Liberia - Building Gospel-Centered Church
An update from Dyonah Thomas, Lead Pastor of Grace Life Church in Monrovia, Liberia...
It has been a great joy and encouragement in this developing relationship to see more and more gospel-centered foundations being built in my life and the ripples in other leaders lives.
I have monthly meetings with Dave Taylor that I believe are not actually just catch up times, but Spirit directed and lead, resulting in doctrinal definition, gospel clarity and insight into gospel ministry. For example, sharing with us the series on the ‘Five Solas’ was groundbreaking for us. I walked the ministry team through it and taught it in our local church. One of the young men on our team said in an exciting way, “The light is on.”
My story with Sovereign Grace Churches started with music. Music actually drew me to this ministry, and it was then that I started to interact with quality men. Seven years on I’ve had the opportunity to interact and forge friendships with some real quality elders, husbands and fathers, and I just can’t stop thanking God for how safe I feel to be in this relationship.
One development from last year came as I prayerfully thought about revisiting the worship culture in our local church. It was more ‘me’ centered then ‘God’ centered. I understood that this was going to be a process, but we were eager to make some changes and so Dave Taylor gave me Bob Kauflin’s book, ‘Worship Matters’. I read it twice, I had our leaders read through it and then together we carved out a vision for Christ exalting, gospel centered worship. This included our song selection, training worship leaders, teaching the congregation and ongoing learning.
Upon returning from the 2019 Sovereign Grace Pastors Conference, I downloaded the worship matters course and so we now have Bob Kauflin teaching us via video. After each session, we’ve spent time discussing the teachings in light of our context, prayed and discussed practical transitions. One of the initial gains is that we now have a new and updated list of biblical songs that we are beginning to use in worship. We’re aware that there is whole lot more to see God do here in this and other areas, but we are overwhelmed with joy at these beginnings. This is an awesome journey for us, and we are thankful.
On another note, our Grace Life Seminary has recently commenced a three-year Master of Divinity in Pastoral Ministry and Church Planting in partnership with TLI (Training Leaders International). Dave was able to get hold of 20 copies of C.J. Mahaney’s book, ‘Humility’, kindly donated to us by Sovereign Grace Churches. This text formed the main text for my Spiritual Formation class and so for 13 weeks, 18 guys and myself went deep into God’s Word, into CJ’s book, and into supplementary material, and in God’s kindness there were as result so many confessions to the Lord and to one another.
The subject of humility confronts the big boss type leadership style in African cultures that influences both home and the church. Each one of us then saw ourselves in light of God’s Word and the Spirit has begun a good work in our lives, that He will surely continue. We are so blessed.
