An update from Andy Farmer, Pastor at Covenant Fellowship, Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, USA…

We just finished our final retreat for the 2022-23 Church Planters Cohort and I’m thrilled to be up close and personal to what God is doing in stateside church planting in Sovereign Grace. The Church Planting Cohort is a structured equipping and advisory program run by the National Church Planting Group. For the past six years, I’ve had the privilege of walking with a small group of church planters each year who are drawn together through retreats and virtual conversations to turn church-planting hopes into church-planting realities.  

This year we had three planters complete the cohort program. The notable thing about this group is how diverse their plans and mission strategies are. Jeremy Hetrick will be launching Redeeming Grace Church in Mechanicsburg, PA. This is a bold initiative by Living Hope Church in Middletown, PA to send a number of its best people to start a new work across the Susquehanna River in central Pennsylvania. Redeeming Grace will be launching this fall. Gabe Magill is a Sovereign Grace elder from Philadelphia who has moved to the opposite end of the state and joined a new region to lay the groundwork for planting a church in Warren, PA. Perry Wang is doing a church planting internship at Risen Hope Church in Summerville, SC with the intent of starting a Mandarin-speaking Chinese church in the Charleston area.

You would think that such different kinds of plants would make it difficult to find common ground to work together in a cohort. But these brothers and their wives carry with them much deeper commonality than missional strategy. They carry above all the message of the Gospel, to be built into the fabric of a church and lived out in the locations where God sends them. And they carry our Sovereign Grace shared values and shaping virtues in the mission as well.

So what happened in the cohort? Each month we met together to talk about a key aspect of church planting - like building planting teams and leadership, planting with a clear mission and strategy, foundations for strong organization and administration, and enduring care for the planter’s soul and his family’s well-being. We involve other Sovereign Grace pastors and leaders who specialize in areas church planters need to learn and grow. The cohort includes three retreats where we spend concentrated time in discussion on key issues in planting. One of the retreats is a couple’s retreat, where the focus is on the care of marriage and family in and beyond the church planting experience.

Jeremy observes, “This cohort year has flown by, but not without an amazing deposit being given to us church planters. As I reflect upon the past year, I am amazed at how, at each step of the journey I was given the next step or next category of wisdom for the journey. From how to do interest meetings, to how to relate to your sending church, to how to build a team, to how to put together your prospectus and leadership team, and many other practical things, I really have felt the care and investment of Sovereign Grace Churches into my leadership and our church plant. Each cohort retreat Andy provided a time of refreshment and perspective on church planting, including historical tours (including a Great Awakening tour at our most recent retreat). On these tours he so aptly applied history lessons to give us broader perspective in our gospel endeavors. I so appreciated our time when we did our marriage retreat as well. Kate and I came away encouraged to continue to grow in gracious speech in our marriage and parenting so that our family is built up in the gospel of grace and is sustained through this difficult and labor-intensive work."

Perry also shared some of his experiences, “I was cared for and trained well in the cohort, through the seasoned pastors and fellow church planters, in the areas of leadership, marriage, church administration, website, interest meeting, planting core team, and so many practical things. For me, relatively new to Sovereign Grace churches, and an international, one of the most important things is that I experienced Sovereign Grace culture and the shaping virtues in this group. During the marriage retreat in Philly, my wife, Ruth, got sick. There was medicine that would help her but it was in the city in Chinatown. I could take an Uber to get it. But when Andy knew this, the whole team decided to go to Chinatown to get the Chinese herb. Then we cooked them at Andy's house. This made us feel like family."

Gabe may sum up the cohort experience best for all of us. “Thank you all for your courage in stepping out into new places with the Gospel! It is far easier pursuing this work knowing we are not alone in it.” 

If you are anticipating a church plant, as a planter, as a sending church, or as a region, please feel free to contact me at afarmer@covfel.org to talk about how the cohort program might serve your purposes.

Each week Mark Prater & Ben Kreps put out a podcast, where their aim is to connect our global family of Sovereign Grace churches with our executive director, and over the last few months, they’ve been putting out some excellent episodes relating to SGC Missions!

Please find them all below… Enjoy!

1. The Value of Gospel Mission in the States

2. SG Europe Pastors Retreat

3. Churches Serving in our Shared Mission

4. Giving to Gospel Mission

Psalm 139.7-10 declares, ‘Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there you hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.'

There is nowhere we can go where we are outside of God’s presence, nowhere, and that’s one of the many things that makes prayer such an incredible and daily opportunity. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords is always present, always with us, and always eager to hear us.

And so here’s some specific things that you can be praying for, and talking with the King about, in the month ahead…

1. Please pray for the National US Church Planting Group as they meet for a final retreat with the 2022-23 Church Planting Cohort, June 15th-18th. With 3-4 US Church Plants planned for the next 12 months, this is such an important time together.

2. Please pray for Nate Treguboff (Cross of Grace, Minnesota), Josh Montague (Cross of Grace, TLI), Dave Quilla (Covenant Life Fellowship, Oregon) and Joshua Chambers (formerly of TLI) as they travel to Amman, Jordan, June 8-16th, to train ten Pastors from Pakistan. These Pakistani Pastors have a long relationship with our family of Churches, represent some 400 Churches, and are keen to pursue full partnership with Sovereign Grace. This is the final instalment of a five year endeavour and so please pray for safety, for fruitful classes and for wisdom and understanding on wise next steps in this great opportunity.

3. Please pray Justin Crews and Spencer Vaughn (Sovereign Grace Community Church, Roanoke, US) as they head to teach at the Gracelife Pastors & Planters Academy in Liberia, with our friend Dyonah Thomas, June 19th-26th. Please also pray for their strategic trip to Sierra Leone to put boots on the ground as we look to a possible SG Church Plant in 2024. Exciting times!! In addition, please pray for Andy Farmer (Covenant Fellowship, Glenn Mills, USA) as he heads to teach at the Trinity Fellowship Pastors College in Ethiopia, June 16th-19th. Would this be a rich and blessed time for everyone involved,

4. Please pray for the Pastors who will be coming in from Germany, Prague, Italy, Belarus, Turkey, Sweden, and the UK, for this month’s SGC Europe Pastors Retreat, June 20-23rd. They will be joined by Mark Prater (SG Executive Director) and Dave Taylor (SG Director of Global Missions), as they dream together and plan together for the future of Sovereign Grace Churches in Europe.

5. Please 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. We really do have more opportunities than we can fund and so we are so in need of His grace in this.

6. Please continue to pray for the ARK Church in Dnipro, Ukraine, led by our friend Michael Ostanin. This dear church continues to feed over 400 people a week, care for refugees on a daily basis, and share the good news of Jesus Christ with any and all that will listen. They are doing an amazing work in Ukraine, may we never tire of praying for these dears saints.

… May His grace abound to us all.

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).

An update from Ed O'Mara, our SG Church Planter in Italy...

What do you love about Sovereign Grace: our rich theology walked out in vibrant community, the commitment to build and strengthen interdependent local churches, expository preaching, that we preserve vital biblical doctrines often jettisoned, how the Pastors College and Sovereign Grace Music exalts Christ and equips gospel-ministers? If you are like me you’d say “Yes! All of these things.” In Sovereign Grace, we enjoy a rare jewel that is sadly unavailable in many corners of the earth. One such place is Torino, Italy.

Italy is celebrated for its rich history, friendly people, and unparalleled cuisine. It is also well-known for its deeply entrenched Roman Catholicism. Every city and village in Italy is influenced by the Catholic Church. Though Italy is religious it is also incredibly dark. Less than 1% of its 60 million people understand the gospel. Oppressive traditions strangle out the testimony of Jesus’ sole-sufficiency and replace it with a works-based lie. The young generation rejects faith making Italy a post-Christian, spiritually-dead country. It may surprise you to know that someone is 4 to 10 times more likely to hear the gospel in China, Egypt, or Indonesia than in Italy! Missional efforts to change this tide have been scarce, so few evangelical churches exist and those that do are often theologically askew, territorial, or legalistic. We are not content to see this continue. We intend to fight this decline and spread the hope of Christ’s finished work by planting the first of, Lord willing, many Sovereign Grace churches in Italy.

Torino is Italy’s 4th biggest city and, unlike much of Italy, it has a thriving economy and growing population base. It is attractive to young people due to the large university presence and work opportunities across various business sectors. Given its relative prosperity and demographic advantages, Torino has drawn transplants from other parts of Italy and the rest of Europe, making it a dynamic city with a strong need for local gospel-preaching churches and a strategic position for building a network of churches. Sadly there are very few solid churches in this large city of such significance. We intend to plant in or near the Lingotto neighborhood, a largely residential area with a good cross-section of the population of Torino. Our goal is to reach the students who come from all over Italy and Europe for university, families located in the city, and immigrants who have come to Northern Italy for work. Furthermore, we believe our plant will be a strategic outpost from which to evangelize, equip, and send believers to build an interconnected SGC network in Italy.

This plan has been unfolding for some time. In July 2022, my family (www.omaras.org) relocated from CrossPointe Church in Arnold, Maryland, USA to Italy for a year of learning the language in preparation for church planting. Around the same time Rocco Dalia and his wife Mady (https://roccoandmady.webnode.page/) moved to America to be trained at the SG Pastors College. As we both near the end of our respective training year, the next step is for both the O’Maras and Dalias to move to Torino, which happens this summer. We plan to begin the church planting process in the autumn with a small core team that is currently forming. It is an exciting time as we seek, not only to build the church in Torino, but also to establish a broader SGC-Italia network! It is a tall task, but we believe God will accomplish his purposes through our partnership. We are not building an empire or expressing personal burdens. This is a group project and you too are involved, and we are so grateful for that reality. We labor in partnership for the Lord’s glory and the good of those who respond to the gospel.

Isn’t that another thing we love about Sovereign Grace: we are stronger and more faithful together! So on behalf of Rocco and Mady and my family, thank you! We are grateful for our partnership. Thank you for the ways you are supporting and investing in this work. We would not want to take this step without our SGC family! Please pray for us and consider giving to the European Development Fund and know that your partnership is bearing fruit across the globe!

An update from Michael Granger, Senior Pastor of Trinity Fellowship Church, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia…

When the Granger family moved to Ethiopia in January 2018, we knew we’d encounter trials, tribulations, sicknesses, and difficulty after difficulty. In short, when we signed up for Ethiopia, we were signing up for bad WiFi and lots of problems. But today I write about problems of a different sort. Very aware of fresh grace, I write about the good problems that accompany that grace. The Holy Spirit generated Trinity Fellowship in the midst of the Corona virus, and a civil war. In spite of our weakness in the face of challenges, God has been growing our precious little flock faster than we can keep up.

Our current membership stands right at approximately 100 members. But at the end of this month 35 additional brothers and sisters will be joining our church. Each one of these candidates has been through our membership class and undergone a pastor/member interview in order to hear their testimony, listen to their understanding of the gospel, and evaluate their understanding of repentance and discipleship. What is more, in 2-weeks time, we’ll be baptizing 10 new members into the church.

Why share about the numbers? Because God cares about numbers... In Acts, we’re given numbers. What is more, each number represents a precious soul that God the Father purchased with the heavenly currency that is the blood of his precious Son. These numbers represent grace. But problems accompany this grace - good problems. Addis Ababa is a concrete jungle with over 10 million inhabitants. The city has run out of space so it builds up rather than out.  Trinity Fellowship currently rents out the 2nd floor of a business building. And our space maxes out right around 200. Well, we’ve been averaging 200 plus in attendance for the last few months and the good problem is we’re out of space. Last Sunday there were around 20 individuals standing in the back. We no longer have room to grow. But the real problem is, we can’t find another space to rent. Last week we were looking at a theater that can seat 600, but the Muslim owner rejected us because we're Christian. Please pray that God would give us a place to meet.

Abigail’s Story

I’d like to tell you a story; the story of one woman’s life and how God is using her to impact the lives of others. It’s easy to read about the numbers I referenced above and see them as merely that - numbers. But it’s something else to see and hear their stories.  Abigail returned to Ethiopia in 2022 after studying abroad in Russia. While away from her homeland, she became an atheist and her life was eclipsed by darkness. She returned to Ethiopia an alcoholic and suicidal, having made several attempts on her own life. After joining a Cross Fit gym just down the street from Trinity Fellowship, she encountered James Lewis - a TF member and missionary from Knoxville Tennessee. He invited her to our Sunday morning service. I remember first meeting Abigail as I walked into the sanctuary. In gloom she was hunched over in her chair. As Christ and him crucified for sinners was preached in the sermon, she thought her friend sitting next to her said, “It’s enough Abigail.” Turning to him she asked, “What did you say?” He laughed and replied, “I didn’t say anything, it was the Holy Spirit.” It was enough, indeed. That Sunday Abigail stopped running for Jesus. Abigail believes she trusted in Jesus for the first time in her life during that sermon. That was November of last year. But his work was just beginning. When I first met Abigail, I think nearly everyone would have said she was insane. Today, Abigail is sane. She’s no longer suicidal. She no longer drinks. And she is obsessed with Jesus!

About two months ago, Abigail threw a party at her home and asked several church members and family members to attend. The theme of the party? "Praise the Lord for Saving Me!" Walking into her house, I saw two of her cousins sitting in the corner by themselves aloof and alone. I sat down next to them and asked what they're into? The elder brother said, “Hip-hop.” “Old-school or New?” was my inquisitive reply. He said he liked the old stuff. Having grown up on gangster rap, I didn’t skip a beat. Instantly changing my voice I rapped the entirety of Notorious B.I.G.’s first verse of “Juicy” … “It was all a dream, I used to read Word Up! magazine, Salt-n-Pepa and Heavy D up in the limousine … call the crib, same number same hood, and if you don’t know, now you know”  His mouth was gaping open. His sister was glowing. A week later they were at church in the front-row having told their cousin Abigail, they’d never met a pastor that cares about teenagers. After a month in attendance, on Sunday April 2nd, I saw them come up for communion. Abigail ran up to me immediately after the service and said, “They’ve never taken communion before, go talk to them."

Approaching them I acknowledged, “You took communion today, have you done that before?”
“No” the elder brother replied as the sibling representative

“Why haven’t you taken it before?"
“Because we haven’t been baptized.” he answered.
“Why haven’t you been baptized?”
“Because we weren’t Christians” he answered.
“You heard my warning, what made you take it today?” was my final question.
“Because I think I’m a Christian now.”

The Next Generation

In Ephesians 4:8-11 Paul writes, “When [Christ] ascended on high he led captivity captive, and he gave gifts to men… and he gave … shepherds.” Pastors are a gift from the Lord, and in his generous kindness, not only has he given Trinity Fellowship growth in numbers, but the Lord is giving us the gift of more pastors to shepherd those numbers. We're currently in the process of ordaining three men for pastoral ministry: Abenezer and Amanuel will become co-pastors with me of Trinity Fellowship, and we intend to send Brian back to Nairobi, Kenya next year to plant a church. Our intention is to see all three ordained by the end of the year.

This coming September, the dean of our pastors college, Josh Pannel, intends to establish our school's second academic year. We already have over 30 international professors signed up to come teach and we're praying for God to give us 12 students. We currently have 9 prospects.

We are in awe of all that the Lord is doing here in Ethiopia and so grateful for your partnership!

An update from Abelardo Munoz, pastor of Iglesia Gracia Soberana, Chihuahua, Mexico..

In the month of May of 2014 our church, “Iglesia Gracia Soberana” de Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, in partnership with the Charles Simeon Trust Foundation, hosted an expository preaching workshop which was the first ever conducted in Latin America by this foundation. Our goal was to equip as many preachers and Bible teachers as possible to correctly handle the word of truth, and also to get an idea of how the pastors and teachers of Mexico would respond to the rigorous, hands-on training these workshops entailed.

The workshop was a resounding success, as all participating pastors and teachers responded very enthusiastically to the instruction, preaching and practice they received for two and a half days. About 40 pastors and teachers, mostly from our city and nearby cities in Northern Mexico attended that first workshop. From that year on, our church has hosted a workshop every single year (with the exception of 2021 due to the pandemic), and as the number of churches in our nation began to grow, in addition to the fact that the level of interest in expository preaching was also growing in pastors all over Mexico, in 2015 we decided to host an additional workshop in central Mexico, which was also very successful and was attended by pastors of several denominations coming from different states of our nation.

As the years have gone on, the number of participants attending our workshop in central Mexico has continued to grow steadily. Since 2017 this workshop has been hosted by our sister church “Iglesia Gracia Soberana” de Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. The workshops usually take place in the month of March both in Juárez and Guadalajara, and the same Bible genre and book is taught in both workshops each year. The Simeon Trust workshops provide training in six different Bible genres, which are: old testament narrative, prophets, wisdom literature, gospels, epistles and apocalyptic literature. One particular genre and Bible book within that genre are chosen for study in each workshop. When all genres have been studied in a given location, a new cycle begins, with a new study on the same genre, but using a different Bible book within that genre. This is what is currently happening both in Juárez and Guadalajara.

To give you an idea of how much the level of interest in this kind of training has grown in our nation, let me share some significant facts connected to the last workshop we hosted in Guadalajara this past month of March:

• The number of participants was the largest number we have ever had for a single workshop done in Mexico; a total of 72 pastors/teachers.

• Those participants represented 30 different churches, and they came from 16 different states (which is half of the 32 states our country has).

• Of the total number of participants, 24 (or 33%) came from churches which are already a part of Sovereign Grace Mexico, or which are in the process of being adopted into our family of churches.

Besides giving us opportunities to meet and befriend pastors from all kinds of backgrounds, and explore the possibility of potential future adoptions, an additional blessing of our partnership with the Charles Simeon Trust Foundation, is that for several years they have invited several of us who are full time pastors in Sovereign Grace, to be trained as instructors and small group leaders for their workshops. During this last workshop in Guadalajara, one of the two instructors was a Sovereign Grace pastor and 6 of the 8 small group leaders were also Sovereign Grace pastors. Currently, seven Sovereign Grace pastors are serving as instructors in the workshops being held each year in several Mexican cities, and about twelve other Sovereign Grace pastors are serving as small group leaders in those same workshops.

Another training event will take place in Guadalajara from May 9th to 11th. For the last three years the elders and leaders of Latin America have gathered in Guadalajara for a training retreat. This year, about 50 pastors and leaders from all the churches in our nation and from several churches pursuing adoption into Sovereign Grace will be attending, and the main instructor will be Jeff Purswell, who will teach us on pneumatology. Rich Richardson and Carlos Contreras will also teach during the retreat.

We are truly amazed at what our Lord is doing in our nation and we want to, once again, express our deepest gratitude to our family of churches and to the Sovereign Grace Leadership team for their partnership in our work in Mexico. “This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes”. To Him be all the glory.

An update from Fengyu Ji, pastoral intern at Grace Church, Clarksburg, Maryland, USA…

It has been four months since we joined Grace Church of Clarksburg. It may not seem very long, but we have been greatly blessed! As a pastoral intern, I attend weekly pastoral meetings and staff meetings, as well as monthly deacon meetings and regional pastor meetings. These meetings help me learn the ministry philosophies behind Grace Church and Sovereign Grace Churches. With much reflection, my conviction to plant a healthy, gospel-centered, Chinese-speaking church within Sovereign Grace has been strengthened every day.

My wife Fangzhou and I have had the privilege of receiving one-on-one mentorship from pastor John Loftness and his wife Nancy every week. The discussions on core doctrines within the book of John, week in and week out has really deepened my understanding and transformed my life. Their loving care and spiritual counsel has not only nourished our souls but has also guided us to biblical wisdom. Our gratefulness is beyond words!

Meanwhile, Fangzhou and I have also visited all six community groups within our church to both get to know members and be known. As we shared our stories and plans for church planting, they all rejoiced with us and were eager to support us in any way they could. In mid-January, I got to preach in English for the first time at Grace Church. Afterwards, I received many kind and generous words of encouragement from these lovely friends. They were determined to build us up!

Since we moved to Clarksburg a few months ago, God has opened doors for us to know the Chinese neighbors around us. We began to build relationships with them and share the gospel with them. From the end of January, we started a small group at our home to show hospitality and deepen relationships with our neighbors. In March, to those who showed interest, we seized the opportunity and started a strategic evangelism course at our home to further the conversation with them. After comparing several courses, we chose Christianity Explored because all their videos have been translated into Chinese and we could use them immediately. Plus, we got to read the gospel of Mark with these non-believers together. We hoped to build their faith upon God’s Word from the very beginning. Now five non-believing neighbors are coming weekly. We usually have a meal together before we open the Bible and watch the video. We also give them the freedom to ask any questions they want to. May the Holy Spirit mightily work in their hearts during this process!

To communicate our various events, we have set up a Facebook page for the public to receive information. On this platform, we also invite people to church or listen to the Sunday sermon by summarizing a brief gospel message. We also printed out business cards in Chinese with our ministry introduction and my personal contact info to give to people. These cards are also available on the welcome desk for church members to grab or use in various business settings, if any.

As it gets warmer, we plan to order some gospel booklets in Chinese and do open-air evangelism by the grocery store at the center of our community. When the outdoor pools in the neighborhood are open, we also plan to go and meet people there. Recently, I got to connect with a local Chinese barber in Clarksburg, a shop which I regularly visit. Hopefully that will lead to another opportunity! We are currently doing prayer walks whenever we take a walk in our neighborhood.

We know that behind this seemingly peaceful and quiet community, a relentless spiritual war is going on. So, we really need your prayers for the following things:

• Please pray for the gospel class we are running at our home. Please pray that the Lord will open the eyes of these five non-believers who are coming, so that they are able to see the truth and put their trust in Christ.

• Please pray for our Chinese neighbors, that their hearts may be softened and ready to hear the gospel. Please pray that the Lord opens more doors for us to connect with them.

• Please pray for a core team, and that God calls more workers to labor with us for this church plant.

• Please pray for my preparation towards ordination.

• Please pray for our translation work (Sovereign Grace songs and Sovereign Grace books) and publication in China.

Thank you for all your support and prayers!

Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) 

For our family of churches to bear much gospel fruit, as Mark Prater reminded us in his second quarter prayer requests, we must continue to abide in Christ, because apart from him we can do nothing. Jesus’ words capture our utter dependence upon him. Without him, we’ve got no hope. But with him, great things can happen!!

One of the ways that we abide dependently on Christ is through prayer. For Jesus says a couple of verses later in John 15:7, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” Asking is a practical expression of abiding dependently on Christ, and so here’s how we can be doing that, together as a family of churches, over the next month…

1. Please continue to 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 way.

2. Please pray for Bob Kauflin & David Zimmer (Sovereign Grace Music), as they lead a SG Worship Matters Intensive in Sydney, Australia, with 19 guys, men from Japan, Philippines and all over Australia (May 3rd-6th).

3. Please pray for our two planned Chinese Church Plants for the US (Charleston & Maryland), for grace, provision, and the raising up of two strong church planting teams. If you are Mandarin speaker yourself, maybe the Lord is calling you to be a part of one of these endeavors?

4. Please pray for Jeff Purswell as he heads to Guadalajara (May 9-11th) to serve at the Mexican Pastors Equipping Retreat. 

5. Please pray for Billy Raies, Steven Avampato, Jeffrey Jo & Pastor Ray as they head to Nepal (May 23-27th) to serve at the NIM Network Conference with our dear friend Barnabas (SG Key Leader in Nepal). Over 400 pastors, wives and missionaries will be present, from 163 different churches. Please pray for grace and wisdom as they speak at this conference, as well as grace and wisdom as they get extended time with Barnabas to think through the next five years of SG Nepal, as we plan together for the future. 

6. Please pray for Ed O’Mara and Rocca Dalia as they look to plant a Sovereign Grace Church in Torino, Italy, later this year. Asking God to provide housing, financial resources, and a Sunday meeting place.

7. Please pray for Dave Taylor & Riley Spring (SG Australia) as they head to Liberia to serve at the Gracelife Pastors & Planters Academy (May 16-23rd), teaching on SG Church Planting. Please pray for safe travels, and receptive and faith-filled hearts. That the Lord's will may be done in these West African Nations, all for His glorious Name.  

An update from Joselo Mercado, Lead Pastor of Iglesia Gracia Soberana de Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA, and Key Leader into Sovereign Grace LATAM…

The beginning of 2023 has been an intense one, but very productive for the work of the gospel in Latin America. Here are 5 different ways Sovereign Grace of Gaithersburg (IGSG) was able to serve extra-locally. I will share a few words with you about each opportunity that the Lord allowed us to serve in, to demonstrate the great work of revival that God is doing in the Hispanic world.

Ante Su Palabra Conference, Denton, Texas, USA (January 19-21)

This is an annual leadership development conference that takes place in Denton, Texas. I am part of the team that organizes it and the purpose is to equip pastors with biblical models for the faithful proclamation of the word. ASP has conferences in Argentina and Texas. In addition, they run expository preaching training and monthly calls to encourage pastors. This conference was attended by about 850 people and Carolina Gonzales, who is a member of IGSG, was part of the logistics team. I preached a sermon from Romans 13 about the hope we have in the second coming that leads us to love the community we live in and the body of Christ.

Equipping Pastors in San Jose, Costa Rica (January 25-27)

I was able to go on this short trip to train pastors and leaders of churches interested in being adopted by Sovereign Grace. We taught on how to practice biblical fellowship. This is an area of ​​weakness in the Hispanic world where in the Hispanic culture people are very friendly with many, but develop deep relationships with few. They were presented with the biblical model of living in the light because of the reality that in the gospel we have the forgiveness of sin and the power to be transformed.

Por Su Gracia Conference, Costa Rica (March 2-6)

Rich Richardson, Bob Donohue and I went to Jaco, Costa Rica and participated in the Por Su Gracia conference with the purpose of promoting sound doctrine in this Central American country. At this moment there are 6 churches interested in being adopted into Sovereign Grace, so we were able to share with the pastors and churches of this beautiful country. On Sunday, Rich preached at Casa 2:42 in San Jose, Bob at Iglesia Bíblica de Playa Azul and I at Iglesia La Gracia in San Jose. We were very encouraged by what God is doing in Costa Rica. As the Ticos say, Pura Vida!

Pastoral Couples Retreat, Santa Marta, Colombia (March 20-24)

On March 20th, we were able to travel to Santa Marta to be with 14 couples from 7 churches, several of them in the SG adoption process. Most pastors were from Colombia, but we had two coming from Bolivia. The purpose of this retreat was to equip them with Biblical truths to strengthen their marriages, but more than that, we wanted to encourage them in their ministry and also create relationships among them so that they can serve together in the broad work that the Lord is doing in Colombia. We spent three days sharing, eating and talking. Once again Carolina Gonzales was able to coordinate all the logistics for this retreat and we were able to bless these pastors and their wives with dinners and special times in this beautiful city.

True Woman '23 – Revive our Heart Spanish (March 31 – April 2)

Lastly we went as a family to the Mujer Verdadera (True Woman) '23 conference in Guadalajara, Mexico. 8,100 women from 35 countries gathered in this city to be instructed on how to grow in their biblical femininity. This is the conference for the Hispanic wing of Nancy DeMoss' Revive Our Hearts ministry. God is using this ministry to impact Latin America and women in their families, churches and communities. I was invited to preach a sermon on freedom in Christ based on the entire book of Romans as well as participate in a panel on the freedom that the gospel offers from the false ideologies of this world. It was impressive to see what God is doing in the Hispanic world by observing so many women hungry for the word.

Something that was very special was having my whole family at the conference, and they being used as a model of doing ministry together. In addition, several IGSG members participated in the conference both face-to-face and behind the scenes. This was very edifying. On Sunday we were able to preach at the Gracia Soberana Church in Guadalajara and see the great work that Roberto Estupinian is doing leading this congregation. From there we went on vacation as a family, but we left very excited to see what God is doing.

Finally, in the midst of this, I was able to go to Santo Domingo for a week in February to start a Doctor of Ministry (DMin) with the Southern Baptist Seminary. Please pray that this opportunity will be used to better serve the local church of IGSG and wider Sovereign Grace Churches so that Christ can be made known in the Hispanic world.

An update from Ricky Alcantar, Lead Pastor of Cross of Grace Church, El Paso, Texas, USA...

Our Antioch retreat was born out of a desire to see more and more churches in Sovereign Grace follow the pattern of the church in Antioch in Acts 11-13, particularly here in the US.

In many ways the legacy of Antioch is extraordinary: It had such a strong local witness that it was there the believers were first called "Christians." It was the first place to intentionally set apart and send out Paul and Barnabas for missionary church planting work. It was a strong church that became a hub for mission and care in the early church. 

But look closer and you'll see much more "ordinary" ministry than any local church can pursue: ordinary Christians fleeing persecution planted the church when they couldn't help but tell others about Jesus, leaders were raised up, a heart for other churches became part of the church's DNA, and generosity in finances and leaders allowed the gospel work to continue forward.  

Our Antioch program aims to help churches faithfully pursue the marks of mission we see in Antioch and the New Testament, while we ask God to do more than we ask or think. This year 6 elderships came to Louisville and met with members of our Church Planting Group as we looked at the building blocks of a church fully engaged in the mission. 

• Mike Seaver inspired us to consider church planting as an extension of Christ's purposes in the world today.

• Andy Farmer helped us examine the church planting legacy of Covenant Fellowship and explored how interdependence shapes the way we plant churches and do mission together.

• Greg Dirnberger drew on his years of pastoral experience to help us see the crucial role that developing leaders has in our mission together.

• Jeremy Oddy talked about the importance of caring about our local areas and how one another ministry supports the mission of the church.

• I talked through how the many elements fit together, how the gospel propels us forward in mission, and pointed to the great hope we have that Christ is alive and working through the church in the world today.

• All 12 elders part of the retreat shared encouragement with one another, prayed for one another, and contributed to our discussions as well. 

And I'm happy to report that the Lord met us as we gathered together. 

One pastor on the retreat later admitted, "I came tired, hardly wanting to leave home to learn more about what I’m not doing well and yet I return home having been rejuvenated, envisioned, filled with contented joy, and looking forward to steps forward - one of which we will do this Sunday as we call the church family to pray together for God’s guidance in mission to our community, our desire to be a church planting church, and a church that raises up and sends out missionaries to the nations."

It was such a joy to spend long meals laughing and encouraging one another as pastors from SG regions across the country. Another Sovereign Grace pastor mentioned that the retreat was also "a very helpful time to help individual churches feel connected to the mission of Sovereign Grace as a church planting family of churches."

After the retreat each of the six churches participating will be matched up with a member of the church planting group or trained church planting coach to help them think through how to apply Antioch principles in their own local context. So please be praying for continued fruit from those conversations. Ask God that more leaders be raised up for the work, more lost people come to know the Savior in our local contexts, and that more churches are planted around the country as a result. 

At the retreat I found myself profoundly encouraged that I'm part of a family of churches that desires the same thing. It's a big mission, but one that we're privileged to play a part in, and one that we take up together.   

While my church no longer has giant "reaching the nations" words written across our walls, I pray that the ambition to be part of Christ's mission in the world today never fades from our hearts. 

PS. Interested in being part of next year's Antioch retreat? We'd love to have you. Email me at ricky@crossofgrace.net

An update from Perry Wang, church planting resident at Risen Hope Church, Summerville, South Carolina, USA…

“I knew it! I knew it!”

When Mike Seaver and Craig Tuck started talking about my 2-year church planting residency at Risen Hope Church, partnering with Centerpoint Church at Remount (a Southern Baptist church) in the Greater Charleston area, I told my wife, “I knew God would not withhold anything good from us!” When we felt God leading us to stay in the States to plant a Chinese church, we prayed that we could be trained by and involved in Sovereign Grace Churches so that we could bless the Chinese community and Chinese churches in North America, and beyond. And God opened a door for us.

It's now been a year and eight months since I started the residency and God’s grace is abundant. My R1 visa was approved in time, we have financial support, God's provided a gathering place for us, and if it all goes well, we will move into our own house in the middle of May. Above all, I am grateful for my pastoral team because their lives clearly display our “shaping virtues”: humility, joy, gratitude, encouragement, generosity, servanthood, and godliness. By living among them, they have had a great impact on my life, and I think this is just what Chinese churches need. Good leaders and sound doctrine.

There are about five thousand Mandarin-speaking Chinese people in the Greater Charleston area and among them there is only one Mandarin-speaking church, which is declining. There are about fifty people who show up for a Sunday service. I have made efforts to connect with them and at times we have been able to form good relationships. We were invited to lead a Bible study in a small group and to preach once on a Sunday. My wife Ruth was invited to teach Chinese which allowed me to build relationships with the students’ parents and share the gospel with them.

On March 4, we held our first church planting interest meeting. Nineteen people showed up, which resulted in two couples expressing their interest in being involved with the church plant and wanting to know more about it. Of the two couples, one sister is Chinese and speaks Mandarin, while her husband and the other couple are American. Another brother, Michael, who has been helping me with translating the meeting, is hoping to help in the beginning of the church plant.

After the interest meeting however, the leader of the local Mandarin-speaking church told me not to come to the church anymore, fearing that I could lead the church, or at least half of the church away, which is not our heart. So while most of the church were welcoming, we made a decision not to attend that church anymore. At first, this was very discouraging as we had made efforts with them to evangelize, lead bible studies at the nearby university and had formed connections with the church. We felt we had made some traction and been able to help. But in God's kindness, one day as I was sharing my discouragement with a brother, he said "maybe that's why God led you here to plant a church"… His words woke me up again.

So now, the next step for us is to gather and study sound doctrine together and grow the Sovereign Grace culture in our team. Our plan is to launch on September 24, 2023. Our biggest need is maturity and like-minded co-workers, especially those who have a Sovereign Grace background. Please pray that God will raise up shepherds with different gifts to build up his church.

An update from Jeffrey Jo, Senior Pastor of Cross of Christ Salvation Gospel Ministries (CCSGM) in Manila, Philippines, and National Leader for our work in the Philippines ...

It was a hot summer's day, Tuesday March 28, 2023 in Manila, Philippines where, for the first time, Sovereign Grace Churches hosted our Sovereign Grace Asia-Pacific Pastors Conference entitled “The Beauty of Pastoral Ministry”. Over 120 Filipino pastors with their wives from different parts of the Philippines, along with pastors from Pakistan, South Korea, India, Australia and the United States gathered joyously in Microtel Wyndham Hotel.

The conference started with the reading of Ephesians 4:4-6 in 7 different languages, followed by a time of heartfelt singing. We dwelled on the greatness and wisdom of God in salvation, led by Emmanuel Iluzada and CCSGM Kawit's worship team. Our Director of Global Missions, Dave Taylor, welcomed all the delegates and kicked off the preaching on ‘The Pastor and The Cross’. It was a powerful reminder indeed to all of us of our foundation, reason, inspiration and passion in pastoral ministry; namely the cross of Christ.

The following day, we faced the morning with love and laughter as all the delegates enjoyed breakfast in the hotel restaurant. The joy experienced through the fellowship of people called by God to care for His church was a lovely sight to witness. Mark Prater, our Executive Director, graced the day with his preaching on ‘The Pastor and The Flock’, teaching us that shepherds should live among their flock so that they can lovingly care and guard them. In the afternoon, the preaching centered on ‘The Pastor and His Soul’, which I had the preach. The lesson was drawn from David’s intimacy with God even in his prime years.

The last day was a blast! Mark gave a very clear instructional sermon on heathy plurality in leadership entitled ‘The Pastor and His Team’. He concluded by encouraging us with this: “When you cultivate a healthy plurality, team ministry is a joy.” Then in the afternoon, Dave gave his last sermon by challenging us to take risks for the cause of Christ, because Jesus is worth it! It was an awakening yet inspiring sermon fit to adjourn the conference.

There were church testimonies and updates as well both in the second and the third day. It was inspiring to see a genuine love of the gospel and of God's people, especially in men like Jaya Prakash, our first ordained Sovereign Grace pastor in India. It was encouraging to see a gratitude for God and for Sovereign Grace Churches, especially in men like Songhwan Kang of South Korea. It was enlivening to hear of the humility and joy of being part of a local Sovereign Grace Church, especially in men like Andrew Leung of Sydney, Australia. It was energizing yet humbling indeed to see courage and passion for the gospel, especially in men like our key leader in Pakistan!

The conference was also attended by four Filipino pastors and their wives who are interested in being adopted by Sovereign Grace Churches. One of the pastors said he had never attended a conference where the schedule was so well organized that it didn’t feel tight, where sermons were grounded from the scriptures and where preachers exemplified humility. One of the pastor’s wives also commented that this was the first pastors conference she had ever attended where the wives were appreciated, and emphasis was placed on the beautiful role she played in fulfilling her husband's pastoral calling.

Though we all know that these are the works of our gracious Chief Shepherd, I'm thankful to the people who prayed and supported us in any and every way to make this conference happen, who provided generously to the conference, and who served with loving hospitality. I hope that in God’s providence a gathering of Sovereign Grace Asia-Pacific pastors and wives can become a biennial event so that shepherds who care for the sheep will be encouraged and our region will be strengthened and unified to make His Name known!

Thank you, Sovereign Grace family of churches!

An update from Francis Mariano, Lead Pastor of Cross of Christ Salvation Gospel ministries (CCSGM), Imus, Cavite, Philippines...

In 2021 the Kawit CCSGM elders began praying for an opportunity to start a church planting mission in the province of Cavite. While praying for this project our lead pastor Jeffrey T. Jo created a church planting team and trained them for a month to lead the mission. As we continued to pray, the Lord led us to start a church in Imus, Cavite. In 2022 the following year, the Lord answered our prayers and we found a place to hold our first worship service on March 20.

We only started with 30 people in our worship service. By God's grace the team evangelised, ran bible studies and visited the area. The team offered free coffee for all to connect with the community, serve and make friends with them and share the gospel, and by God's grace some of the people who came to the church to drink free coffee now regularly attend the church.

Since then, we have run several events to reach the community around us. Last July, the team planned and conducted a medical mission with the help of some Christian friends who were doctors. The medical mission was attended by 45 people. We shared the gospel to them and by His grace some of them are now attending the church service. In December, we ran a gift giving event reaching 15 families, giving us the opportunity to share the gospel to them and they are now being discipled every Sunday. We continue to care for these people.

We regularly share the gospel in our community and plan to reach out to more souls with the gospel in our neighboring town as well. Moreover we have established a weekly prayer meeting every Wednesday at 6am, bible study every Friday at 7pm and a worship service every Sunday at 10am. We also have our Discipleship Accountability Group (DAG) where we group our men, women, young adults and youth into a small group and choose a mature brother to take care of them, encourage them and pray for them. We are also conducting a discipleship training course for our interns with the hope that they will be future elders full of love for the Lord, love for His word, love for His church and love for their families. We are praying for them that they will continue to grow and be used by God for his church. 

By God's grace and faithfulness, the Lord continues to work in the life of his church in Imus and has blessed the church with growth in numbers. Over the last year we have grown to about 50-60 adults every Sunday. We celebrated our first anniversary on March 19. Jeffrey Jo was invited to preach and it was a joy to baptise 6 people during our celebration.

Right now, our present challenge is the small space we have for our Sunday worship service gathering. We are praying for the provision of a bigger place to accommodate more people, especially on Sundays. We are also praying for more volunteer teachers for our Sunday school ministry because the children who have been attending every Sunday are also growing in number. In addition to this, we are also praying to develop more music ministry members.

In all of this, our focus right now is to continue to share the gospel of Christ, to disciple new believers, care for them, guide them to draw more to our Lord Jesus Christ and to be more prayerful as a church. Though we are very young in age as a church, our prayers and vision are to plant churches in our nearby provinces as the Lord leads us.

Thank you for this opportunity to share God’s grace in our church planting work in this region.

Soli Deo Gloria!

In his excellent book ‘Truth on Fire’, Pastor Adam Ramsey writes the following…

‘Relying on our own cleverness to live out the Christian life is like trying to circle the globe in a glider. It might fly for a while, but predictably, it is going to crash. Prayer, on the other hand, is God’s sovereignly appointed means of connecting our never-ending neediness to God’s never-ending power. Prayer is the vehicle through which God will accomplish his invincible purposes, through the lives of weak, dependent people, like you and me.’

If we want our mission to be full of divine power, then our lives must be filled with dependent prayer. We so need Him don’t we? Whatever it is - big or small - we so need Him. So here’s some ways you can be praying for us in the month ahead…

1. Please pray that God would give the members of Sovereign Grace churches opportunities to share the gospel, a life-changing message, with unbelieving family members, friends, neighbors, and coworkers over this Easter weekend.

2. Please pray that God would draw unbelievers to Sovereign Grace churches, and save them, as we hold our Easter related events and services all around the world this weekend.

3. Please continue to pray for the Arche Church in Dnipro, Ukraine that Sovereign Grace is relating to, asking God to protect them, and to use them to offer gospel hope as the war continues. They are still serving over 450 refugees a week and long for people to come to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Even in such sorrow, they are experiencing the joy of new births!

4. Please continue to pray for our Church Planting efforts around the world. With 19 Global Church Plants planned for 2023-2024, we are in much need of His never-ending power in this.

5. Please 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. All for the glory of His name.

… Thank you for praying for our family of churches. May His grace abound to us all!

An update from Bruce Chick, Senior Pastor of Sovereign Grace Community Church, Roanoke, Virginia, USA... 

In February 2023 I had the privilege to visit Liberia and Dyonah Thomas for about 16 days. Dyonah is the senior pastor of Grace Life Church and headmaster of Grace Life Ministries. Both Dyonah and his wife Mai serve the students and their wives heroically and endeavor to see the Name of Jesus lifted high in their home country of Liberia (and boy can Mai cook some delicious chicken and fried rice!).

While in Liberia I was able to teach both Old Testament 1 and Old Testament 2 to about 10 church planting residents in the Pastors College. This is the first year of the Pastors College in Liberia and it was a thrill to be able to interact with these humble, godly men for over 2 weeks in the classroom (yes, we even had classes on Saturdays). Many of these men are not only enrolled in the resident church planting program but are also taking classes in the Grace Life Seminary (graduate level) or in Grace Life College (undergraduate) while also being assigned specific overseeing duties in serving the children’s school (about 300 students) or the ministry at large, plus being involved full-time with surrounding churches (many are preaching/teaching regularly both at Grace Life and surrounding churches)!

These men have broad shoulders … but more than that, they have hungry hearts and an eagerness to establish gospel centered churches both in Liberia and in their neighboring home countries in Western Africa. Some of the students have relocated for the year from surrounding countries while others travel upwards to an hour to reach the school grounds each day. In God’s kindness, Grace Life is positioning itself to be a training center and launching pad for future gospel expansion for all of Western Africa, not just Liberia.  

I knew upon my arrival, after hearing Dyonah preach that first Sunday, that something special was happening in this place. It wasn’t just the fact that Grace Life was providing hope and new opportunities for numerous young people, or that they were tangibly meeting the needs of the surrounding communities through the local church, what was most encouraging was the fact that the gospel was the center of their theology and practice. Unfortunately, this is not normal. Even in places where there is a Christian witness in Liberia, a biblical understanding of the gospel and its application to Christian living is severely lacking.

A downtrodden people (Liberia is still recovering from a 14-year civil war and Ebola outbreak and thus are listed among the poorest countries in the world) are especially susceptible to the siren calls of temporal prosperity at the expense of eternal Christian transformation. The notion that God sometimes uses suffering, endurance, and difficulty to shine Gospel light in dark places and to magnify His glory through faithful disciples is something that Liberia desperately needs. Grace Life and the associated ministries are providing this light and are eager to both preach and provide a tangible witness to the difference that gospel centered living can provide. This was such an encouragement to me and bespoke of the tremendous privilege and opportunity to come alongside these brothers and sisters.

I watched and listened to the class minister in prayer to the now widow of Grace Life’s first church planter (William, who was the first man sent out to plant a church from Grace Life was intubated while I was there and eventually died of Tuberculosis shortly after I returned to the US); I rode in the car as Dyonah counseled and dropped off a mother of a sickly child to receive medication at a nearby pharmacy; I partook of a glorious pastor and wives dinner of about 25 individuals involved with Grace Life; I saw poverty all around, I shook the hands of transformed men, women and children; I met some who were converted in old age and others who had hope for the first time; I sang along with the joy filled congregation; I smiled and stood in awe counting the many children dressed in their uniforms awaiting for their Christian school to start; I was acutely made aware of the terrible reality of death and lack of health care for so many and I was there when Dyonah received a cancer diagnosis (he is getting treatment in Ghana and seems to be in good hands and both he and his wife are trusting the LORD for provision and health).

In all my experiences in Liberia over those 16 days it became apparent that Dyonah and the Grace Life elders were in the trenches of life in Liberia - experiencing both the joys and trials that come along with living in a fallen world. However, most prominent was the hope and the presence of God’s Holy Spirit in that place where our brothers and sisters are called to minister and give gospel witness. It was a privilege to learn from them and to partner with them in February.

It was a special honor to eagerly share with my local church community in Roanoke, Virginia upon my return regarding all that God is doing in Liberia (and soon to our region at our April Regional Assembly of Elders). Our local church is sending another elder and former missionary to the country of Senegal, to Liberia in late June of this year in order to continue to invest in the Pastors College and to explore how we can continue to partner and support the strategic ministry of Grace Life and its elders. What a joy it is to know that at the conclusion of this school year a number of new church plants with gospel values and gospel practice are by the grace of God going to be established in Liberia and beyond!

An update from Scott Crook, Lead Pastor of CrossPointe Church, Arnold, Maryland, USA…

Through a wonderful partnership between Sovereign Grace Churches and TLI (Training Leaders International) we are seeing the gospel go forth in the nation of Pakistan. For the past six years we have traveled to a neutral site in the Middle East to meet with ten Pakistani pastors. These dear brothers have faithfully served together for many years. They travel on foot and on motorbike to different villages in their country every week preaching the gospel and making disciples. Even though they are under constant threat of persecution, they baptize hundreds of new converts every year. They hold Bible studies and leadership conferences, sometimes under the cover of night. Every time they complete a training with us, they immediately return home and train other leaders with the same material. They are truly faithful stewards!

The TLI curriculum is meant to provide seminary-level training for one week, twice a year. The goal of the training is to equip pastors to understand and faithfully communicate the truths of Scripture. Josh Montague and I recently returned from Jordan for one such training. Drawing from the Book of Isaiah, our studies focused on how to preach, teach, and apply Old Testament prophecy with the ultimate goal of seeing Christ in all of Scripture.

Every moment spent with these brothers is an encouragement. They are full of joy, laughing and enjoying fellowship with one another. They passionately sing and worship the Lord through memorized psalms, using the nearest wooden table as percussion. And they are eager to praise God for everything they are learning. Here are a few highlights:

One of the first lessons focused on how Old Testament prophets should be first understood in the context of the Old Covenant. (Promises made to Israel then, judgments delivered to people then versus trying to apply them directly to people in the New Covenant today. Then we see how Christ fulfills every promise and applies those to us by His grace).

One of the Pakistani pastors stood up in the middle of the lesson and humbly confessed that he had missed this connection. He shared that for most of his ministry he had preached and taught from a legalistic standpoint, giving people commands without giving them grace. He informed the class (peers who look up to him) that he would preach differently from now on. He would keep the gospel central, knowing that we obey because we love Christ, because of what He has done for us, not because we fear judgment. The men agreed this moment was a turning point for them all. Jesus powerfully revealed His grace in a way they had not seen before, and we give Him all the praise!

By the end of the week, each pastor stood before the class and delivered a short sermon from Isaiah using the tools they've learned. One of the brothers is a 75-year-old man whose wife recently passed away last year. Instead of staying home, he told us he came on this trip because he wanted to continue to grow in his understanding of the Bible and how to be a more faithful preacher. He delivered a beautiful sermon from Isaiah 8:1-10, reminding us that while God's judgment is just, there is grace, forgiveness, and restoration for all who trust in Christ.

And then, on the last day of class, and the last sermon of the day, a young pastor new to our training stood to deliver his sermon. All week he had been very quiet and reserved. But he had faithfully been taking notes and paying close attention. When it was his turn to preach, we were all expecting a calm, bashful delivery. But how wrong we were! He preached with passion and courage. With humility and joy. With faithfulness and fire. It was clear he had been affected by the text before he preached it. I was fighting back tears as he proclaimed Christ clearly from God's Word in the power of the Spirit. Even his Pakistani brothers were surprised!

The training for these dear brothers ends with one more trip in June. But our relationship with them, and exploring their desired partnership with Sovereign Grace continues. Thank you to all who have prayed for and supported this work. God continues to bless. And He’s not done yet!

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).

An update from Stephen Bowne, Senior Pastor of Grace City Church, Frankford, Philadelphia, USA...

Grace City Church of Frankford is a Sovereign Grace Church in the Philadelphia neighborhood of Frankford. Frankford is a very poor and needy neighborhood. Our congregation matches the make-up of the community around us. We are a church of people in recovery from addiction, people that have criminal records, people that come from broken families and low education, people that struggle to get and keep jobs, and people that don’t have their own homes or don’t know where their next meal will come from.

We are a small church of about 40 people (including children) on a Sunday. It’s a beautiful mix of people from all walks of life, different ethnicities, and various levels of cognition. We gather on Sundays to celebrate the gospel together through singing, preaching, and taking communion together. We meet on Wednesdays to study the Bible and pray together. We evangelize and do good works in the neighborhood together. We fellowship together and disciple new believers. We are being a local church in our context, and that is simultaneously very ordinary and also, because of God’s work, very extraordinary.

Because of our demographics, our church survives only through other churches partnering with us to support us. We have received some support from other churches as well, but the vast majority of our support comes from Sovereign Grace churches and especially from our region. We were planted in 2018 in Frankford through this partnership and continue to survive as a church through partnership. In September of 2021 God used our partnership with other churches to make a way for us to purchase a building in Frankford and to begin the process of renovating it into a church.

Like all building projects, it took longer and was much more expensive than we first anticipated, but God continued to supply everything we needed all along the way. Financial support and work teams came from Sovereign Grace churches to supply all that we needed. And, thanks be to God, we had our first Sunday worship service at the new building on April 2nd! We are looking forward to what God has instore for us in this new building. Please pray for us as we seek His direction for the future.

Our story is an extraordinary story of God using ordinary local churches to help our ordinary local church to plant and build in Frankford. Praise God for His work in many different contexts throughout the world! What a privilege to partner together with you all.