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"What a myst’ry, oh what love. Oh how can it be that heaven has come to us!"

An update by David Del Castillo, Pastor of Iglesia Gracia Soberana, Santa Cruz, Bolivia

This has been a time of growth for our church. Although we have already started conducting pastoral interviews for the group that finished the last membership process, we have many waiting to start the process because they arrived once it had already begun. They are very encouraged to be part of our church!

So much so, that our place is already getting too small. We added 15 more chairs which is the capacity limit and after worship time we have to wait for the children to go to Sunday school so that people have a chair to sit in. Every Sunday we have between 80 - 90 people in attendance and so we pray that God guides us in what to do, since the place we have is very low cost compared to the increase we would have to pay for a new meeting place.

An update from Jeremy Hetrick, Lead Pastor of Redeeming Grace Church, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania:

On Sunday, August 27, 2023, Ben Kreps and Living Hope Church in Middletown, Pennsylvania (PA), commissioned and sent out my family and I, along with approximately 100 other adults and children to launch Redeeming Grace Church in Mechanicsburg, PA. It was a joyous yet teary occasion as members and friends who, for years have done life together at Living Hope, said their good-byes for the sake of Jesus Christ and the gospel mission in the Mechanicsburg region. While we still live within about a half hour, we all recognized the cost of going on this church plant and being on mission for Jesus.

We (Redeeming Grace Church) held our inaugural meeting the following week at Elmwood Academy in Mechanicsburg on Sunday, September 3rd, with 190 in attendance. Now, after two months of meetings, we have seen many new guests from various cultural backgrounds and walks of life, and our attendance has hovered around 140.

Churches in Partnership

The seventh edition of the Sovereign Grace Journal is here: Churches in Partnership. It’s written by Sovereign Grace pastors for the pastors and members of Sovereign Grace Churches.

“One of the Seven Shared Values of Sovereign Grace Churches is that we are united in fellowship, mission, and governance. In John 17:20-21, Jesus prayed that his people would be one, so that the world would embrace the good news of Christ. We believe this unity should find expression through churches partnering together for the gospel. This partnership we see throughout the New Testament, and is God’s design for the church today. It is through the interdependence of local churches that Christian unity is beautifully displayed, relationships are enjoyed, congregations are protected, and the message of the gospel advances in power. This issue of the Sovereign Grace Journal is devoted to the happy theme of partnership among churches. Be sure to read Mark Prater’s article which tells the story of why he is part of Sovereign Grace. Ben Kreps draws lessons on partnership from Philippians and Steve Whitacre does the same from the book of Acts. Riley Spring has provided a valuable explanation of what partnership means for church members. The articles in this issue explain each aspect of our unity: united in fellowship, united in mission, and united in governance. It is our hope that pastors and church members celebrate each of these aspects of partnership. One of my favorite parts of this issue are the partnership stories. These stories could be greatly multiplied, and they illustrate the central theme of this issue: churches are stronger together.” ~Jared Mellinger, Senior Pastor, Covenant Fellowship Church in Glen Mills, PA.

We hope you will enjoy reading it. All articles are linked on the website, or you can purchase a hard copy on Amazon or download the PDF.

Wissinoming Park, Northeast Philadelphia,

Recently on the Mark Prater Podcast, Ben Kreps & Mark interviewed Dan Birkholz, Senior Pastor of Mercy Gate Church in the Wissinoming section of lower Northeast Philadelphia, known for its’ challenges and brokenness. Watch or listen below to learn how the Gospel is reaching the diverse population and hearts are being cared for through Grief Share, a Jesus Club and more.

Mission team members from both Greentree Church (New Jersey) and Covenant Fellowship Church (Pennsylvania) in the US.

A recap of a short term missions trip to London, England:

From September 8th-18th our church sent out a short-term mission team to do Muslim evangelism with a church plant in central London, England. You can find people from much of the world in London, where over 300 languages are spoken. This church is located in a neighborhood where there are dozens of unreached people groups, and so we had an amazing opportunity to proclaim the gospel in a place where it is really not understood, where secularism and many false religions like Islam abound. 

Our team members were very effective in engaging with Muslims as well as other internationals. A main goal for this trip was to come alongside this church’s members (most of whom are converts to Christianity from an unreached Muslim people group), and to help equip them in evangelism so that they would be encouraged to continue reaching out to friends, family and even strangers after our team had gone. 

While there we also had the opportunity to help lead in Sunday worship services. One of the highlights was seeing seven former Muslims be baptized in the name of Jesus! Many of these new believers had to escape their home country because of having converted to Christianity. They have faced much loss and persecution in embracing Jesus and remaining faithful to Him, and yet they are filled with joy because of God’s rich mercy to them in the Gospel! 

We are hopeful to see this church become more involved with Sovereign Grace in the future. We desire to see others within our denomination consider participating in this strategic ministry in order to strengthen that church, and to see other Sovereign Grace churches planted throughout London and even other parts of Europe. Please continue to pray for this ministry. 

~Pat Tedeschi, Pastor, Greentree Church, Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey