I spoke with a Sovereign Grace pastor recently who told me that even though his church is unable to gather together, the pandemic is actually being used to bring his church closer together. I see a similar thing throughout Sovereign Grace. God is using the COVID-19 pandemic to highlight the fact that we are truly a global “family of churches.” Isn’t it so good of God to use a global trial to bring us closer together as a “family” in Sovereign Grace?

One of the ways that our Sovereign Grace family cares for one another during this unusual time is to pray for one another. Below you will find the “Sovereign Grace Churches Second Quarter Prayer Requests.” The requests do focus on prayer needs that are the result of the pandemic. Consider praying for our family of churches in a future livestream service, Sunday or Small Group Zoom meeting, or include these requests in a devotional you create. May our prayers for one another strengthen our partnership and our faith to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ together for His glory alone.

• Pray that God would give the members and pastors of Sovereign Grace churches opportunities to serve our community and demonstrate the love of Christ during the COVID-19 pandemic looking for opportunities to share the gospel with unbelievers.

• Pray for the members of Sovereign Grace churches who are unemployed, have been furloughed from their jobs, or who own businesses that have been negatively impacted financially by the COVIOD-19 pandemic asking God to provide for them.

• Pray for the pastors of Sovereign Grace churches asking God to give them wisdom in knowing when and how to reopen their church in the coming months.

• Pray that God would provide for Jorge Del Castillo, David Del Castillo and their church plant team who started services in Santa Cruz, Bolivia just before the COVID-19 pandemic started and haven’t been able to meet since early March.

• Pray that God would use this unprecedented pandemic for an unprecedented advancement of the gospel throughout the world.

• Pray that God would continue to provide financially for Sovereign Grace Churches so that we can fund the gospel opportunities He is giving us.

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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.

One of our churches, Sovereign Grace Church of Santa Ana, created and released this video just before Easter. We were so encouraged to see the faces of members of that church–people proclaiming joy in the midst of the pandemic, looking for God’s blessing during restrictions. Take a few minutes to watch this video, thanking God for his grace to this church while things are just hard. We hope that it will lead you to rejoice in God’s goodness to each of us specifically, to Sovereign Grace Church of Santa Ana and to our small denomination of churches. Praise God from whom all blessings flow! Where can you find joy in the midst of this pandemic?

Watch the video here.

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.

There’s rarely a day that goes by where I don’t thank God for you and the gospel partnership we have in Sovereign Grace. Our shared mission to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ by planting and strengthening local churches throughout the world is a highlight in my daily work. And I love to share with you ways that our partnership is bringing more glory to God. In this end of the year mission video, two of our younger Senior Pastors discuss the impact that other Sovereign Grace Churches have had on them and their local church. What I want you to see and hear is how God allows us to support and strengthen one another through community and care even when we’re geographically far apart. These evidences of grace make our partnership all the more effective and enjoyable—a gift from God that is underserved.

Please watch this mission video and join me in expressing gratitude to God for one another and the partnership we enjoy. And consider financially supporting Sovereign Grace as our ministry opportunities are often many more than our funds allow. For more on how you can give and what your money supports, please visit our give page.

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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.