How do you summarize an entire fellowship of churches in four words?
As a pastor I’ve often asked by new people to our church, “Tell me about Sovereign Grace Churches and its mission” but I confess I’ve often found it a difficult task. I’m nearly 40 years old now and have spent all of those 40 years in this family of churches. I could tell people about the messages I’ve heard at conferences that have shaped me, the friends I’ve made in churches across the US and the world, the support I receive every year as a pastor from other fellow pastors here, I could sing a Sovereign Grace Music song, I could talk about going on missions teams as a teenager.
But often the person doesn’t have time for an hour of memories and reminiscing. So I’ve wanted to find a sentence to give them. A handful of words to help them hear our heartbeat. And I think I’ve finally found it.
Spurgeon’s Impulse and Legacy
Almost 200 years ago now, Charles Spurgeon founded a school for pastors in London, England. His motto for the school was just four words in Latin:
Et Teneo, Et Teneor, which means, “I hold and I am held.”
Spurgeon writes in his autobiography, “We hold forth the Cross of Christ with a bold hand . . . because that Cross holds us fast by its attractive power. Our desire is that every man may both hold the Truth, and be held by it; especially the truth of Christ crucified.”
As I read Spurgeon’s summary I thought, “That’s our family of churches.” We aren’t aiming to be the most cutting edge, the most innovative, the slickest. We’re aiming to be faithful. We’re aiming to hold on to the right things.
And our hope and comfort has always been that God will hold us. Ultimately we don’t trust our strategies or ideas in ministry. We trust the Sovereign Grace of God that saved us to bring us safely home.
So here’s how I would summarize it:
Hold fast, held fast.
I think that’s who we have always been as a family of churches and who we aim to be long into the future. I never expected to find a tagline for a family of churches in 2025 from a pastors school in the 1860s, but I did.
Our Heartbeat
Think of it “hold fast, held fast” as our heartbeat as a family of churches. It’s not everything you should know about us. But it tells you what’s beating at our center.
I love the image of a heartbeat. Just as there is a push and pull with our heartbeat there is a push and pull to our ministry. We push forward to hold fast to the right things, but we are secured and are held fast by Christ.
You see this heartbeat in Hebrews 10:23-25 “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for yhe who promised is faithful.” Both elements are there – the bold call to hold on to the right things, and the comfort that God holds on to us.
And in a sermon on Hebrews 10:23-25 Spurgeon preaches, “While we hold fast the profession of our faith, the blessed truths of that faith may also hold us fast as an anchor holds a ship! Never was there a time in which this was more needful. That exhortation, ‘Let us hold fast,’ might well be written on the cover of every Christian’s Bible. We live in such a changeful age, that we need all to be exhorted to be rooted and grounded, confirmed and established, in the truth.”
Tying It Together
Sovereign Grace Churches is built around some key distinctives but each of them carries a charge to “hold fast”:
- We have a robust Statement of Faith that aims to help us hold on to the truths of Scripture in the midst of the winds and waves of the world around us
- We have a sturdy partnership with a detailed polity for how we relate to each other so that we can hold fast to each other
- We have a legacy of planting churches around the world because we’re aiming to hold fast to the mission Jesus has given us
- We have a Pastors College that aims to train gospel ministers to hold fast to the essentials of gospel ministry
- We have Sovereign Grace music which aims to help equip our churches sing the gospel and hold fast to its truths every Sunday
- We produce resources in print and digital to help our churches hold fast to our confession together
But through all those endeavors our name reminds us that we are held fast by the Sovereign Grace of God. Any good thing we accomplish flows from his mercy. Any uncharted waters we enter we trust that he will safely pilot us through. It is all his grace.
Onward Together
Sometimes you may see the phrase “Hold fast, held fast” clearly and boldly on our site, in an article or a T-Shirt. But more often it’ll be in the background of all we do – a reminder for ourselves as we produce resources and advance in mission.
So if you have been part of Sovereign Grace Churches over the past 40 years, thank you for helping us hold fast to what matters most. Much has changed, but you’ve helped ensure that the most important things haven’t changed at all.
And if you are part of Sovereign Grace Churches today, thank you for coming alongside us to hold fast in this next generation. The call is for each church, each generation, each nation, to continue to grip the gospel and our confession of faith with both hands, so that we might pass it on to those after and beyond us.
Et teneo, et teneor,
-Ricky Alcantar
P.S. I remember singing this more than 15 years ago. I pray my kids are singing the same things in another 15 years.
P.S.S. Check out this video for more.