a set to be reviewed by Bob, David and the other applicants. Overall, it was a time of encouragement, teaching, building up and the equipping of saints for the work of ministry in each of their local churches.
We are so grateful to Bob and David for giving up their time and efforts to serve these men and in turn, their churches
We’re excited for our second annual Sovereign Grace Churches Australia conference: Together 2023! The aim is to gather with all of our churches, and friends of our churches, here in Australia for a weekend of fellowship, worship, and making memories together!
Together 2023 will be running from July 21-23 and will be held at the Collaroy Centre in Narrabeen.
This year our theme is: ‘Zealous for the Name of Christ’ where we’ll be discussing the often forgotten virtue of Godly zeal. We will have the privilege of having a special guest from the U.S. join us, Jeff Purswell. He will explain what Godly zeal is and then apply it to various areas of our lives so that we will live all for the name of Christ.
For more information and to register, click here.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Some exciting news in our small family of churches is that Riley Spring has stepped into the role of National Director for Sovereign Grace Churches Australia!
If you haven't met Riley before, he's the lead pastor of Sovereign Grace Church Parramatta, the church he planted back in September 2019 after being sent out by Sovereign Grace Church, Wahroonga.
Riley is a gifted communicator, an incredible leader and a wonderful example of faithfulness to Christ and so we are very excited to see him step into this role.
It has been a real answer to prayer to see the way God has been raising up Riley to serve in this way as it will free up Dave to serve in his roles as Director of Global Mission and SG Wahroonga’s Lead Pastor more effectively.
To hear more about the change you can watch this conversation between Riley & Dave in the video below.
Please join with us in giving thanks to God for Riley and praying the Lord would use him to bear much Gospel fruit as he steps into this new role!
An update from Billy Raies, Senior Pastor of Sovereign Grace Church, Midland, Texas, USA...
Like many small churches, we had sadly adopted a belief that while we needed to be faithful in making disciples locally, we had to be a larger church to play a part in making disciples globally. We could not be more thankful for how God has used our family of churches and men like Rich Richardson and Dave Taylor to help us understand and believe that God can and does use small churches in global disciple making. As we sought the Lord in prayer, God was so kind to have our paths cross with a pastor with a passion to plant churches among unreached people groups in Nepal.
Over the last 9 years, we have had the privilege of building a strong relationship, friendship, and partnership with this pastor. Until covid, Allen Dicharry and myself (Pastors of Sovereign Grace Church in Midland, Texas) together with Aaron Mayfield (Elder at Redemption Hill Church in Round Rock, Texas), went once a year to work with this pastor doing pastors conferences throughout the nation with a focus on our Seven Shared Values. The pastor we are working with absolutely loves our Seven Shared Values and wants the 160+ pastors and churches he knows and cares for to be equipped and encouraged by this gospel centered, mission minded, and God glorifying vision for ministry. We are so excited and humbled that he is now expressing an interest in becoming a part of the Sovereign Grace family of churches and hopes to be an instrument of God’s grace in planting, adopting and caring for other Sovereign Grace Churches throughout his nation in the future.
In February, we took a small team to Nepal to focus on what it would mean for this church to become a Sovereign Grace Church and how the process might look for this to happen. As such, our goal for this trip was to spend time with not only the lead pastor but to minister, care for and encourage his entire elder team; believing that a healthy plurality of elders would play such a significant role in cultivating a healthy church and guiding it through change.
Our team included Philip Estrada (Lead Pastor at Mission City Fellowship, San Antonio, Texas) and Allen Dicharry, Erik Schmaltz and myself from Sovereign Grace Church in Midland, Texas. Our teaching sessions included the vision and mission of Biblical eldership, the elder and humility, the joy of the Lord as the strength of the elder, and the present and future reward of God’s glory through faithful eldership. We were strengthened and unified by God’s presence in prayer and the work of the Holy Spirit through prophetic ministry. We were privileged to carry one another’s burdens for both personal and ministry needs. These were humble men who opened their hearts to the teaching of God’s Word and to us. As our time together drew to a close, one elder even said, “Woe to us if we do not apply the things we have learned.”
We learned much from their devotion to Christ and His mission. They live with constant thankfulness for the presence, power, faithfulness, and sovereignty of God in salvation. They celebrate the abiding love of our risen Savior preserving them through pain and persecution. They depend upon the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit to empower their mission. They wear well the armor of God in waging war against sin’s temptations and the tactics of the devil. They live with a passion for God’s glory, a loving burden for their church to grow in the character and mission of Christ and a desire to see every people group in their nation reached with the gospel.
The challenges are great. Laws are in place that seek to limit the growth of the churches. Spiritual warfare is constant as each day finds thousands of people seeking hope and help at the Hindu and Buddhist temples and shrines. Adam’s sin brought spiritual blindness to all mankind but it seems that Satan loves to use religious idolatry to put mud on already blind eyes in hopes of making people doubly blind. Yet in spite of the appearance of hopelessness all around them, these elders have dependant delight and happy hope in the gospel being the power of God unto salvation!
Philip, Allen and I were privileged to be invited to preach at three different churches. The worship of the precious believers there is passionate and grateful! Their hunger for the Word is exemplary and enviable. Their love of their local churches and for the lost tell all those around them that Jesus is their greatest treasure.
On our last night there, God filled us with gospel hope for the future of these churches and this nation when we met with four younger men who are elder candidates. Many of these men are former Hindus or Buddhists that God has radically saved and who now value Christ centered teaching, sound doctrine, gospel partnerships and making disciples for Christ.
Please keep this pastoral team in prayer as they seek to not merely become a Sovereign Grace Church one day but a Sovereign Grace Church that can be instrumental in reaching the nation and all its people groups through caring for and planting local churches. Please pray for us as to how God would want to best use our efforts in the future to serve them.
An update from Doug Hayes, Executive Director of Covenant Mercies...
My latest trip to Africa was full of reminders of how the Lord is using Covenant Mercies to transform lives. On a three-week, three-country tour with a video team, we captured many encouraging stories throughout. But perhaps the sweetest moment came on the final day of our travels, as we interviewed Sponsorship Program graduate Alex Karuhanga just hours before commencing our journey back home.
Alex’s mother, Jacqueline.
A couple of days before meeting up with Alex in Kampala (Uganda’s capital city), we visited his mother in her village near Kiburara to capture her perspective on their family’s story. Back in 2008 when Alex was first enrolled in our program, she had recently lost her husband to AIDS. She was HIV+ herself, in poor health, and struggling to hold on and continue caring for her son. As a direct result of his sponsorship, she was able to access the medical care she desperately needed to stay alive.
The remote village where Alex grew up and his mother continues to live.
As we drove to her village on rough roads deep into the bush, it was evident why so many people had died of AIDS back in those days. Even after treatment became available at a hospital in the nearest major town (about 1 ½ hours by car), it would have been impossible for Alex’s mother to access that treatment from her remote village. Impossible apart from her son’s sponsorship, that is. Thanks to Alex’s sponsor, she was transported monthly to the clinic and followed up in the community by Covenant Mercies’ staff nurse. As a result, she remains part of her son’s life 15 years later.
The odds would have been stacked against young Alex as well. Due to its remote location, Alex’s village is notably squalid. Poorer than average, in an area where average is not saying much. The kind of place where people might ask the age-old question, “Can anything good come from there?” Yet here we were in Kampala, sitting across from a competent, Christian young man, listening to him tell the story of what God has done in his life. Yes, something good can come from that little forgotten village.
Alex helps with a water system at future Hope Community Primary School.
After graduating from our program with a diploma in water engineering and working for a while in that field, Alex enlisted in the military, where he has thrived. His commanding officers have been so impressed with his character and work ethic that they have put him on an officer track and sent him back for training. For years, Alex’s sponsor invested into his life through prayers and financial giving. How rewarding it is to see the good fruit the Lord has produced through that investment. We look forward to sharing this story in Alex’s own words when the video is complete later this year.
Whether you partner with Covenant Mercies by sponsoring children, investing in our schools and other projects, or lifting us up in your prayers (or all of the above), I hope you feel the Lord’s pleasure as I did while I was sitting across from Alex with tears in my eyes. The work we do is a long-term labor of love. We sow for decades, prayerfully anticipating a harvest that can only be produced with patience over time.
How sweet it is when we finally taste the fruit. Let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up (Galatians 6:9).
Join us April 29th at Fox Valley Community Centre for a night of worship and prayer led by Bob Kauflin from Sovereign Grace Music. We’ve themed the night ‘Gathering around the Gospel: Exploring the Riches of Christ in Song, Scripture and Prayer’. There’s already lots of outside interest and so please make sure you book your FREE tickets early so that you can be there for a really encouraging night!
Details
Date: Saturday April 29th
Time: 7.30pm
Location: Fox Valley Community Centre (Directions)
Click here to book tickets.
The Worship Matters Intensive with Bob Kauflin is coming to Sydney!
This will be an invaluable time of teaching and training from Bob on all things worship over a course of three days.
If you are interested in registering for the intensive, please head to the Worship Matters Intensive page for more details.
We are so excited to see how this event blesses you and your church community!
RELAY Registration is open.
The RELAY Conference exists to inspire young adults, from all over the world, 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.
While the conference is aimed at college students and young adults (18-25 years old), as well as their leaders, we welcome high school students ages 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.
We are also offering Pre-Conference Pastoral Interest sessions, along with a dinner, for young men who may feel called to pastoral ministry.
The dates for this conference are Thursday—Saturday, January 4-6, 2024.
Some conference details include:
This year’s theme is Living for Christ Alone
The conference will take place at Covenant Fellowship Church in Glen Mills, PA.
Lunch and Dinner will be provided on Friday
Speakers include CJ Mahaney, Jared Mellinger, Jon Payne, Jeff Purswell, and Dave Taylor
Singing will be led by Bob Kauflin
You can register for the conference here.
An update from Brendan Willis, Pastor at Sovereign Grace Church Wahroonga, Australia…
We’re a family of churches with a big heart to pass the gospel onto the next generation.
My life is living proof of this truth. When Dave Taylor arrived in Sydney in June 2010, I was a student at Moore Theological College in my very first year of training. His commitment to train the next generation of leaders to serve in our then fledgling church plant meant that I was invested into, cared for, and prepared for pastoral ministry in Sovereign Grace Churches.
But my story is nothing new. Since the very first disciples were commissioned by the Lord Jesus, some 65 generations have come and gone, each forming a link in an unbroken chain as the gospel has been passed on faithfully from generation to generation. Just as Paul instructed Timothy to entrust the gospel “…to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” (2 Tim 2:2) we stand on the shoulders of so many who have gone before us and diligently obeyed the command of Christ to make disciples of the nations.
Over the past year, we’ve been wrestling as a region with how we might intentionally seek to invest in the next generation of leaders. And out of many discussions was born our Sovereign Grace Churches Australia (SGCA) Young Leaders Internship which began in February this year.
What is the Young Leaders Internship?
The Young Leaders Internship is a program designed to train the next generation of Sovereign Grace leaders to serve Sovereign Grace Churches. Our hope is that each of our leaders will grow in their love for Christ and his local church over the course of the year while being equipped to serve the Lord more effectively for the rest of their lives.
There are four elements to the program all aimed at growing each intern in their character, convictions, and competency in serving:
1. Cohort
Each month, on the last Sunday of the month, all of our interns gather for dinner, fellowship and teaching related to one of their 10 units of study. We spend some time reviewing the materials they’ve been reading and applying them, sharing feedback about their various focus services areas and of course enjoying each other’s company. We’ve also started working on our shared project of running a vacation bible school together as a cohort.
2. Study
We’ve designed our internship with young professionals and full-time students in mind so each month the interns also have set study designed to be achievable given those pressures. For example, this month they’re reading ‘What Best Next: How The Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done.’ By Matt Perman. Their assignment is similarly to come up with a plan for how they can grow in Gospel–Centred productivity by forming a personal mission statement and a life goal, listing their personal values, and a basic weekly schedule that reflects these principles.
3. Serving
Given our conviction that the local church is ‘the dearest place on Earth’ we really want to help our interns grow in a passion for the Lord and the church by getting them serving. As well as shared projects like the vacation bible school, we’re looking to utilize our interns more during our Sunday gatherings and to provide them with opportunities to serve in areas they are interested in. Furthermore, we have 6 ministry mentoring sessions throughout the course of the year which are smaller groups focused around 6 different character qualities that are vital to faithful leadership.
4. Experiences
And lastly, it wouldn’t be a true Young Leaders Internship without some shared experiences! Our hope is that our interns not only grow in a love for the Lord Jesus, for one another and our local churches here in Sydney, but that they fall in love with our family of churches as well. To that end, we’re topping the year off by flying all 11 of our interns over to Glen Mills to join the Relay conference in January 2024!!
How has the Internship program been going so far?
We may be only just into our second month of the program but the Lord has been so kind! We’ve seen new friendships already begin to form among the cohort, deep and honest sharing in our ministry mentoring nights and a real sense of excitement and joy for the year ahead. Already several interns have asked for prayer specifically that God might grow them in a love for God’s people and it has been so deeply encouraging to see many putting up their hands to love and serve others.
Praise God for his faithfulness in prompting these 11 young men and women to join our program and please join with us in praying that God would bring radical transformation to the hearts of students and teachers alike beyond anything we could have dreamed!
In the first week of February 31 leaders from over 8 nations around the world gathered for an incredibly significant Leadership Retreat. Represented at this gathering were multiple generations of Sovereign Grace pastors so that our faithful past can be transferred to ensure we have a faithful future. At the Retreat, the Leadership Team served the various spheres of leaders represents, US Regional Leaders, US Future Leaders, and Global Leaders.
There were fantastic talks delivered by CJ Mahaney, Jeff Purswell, Jon Payne and Jared Mellinger, as well as a stirring introductory appeal by our Executive Director Mark Prater. He called us to six key imperatives as we move forward, the first of which was “to love Jesus!” That may sound obvious and basic but it is crucial! In the next 5-10 years Sovereign Grace is set to expand from some 80 churches to over 200+ (as a modest estimate)…and therefore we must ensure that no matter what, we love Jesus through all of this growth!
We had a great time hanging out, eating together, laughing, singing, praying and sharing stories. I (Riley) had the privilege of being in the Global Leaders meetings, led so well by Dave Taylor, and got to hear of what the Lord is doing all over the world through our Pastors. We shared our hearts for our nations and our hopes for the future. It was exciting and humbling. Be assured the Lord is on the move!
Friends, we are a part of a beautiful, faithful, and solid family of Churches that is poised to serve Christ with joy for the next forty years. Let us all play our part!
The SGC Australia Young Leaders Internship has begun! We had a great first night launching the year as a group with all the interns and leaders present. Brendan Willis gave a great vision for the year outlining the awesome opportunities and the commitments this group is making to serve Jesus and their church.
They will gather once a month for dinner, fellowship, and study covering ten different units. They will also be in mentor groups over the year, seeking to grow in their character and share their burdens togethers. Additionally, they will serve in their local churches as well as take on new projects, like running an outreach Kids Club in July. The hope is that at the end of the year they will all head to the Relay Conference, a new Young Adults Conference by Sovereign Grace Churches in Philadelphia!
Please be praying for our Interns!
Abella Lick - Parramatta
Georgia Lick - Parramatta
Luke Counsell - Wahroonga
Esther Monck - Wahroonga
Hollie Roberts - Wahroonga
Froilan Samonte - Wahroonga
Josh Taylor - Wahroonga
Amy Taylor - Wahroonga
Marcos Cabral - Wahroonga
Hannah Payne - Wahroonga
Sebastian Fasano - Wahroonga
An update from Lauren Maples, Content Strategist for Sovereign Grace Churches…
I am excited to share that we have officially launched an Instagram account for Sovereign Grace Churches.
Our goal is not to gain a massive following, but to provide a more accessible form of communication about and from SGC for our pastors, church members, global partners, and anyone interested in learning more about SGC.
This account will highlight local churches around the world, updates from our leadership team, stories from our Emerging Nations, latest Sovereign Grace Journal updates, and more.
Follow @SovGraceChurches to catch the latest updates, photos, videos, and resources from SGC churches, missions, and leaders.
Join us as we celebrate all that God is doing in SGC and throughout the world!
A message from Mark Prater, Executive Director of Sovereign Grace Churches…
In his devotional book, “Life As A Vapor: Thirty One Meditations For Your Faith” John Piper writes this about prayer: “We pray to God for the enablement of what He calls us to do, and what He calls others to do. In fact, that is exactly why prayer is necessary.” Piper is right. Prayer is necessary. It is vital. Without prayer we can’t fulfill what God has called us to do as a family of churches. Therefore, as we start 2023, let us consistently, and fervently pray for one another asking God to enable us to do what He has called us to do in advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world for His glory alone.
Prayer requests are listed below. May God answer our prayers, enabling us to accomplish all that He has planned for our family of churches in 2023 in a way that brings Him glory.
Thanks for praying.
Sovereign Grace Churches First Quarter 2023 Prayer Requests
Pray that God would give the members and pastors of Sovereign Grace churches a renewed desire, and opportunities to share the gospel with unbelievers in our communities and workplaces.
Pray for the Ark 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 war.
Pray for the U.S. National Church Planters Assessment that will be held in Southern California in January asking God to give wisdom to Greg Dirnberger and his team in assessing future church planters in Sovereign Grace.
Pray for Jeffrey Jo, Dave Taylor, and Mark Prater as they lead an Asia-Pacific Pastors and Wives Conference March 28-30, 2023, in Manila, Philippines. Pray that God would use the singing, preaching, and fellowship to strengthen and encourage the pastors and wives attending the conference in the gospel.
Pray for the Sovereign Grace Leadership Team as they lead a retreat, February 6-8, 2023, that will include our U.S. Regional Leaders, Global Leaders, and a group of future leaders asking God to envision, strengthen, and equip our leaders to serve our churches throughout the world.
Pray for our missionaries in Thailand, asking God to continue to open doors for them to share the gospel with unbelievers.
Pray for Jeff Purswell, our Director of Theology and Dean of the Pastors College, as he teaches a new Pneumatology class, January 31 - February 3 in Louisville, KY that many Sovereign Grace pastors plan to attend asking God to deepen their understanding of the person and work of the Holy Spirit.
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.
Through financial support to Sovereign Grace, we have planted 12 new churches in the last 2 years, 9 of which are outside of the United States in countries like Liberia, Guinea, and the Philippines. We have also adopted 4 churches that enjoy full partner status in countries like Bolivia, the Philippines, and India. By God’s grace, we plan to adopt 60 more churches in 10 different nations over the next 3 years. I am humbled that God has given our family of churches these opportunities.
Many of the opportunities include stories of churches who learn about Sovereign Grace by singing songs produced by Sovereign Grace Music. In other words, Sovereign Grace Music is essential to our mission of advancing the gospel because they write and produce theologically rich, gospel-centered songs that are sung each Sunday in churches throughout the world.
As Devon Kauflin has said so well, Sovereign Grace Music writes songs to plant churches. Whether you are a member of a Sovereign Grace church or not, most likely you have sung a song produced by Sovereign Grace Music on many Sundays in your church. Songs that declare the glories of Christ, and songs that are used to advance the mission of Christ.
We are eager to invest into Sovereign Grace Music by building out a studio in the facility where they are located in Louisville, KY. This studio will be used to record songs, live albums, music videos in different languages, and equip worship leaders to serve their churches. Bob Kauflin, Director of Sovereign Grace Music, and I recently recorded a video to tell you more about this studio. Please take a few minutes to watch this video, and then prayerfully consider giving to Sovereign Grace Music before the end of 2022 (in the designation box, choose Sovereign Grace Music from the dropdown). It’s our hope that we can raise $300,000 for this studio buildout now as an investment into our future.
Should God allow us to be a multigenerational family of churches, giving to the buildout of the Sovereign Grace Music studio now will allow us to continue to produce theologically rich, gospel centered songs for years to come for the good of our churches, the advancement of the gospel throughout the world, and for the glory of Christ alone.
Rather than give you several different updates this month, I wanted to share with you this one 14 minute video to watch, our 2022 Global Update.
What a wonderful year this has been!
As you watch this video, I hope it encourages you, excites you and reminds you just how glorious He really is. For this is all the Lord’s doing, and so may it always be marvelous in our eyes!