Recently on the podcast, Ben and I spoke about sound exegesis and our complementarian convictions. Once again I recommended a valuable resource: Eikon, A Journal for Biblical Anthropology by CBMW.

Here is an excerpt from the podcast on why I highly recommend this resource. I’m very grateful for CBMW to publish a journal that is so solid exegetically to defend and even prove complementarianism from scripture.

First of all, we as pastors have to be able to teach and to show and even protect our complementarian convictions biblically. We just don't want to say it's a value that we have. We have to be able to prove from scripture the complementarian values and the theology that we embrace.

So the main point there is we've got to know our Bibles, we've got to be pastors and men and women, members of our churches, who understand why we embrace complementarian theology because that's what the Bible teaches. So that's very, very important. Let's have sound exegesis.

In the podcast, I recommend three specific articles in the Spring edition of Eikon that are responses to trends in flawed exegesis with the egalitarian position that begin to embrace same-sex relationships and marriage. I hope you will read them to better understand our biblically-based complementarian convictions:

Misunderstood Mutuality: Responding to Ronald W. Pierce and Elizabeth A. Kay, “Mutuality in Marriage and Singleness” By Denny Burk.

Yet Another Attempt to Justify What God Forbids: A Response to Cynthia Westfall, “Male and Female, One in Christ” By Andy Naselli.

Rejecting Gender Essentialism to Embrace Transgenderism? A Response to Christa McKirland's article, "Image of God and Divine Presence" By Colin Smothers.

I'm very excited to share this mission video with you because it highlights just a bit of the good gospel work being done in the Asia-Pacific part of the world. You will hear from Jeffrey Jo (Philippines), JP (India), and Songhwan Kang (South Korea). You will also get a glimpse of our first Sovereign Grace Asia-Pacific Pastors & Wives Conference in Manila Philippines.  Jefferey Jo led this conference so effectively. The video is posted to our website, as well as below.

Please take 10 minutes to watch this video and rejoice with me over the gospel ministry among our brothers and sisters in the Asia-Pacific part of  the world. Please note that due to the sound quality on the video footage, we included subtitles.

Thank you for your continued investment into our mission—first with prayer, but also financially. Your generosity now is an investment into the training of our future pastors, and it allows us to continue to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world. You can also view/download the video here. 

Recently on the podcast, Ben and I talked about 1 Corinthians 3: 5-9 with truths that can stir our faith for church planting. Here are some excerpts from the transcript, with the full podcast linked below.

Paul writes in verse 5, "What then is Apollos, what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God gives the growth. He who plants, he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field and God's building."

So just a couple of thoughts; one, in the text he says twice, that it is God that gives the growth. And, we have to have a component of faith to our church planting. That we believe our God will give the growth when we plant churches. And, when we talk about church planting there’s lot about methodology and that's really good and really helpful. So we should study those things and even put some of those methods into practice because we want to plant strong churches, but we also want to believe that God will give the growth.

Second, we are called God's fellow workers. That's stunning to me. That God would involve us in the work of his mission, but then to be called fellow workers with God, is amazing. And so when we church plant, we are laboring with God in his field, planting and watering, knowing that he will give the growth. And so church planting is a privilege because we are laboring with God. We are fellow workers with God. So, just a couple of thoughts from a text that I hope stirs us to think about church planting more and pray about church planting, and the Lord may just lead you to plant a church in the coming year or two, believing that he will give the growth.

This graphic contains a few of our highlights from 2022 (according to numbers). God has been faithful!

This summer we held a Youth Camp experience for 83 of our sponsored children in Ethiopia. The camp was organized by about 20 older teens and adult leaders from my home church - Covenant Fellowship in Pennsylvania - where a summer Youth Camp is an eagerly anticipated annual tradition. We asked the American team to give our sponsored teens a similar experience, with our in-country staff and church partners helping us adapt the Youth Camp concept for the Ethiopian context.

Throughout the 4-day camp, our sponsored kids participated in games and activities, enjoyed growing in relationship with one another, and encountered the Gospel daily in sermons, songs, and discussion groups. It was a beautiful expression of partnership as well, with about half the messages preached by visiting pastors from America and half by our Ethiopian partners. 

Please join me in praying that the Gospel seeds planted in our Ethiopian youth will bear much fruit in the months and years to come as lives are being changed for time and eternity.

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Doug Hayes is the Executive Director of Covenant Mercies in Glen Mills, PA.

The Sovereign Grace Churches Press Info Page highlights links to Sovereign Grace Music, the Pastors College, SGC Missions, our polity, events, and historical statements with FAQs. We’re a family of congregations that partner together to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ. We do this by planting and strengthening churches around the world. For more information please contact us at editor@sovereigngrace.com.