How many times have you heard the phrase, “Well, of course, it’s 2020!” to describe another unusual event seeming to characterize this year? Let’s face it, 2020 was a challenging year filled with cancellations, restrictions, mandates, angst, disappointments, and frustration. As we near the end of 2020, we just want it to be over.

But I want to propose something that may seem counterintuitive, and yet very biblical. I believe that given the unique challenges we have all faced in 2020, this is a great year for us, as Christians, to be exuberant in expressing thanks to God. In fact, Scripture tells us that it is God’s will that we give Him thanks in all circumstances: “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thess. 5:18, ESV) It’s that phrase, “in all circumstances” that tells us there is no aspect of our lives, or of this unique year, that is excluded from us giving thanks.

To say it another way, we should be able to thank God for the cancellations and disappointments we have experienced this year because our gratitude is an expression that He rules and reigns! In his book, Thanksgiving: An Investigation of a Pauline Theme, David Pao writes, “For Paul, to give thanks ‘in all circumstances’…is a call to lead a God-centered life. To ‘give thanks in all circumstances’ is to live under the Lordship of Christ in all that we do.”[1]

Why should we be exuberant in giving thanks to Christ in a year we just want to end? Because our thanksgiving is an acknowledgment that as our Lord, He rules and reigns over all the circumstances we have faced this year. Therefore, in light of this God-centered biblical truth, I want to tell share with you just some of the things I thank God for in Sovereign Grace this year that reveal His good rule and reign in our lives.

I thank God for how the members of Sovereign Grace Churches have grown in Christ this year.

As I’ve talked to members of our churches in Sovereign Grace this year, a consistent refrain that I hear is how God has used a global pandemic to cause them to reflect upon what’s most important, including their relationship with Jesus Christ. Members of our churches have not only reordered their priorities, as I’ve listened to them, I hear a greater satisfaction in, and love for Jesus Christ.

I thank God for how He has tested the unity in our churches this year.

God has been good to use the challenges of 2020 to test the unity we have in Christ in our churches this year. Differences regarding masks, political affiliation, and whether ethnic prejudices exist or not, have uniquely highlighted the need for us to be people who are “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3). I thank God for how He has used 2020 to show us that true, genuine, lasting unity can only be experienced in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I thank God that He has tested our unity in Christ, and we have been found to be a people who “are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel” (Phil. 1:27b).

I thank God for how He has used 2020 to reveal the power of the gospel

In a year of cancellations and shutdowns because of COVID-19, God has shown us that the power of the gospel can’t be shut down by a virus. Even when our churches couldn’t gather together in the Spring, the gospel was still being proclaimed and the lost saved, like a 49-year-old man in Fayetteville, AR who heard the gospel from the members of Living Hope Church and was born again. By God’s grace, we also planted churches in Sydney, Australia; Santa Cruz, Bolivia; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; and Prattville, AL during a global pandemic. These are just some of the ways I see that God has used 2020 to show us yet again, the power of the gospel, which I thank God for!

I thank God for how He used 2020 to show us that we are sojourners who are headed home.

I thank God for how He has used the daily COVID numbers, unique frustrations, and growing divisions in our fallen world to remind us as Christians that we are sojourners who are headed to our eternal home. Hasn’t 2020 has heightened your appreciation for the promise of eternal life that we have in the finished work of Jesus Christ? In a year marked by trouble, Jesus says to us, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:1-3). I thank God for how He has used the challenges of 2020 to remind us that we are sojourners headed to our promised eternal home.

These are just some of the things I thank God for in Sovereign Grace this year. Now, let me ask you, what do you give God thanks for, even in 2020?

[1] Pao, David W., Thanksgiving: An Investigation of a Pauline Theme (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2002), 104.

Jim Donohue, pastor at Covenant Fellowship Church (Glen Mills, PA), recently wrote a blog post on our Church Development site about making sure that we’re seeing people. He writes, “God is calling us to be like Jesus and look at people—to reach out and connect. As Christians, we have the most amazing news in the world and it is news that we simply can’t keep to ourselves. We are called to love this lost world with the good news of the gospel.” The article is a good reminder of our calling as Christians—even in a pandemic ridden world! You can read the whole article here.

Among our 7 Shared Values is the value of “ Church Planting, Outreach and Global Mission.” It states: “Our gospel-centrality entails no only treasuring the gospel personally but sharing it passionately. The risen Christ commissioned His church to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20). We believe that commission falls to us and to all believers and that it is fulfilled in a primary way through church planting, whereby the gospel is proclaimed and converts are formed into communities of disciples (Acts 2:21-47; 14:23).” It’s woven into our DNA—we are always thinking about church planting because we are committed to this glorious shared mission.

In the fall of 2018, one of our local churches, Covenant Fellowship Church, planted a church about 45 min away in Newark, DE. Redeemer Fellowship started with 27 adults and has since grown. Our newest mission video tells the story of Colby who was born again because Redeemer Fellowship was faithful to warmly welcome him, and share the gospel with him. When you watch, be reminded that while this is the work of Christ alone, he used the care and labors of gospel loving people to passionately proclaim the name of Christ. I hope your heart will be stirred towards gospel mission!

We are grateful for every opportunity to reach the lost. May we all be reminded that our world needs to hear the hope of the gospel. May we be reminded that we are surrounded by Colby’s who are impacted by simple greetings and the care of patient listening. And may we be reminded that Christ has always at work around us, in us and through us. What a glorious Savior! What a glorious mission!

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Mark Prater is the Executive Director for Sovereign Grace and serves as an elder at Covenant Fellowship Church. He and his wife, Jill, have three married daughters and a growing number of grandchildren.

Dear brothers,

I’m writing this letter the day after Easter 2020. This is a Resurrection Sunday that you won’t soon forget because your church couldn’t gather together yesterday to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For you, it must have been especially difficult and sad to not be with, see, and worship with the people in your church. There is a unique pain and burden that a pastor feels in this regard, therefore, it seemed timely to write you a letter of encouragement to “build you up in your most holy faith” (Jude 20) and to strengthen you for the days ahead. Here are just some of the ways I see God’s grace at work in you, and I hope they provide timely encouragement.

This pandemic has not stopped you from preaching the gospel.

When you were ordained as a pastor, you made a solemn commitment to preach Christ and him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2). Yesterday, you kept your commitment by preaching the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, whether by livestream, Zoom, written devotionals or worship guides. You looked the COVID-19 pandemic in the eye and with faith and courage said, “For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:16). Well done, brothers! I want to encourage you for not allowing trials, not even a pandemic, to keep you from preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This pandemic did not stop you from preaching the resurrection with joy.

Yesterday, you preached the gospel, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ in particular, with joy. God loves a joyful preacher. Lewis Allen says it this way, “Our ever-blessed, ever-joyful God wants to be proclaimed by those who are brimful of the joy his grace in Christ brings. Preacher and sermon must be filled with gospel joy. ‘With joy you will draw from the wells of salvation’ (Isaiah 12:3). Preachers who taste, teach, and share the joy of the gospel are truly fulfilling their calling as they serve those who listen.”[1] Of course those who listened to you yesterday were not sitting in your church. It was sad for you to not be with your people. But the social distancing restrictions that we must follow in the midst of this pandemic did not stop you from preaching the hope of the resurrection of Jesus Christ with joy. Be encouraged brothers, because you are men who are “sorrowful, yet ALWAYS rejoicing” (2 Cor. 6:10), and your joy brings authenticity to the gospel you preach.

This pandemic has deepened your faith in the God you preached.

Because of the pandemic, your church couldn’t gather together yesterday. When you preached, you couldn’t personally look at those you were preaching to. And yet, by faith, you preached anyway, because you are men who “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7). You couldn’t see or hear the immediate effect of your preaching, and yet you preached with faith believing that the power of God, through the work of the Holy Spirit, in the listeners life would bring about transformation and growth. Brothers, be encouraged because yesterday you fought “the good fight of the faith” (1 Tim. 6:12).

This pandemic has deepened your love for the people in your church.

The sadness, frustration, and pain you felt yesterday because you couldn’t be with your people, is a reflection of your love for them. A pastor loves his people, and this pandemic is being used by God in your life to deepen the love you have for those entrusted to your care. Your desire to be with the people in your church, and see them again, reveals how dear they really are to you. In fact you can relate even more with Paul who wrote to the Thessalonians, “So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but our own selves, because you had become very dear to us” (1 Thess. 2:8). Be encouraged brothers for how this pandemic is deepening your love for those who have become even more dear to you.

This pandemic has reminded you that you aren’t alone in ministry.

The social distancing needed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 isolates us all and can heighten the loneliness we can feel especially when a pastor can’t be with his people. And yet I know, that my voice of encouragement through this letter, is only one of many voices of encouragement in Sovereign Grace. I see Sovereign Grace pastors taking the time to encourage one another through texts, e-mails, phone calls, and via Zoom. Be encouraged brothers, because you have taken the isolation that social distancing requires and turned it on its head to care for one another. At a time when you might feel vulnerable to being alone in ministry, our relationally-driven partnership has only been strengthened, reminding us that we are not alone as we advance the gospel together.

These are just some of the ways I see God’s grace at work in you. I hope they do provide timely encouragement especially the day after a Resurrection Sunday we won’t soon forget. Again, I don’t know if it’s appropriate for me to say this or not, and I really don’t care if it isn’t, so I’m going to say it anyway. I’m so proud of the pastors in Sovereign Grace! You are gospel-men, churchmen, and men I love and respect. Therefore, it remains a joy and privilege to labor for the gospel alongside each of you.

With my respect and encouragement,

Mark

[1] Lewis Allen, The Preachers Catechism (Wheaton: Crossway, 2018), 31.

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Mark Prater is the Executive Director for Sovereign Grace and serves as an elder at Covenant Fellowship Church. He and his wife, Jill, have three married daughters and a growing number of grandchildren.

Sovereign Grace exists to advance the gospel by planting and strengthening churches throughout the world for the glory of God. For that reason, I’m excited to share with you one of our newest church plants, Sovereign Grace Church in Santa Ana, CA. Planted out of Sovereign Grace Church in Orange, CA, this small church plant is marked by a sacrificial servanthood that is committed to helping the lost in their neighborhood hear about Jesus. They are living out the Great Commission (Matt. 28) in a very real way as they seek to serve and care for their community.

This video is introduced by our recently appointed Director of Church Planting, Eric Turbedsky (Senior Pastor, Sovereign Grace Church of Orange). I am so grateful for Eric’s heart for his local community, as well as seeing church’s planted in his surrounding area, throughout the United States and in other nations. He and Kyle Houlton (Senior Pastor, Sovereign Grace Church of Santa Ana) are living out gospel partnership together and I’m excited to see how God uses them in Southern California.

Please take a few minutes to watch this video. And consider financially supporting Sovereign Grace. Opportunities like planting Kyle’s church requires money and resources. We are grateful for your consideration of partnering in our mission to advance the gospel through church planting. If you are interested in giving, you can find more information here.

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Mark Prater is the Executive Director for Sovereign Grace and serves as an elder at Covenant Fellowship Church. He and his wife, Jill, have three married daughters and a growing number of grandchildren.

On an average year, I read between forty and sixty books.  Usually, there are one or two of those books that go on my “Reread” list.  These are the books that were so meaningful and well written, that  I want there teaching and training to inform a later season in my walk with God. Tim Shorey’s Respect the Image is one such book.

Tim writes with a unique style and a winsome quality that makes reading enjoyable.  I’m not sure it would matter the topic to draw the reader in, but focusing on “reflecting human worth in how we listen and talk” is a fascinating topic in a cultural moment where many are running in opposite directions when it comes to political, social, and racial debates.   Tim’s pastoral experience of planting a multi-ethnic church give an add a layer of the necessity, urgency, and wisdom of followers of Christ learn how to listen well.  Hard and awkward conversations are necessary if we are going to love others the way Christ did.

Tim Shorey takes us by the hand to center us on the Gospel and then clarifies how the Gospel informs every part of the communication process in all spheres of life and relationship.  His chapter by chapter acrostic of C-O-M-M-U-N-I-C-A-T-E slows you down to consider many of the complex dynamics that go into conversations, but also the joyful privilege of never speaking with a mere mortal.

The book ends with an Appendix called “G.R.A.C.E and Race Conversations:  Guidelines for Difficult Group Discussions.”  Simply put: It is a goldmine.  Our church has already used these guidelines in our own racial reconciliation work in Charleston, SC.

Respect The Image will serve my church family and I think it will benefit yours as well.  Put it on your list to read and then put it on your list to re-read.

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Mike Seaver is the lead pastor of Risen Hope Church, a Sovereign Grace Church, in Summerville, SC. He is a graduate of the Pastors College and has a master’s degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Mike is married to his best friend, Kristin, since 2000 and they have five beautiful daughters.