The Joys of Gospel Partnership
An update from Brendan Willis, one of the pastors of Sovereign Grace Church, Sydney, Australia…
To be a part of a Sovereign Grace church is to be a part of a global family.
Though for some this might conjure up awkward memories of the extended family gathered around the table at thanksgiving, we mean family in the best sense. We mean family with its great richness of relationship. Family with the deep commitment and loyalty of its members to one another. And family in the radical generosity members will often show towards each other in times of need. Families at their best support one another as they journey through life together.
Our experience of partnership with Sovereign Grace Churches in Sydney has been nothing short of family at its best! So many churches have sacrificially sown into our two churches over the years and none more so than Covenant Fellowship in Glen Mills PA. The Covenant Fellowship team have prayed for us, supported us financially, loaned us Mark Prater (not once but twice), taken on an intern, given of their time to supporting our pastors and even sent out their church prophecy team!
This past March in another act of generosity, Covenant Fellowship also sent out Andy Farmer to join us for the week. Andy Farmer – who has been a pastor at Covenant Fellowship for more than 25 years – was a wonderful blessing to both our churches in his week with us. When he wasn’t sipping beer at the Opera house or milking an Eastern Taipan (This is for real – check it out on YouTube) we put him hard to work serving both the church in Wahroonga and Parramatta.
Andy served his socks off in Sydney. Here are two of the highlights.
Andy ran a full day training seminar for all of our small group leaders and their assistants across both our churches called “The Gospel, Counselling & Mental Health”. This was such a wonderful time for all our group leaders as we paused to consider a topic that is often the cause of much confusion. It was a jam-packed day as Andy outlined the basic structure of the mental health system in Australia, its limitations in a fallen world and our calling as Christians to move towards others in love as the Holy Spirit works in our midst. It was wonderful to see the way Andy dealt with the many questions our leaders had with great compassion and wisdom.
On the final night of Andy’s trip we ran an evening for our churches and any guests in the community called, “Dealing With The Realities of Mental Health”. Despite having a significant COVID outbreak and multiple church members in isolation it was a full house with many people deeply affected by the content shared on the night. I’ve had multiple conversations with members of our church who have had significant struggles with mental health and who described the night as ‘eye opening’. In addition, a follow up conversation with a non-Christian friend who also attended the evening has led to them signing up for an Alpha course we are running as a church!
When I pause and consider our partnership with churches like Covenant Fellowship it’s hard to feel anything but overwhelming gratitude. The amount of time and energy they have sowed into us is so incredibly generous you could be excused for questioning their discernment.
But this is family. And as churches we look to the future eager to follow in their example. As Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians,
“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.” (Philippians 1:3–5)
