We plant churches to serve our communities and to reach people with the good news of Jesus Christ.

This video highlights just one example of what the Lord has done and is doing through our church planting efforts—which is why we have made church planting such a large part of our mission as a denomination.

What is most evident (and what we hope you are most encouraged by) in this video is the saving grace of God. He continues to move on the hearts of those in need of him. This video is an inspiring reminder of how God pursues us, provides grace, and, in his kindness, does it through the local church.

We are grateful to God for Stephen and his faithful service to the men and women in his community. May God continue to add to Grace City Church of Frankford.

Please consider giving to the Sovereign Grace Church Planting Fund. The prayers and the generosity of the members and friends of our churches will allow us to continue to plant churches in the United States and beyond.

Let us continue to plant churches to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ, all for His glory alone.

An update from Riley Spring, Lead Pastor of Sovereign Grace Church Parramatta and National Leader for SGC Australia…

On September 15th, we had the immense joy of celebrating our 5th Anniversary since planting Sovereign Grace Church Parramatta. It was a day full of gratitude and joy, and in true SG Parra fashion, we packed the morning with baby dedications, new member inductions, and the baptism of a new believer! It was a special moment in the life of our church family.

When the 28 of us first left Sovereign Grace Church, Wahroonga, we were excited, hopeful, "ready"—and blissfully naïve! Five years and a global pandemic later, we are still excited and hopeful, eager to serve, but perhaps a bit more seasoned.

Through it all, we have sought to be an ordinary church proclaiming an extraordinary gospel. It’s been a joy to witness God’s Word taking root in hearts and transforming lives from the inside out.

This post originally appeared on our SG Missions blog.

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

Our 2024-25 US Church Planting Cohort kicked off with a retreat in Glen Mills in late September. Five men gathered with me and Nick Kidwell for a time of relational connection, instruction and strategic thinking for church plants that are anticipated to launch over the next twelve months.

The cohort this year consists of:

• Mario Figueroa, who is planting a bi-lingual church in Tampa, FL in connection with Grace Church of Orlando.

• Eric Huber, who is planting a church in Galloway, NJ out of Greentree Church in Egg Harbor, NJ.

• Adam Penird, who is planting a church in North Manchester, IN out of Christ Covenant Church in Winona Lake, IN.

• Nathan Smith, who is planting a church in Coatesville, PA out of Covenant Fellowship Church in Glen Mills, PA.

• Howard Varnadoe, who is planting a church in Springhill, TN out of Redeeming Grace Church in Franklin, TN.

We began our monthly zoom calls in October talking about how to gather and pastor folks toward a church plant. In the next few months we’ll be talking about things like assessing locations and meeting facilities, developing missions and evangelism strategy and planning for plurality. 

Please pray for these men as they work toward the requirements for approval of their plant proposals in their regions and for their families as they begin to make transitions toward the church planting experience. 

This blog was originally shared on our SG Missions blog. Click here to see the original post.

The National Church Planting Group is looking forward to gathering again at this year’s Pastors Conference. We’ll be hosting an Info Meeting that will be held Wednesday, November 6th from 3-4 pm at the conference hotel. We hope those of you who are attending the conference can join us!

At Sovereign Grace Churches, we seek to serve both church planting candidates and local churches in a number of ways. You can read more about the Assessment for Church Planters, the Small Towns Initiative, and the Antioch Program in more detail on our SGC Pastors website. We also have a number of tools and resources available there to serve church planters.

See you soon in Orlando!
Joel Shorey

Joel Shorey serves as the lead pastor at Redeemer Fellowship and Director of Church Planting with Sovereign Grace Churches.

In his commentary on the book of Judges, Dale Ralph Davis writes this about prayer, “Yahweh’s hearing is the most crucial matter for all prayer…When God listens to our voice, we must never respond with a yawn. We will trivialize prayer whenever we forget the repeated miracle it involves, the gracious condescension of the King of glory, who stoops down to listen to our verbs and nouns, our adverbs and questions, our groans and tears.”

What an amazing, humbling truth that we must never take for granted. God listens! In gracious condescension, He stoops down and listens to our prayers. May that “repeated miracle” fuel our desire to pray for our shared mission, and for one another in Sovereign Grace.

Sovereign Grace Churches Fourth Quarter 2024 Prayer Requests

• Pray that God would give us opportunities to invite unbelievers and the unchurched to Sovereign Grace churches as we hold our Christmas related events and services in December.

• Pray that God would give the members of Sovereign Grace churches opportunities to share the gospel with unbelieving family members, friends, neighbors, and coworkers over the holiday season.

• Pray for the Sovereign Grace Churches Pastors Conference, November 5-7, 2024, in Orlando, FL asking God to work in a way that our relationships among our churches are strengthened, pastors and wives are equipped for what God has called them to do, and that our family of churches is united in our shared gospel mission all for the glory of God alone.

• Pray for the annual Sovereign Grace Churches Council of Elders meeting on November 4, 2024, in Orlando asking God to give our pastors wisdom to make decisions that strengthen our mission, foster our unity, and that best serve our churches.

• Pray for Bob Kauflin as he leads four Prepare Him Room events in December in Franklin, TN, Knoxville, TN, New Orleans, LA, and Louisville, KY. Pray for the musicians, vocalists, and staT joining Bob asking that God would grant them grace to use their gifts to make much of Christ as we celebrate His birth.

• Pray for Pat Tedeschi, currently a pastor at Greentree Church in Egg Harbor Township, NJ who will be moving to London in early 2025 to lead Oasis International Church into partnership with Sovereign Grace. Pray that God would provide visas, housing, etc. for Pat and his wife Dana, and ask God to give Pat wisdom and help to lead Oasis Church to continue their gospel mission in London with a strong interdependency among the Sovereign Grace churches in Europe, and among our family of churches globally.

• Pray for the Philippine Pastors Institute, which started another academic year in September, looking to theologically equip 14 students. It’s the hope that through this institute Sovereign Grace Philippines, and the Mindanao Region specifically, will continue to be faithful in gospel ministry for generations to come.

• 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.

Looking for resources from previous events? Visit our event page and scroll down to “Past Events”. Here you’ll find archived messages, transcripts, videos, and more.

If you’re looking for something specific and don’t see it, let us know.