Inaugural Australian Region Elders Retreat

An update from Riley Spring (Lead Pastor, Sovereign Grace Church Parramatta, Australia)….

One of the great comforts I have as a Pastor is that I am not doing this alone. Not only do I have the blessing of pastoring an incredible and supportive church here at Parra, but I get to work with, plan with, and be supported by Sovereign Grace Churches, especially, with Dave Taylor and Brendan Willis at Sovereign Grace Church Sydney.

I truly believe that we are better together when we operate as a tight knit family of churches here in Australia. We collaborate, support, aid, protect, and assist each other in so many ways relationally, institutionally, and practically. And this not only blesses me, but our partnership strengthens and blesses my local church also!

Recently, our partnership was on full display as Dave, Brendan and I went on our first Regional Assembly of Elders trip…a fancy term for a Planning Retreat!

We also invited all the ‘Pastors and Planters Academy Students’ along for one of the nights and it was such a great time. We spent time in worship, study, prayer, planning, and hanging out. We took time to re-watch some of the key messages from the recent Pastor’s Conference and were refreshed and renewed in our love for Jesus and our need for spiritual protection. Through our time away we got better clarity and vision for the future of both of our churches and for SG Australia as a whole.

There’s lots of exciting things coming up as we look ahead for SG Australia. We’ve got our first Sovereign Grace Churches Australia ‘Together’ Retreat in July 2022, which is a chance for both of our churches to go away together for a weekend of worship, teaching, and fellowship. We are going to be having an ‘Unchanging God’ concert in November 2022, playing through both volumes of the new album. We’re aiming to promote and start another year of the Academy in 2023. And we have bold gospel ambitions to see new churches planted and our region strengthened. 

All in all, our partnership in the Gospel makes gospel ministry all the sweeter and more enjoyable.