Around the World: Global Updates
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
BENJAMIN KREPS:
Hey everyone and welcome to the Mark Prater podcast — where our aim is to connect our global family of Sovereign Grace churches with our executive director.
Mark, each week when I introduce the podcast, I mention that we are a global family of churches because indeed we are. And, as you do from time to time, you're going to give updates on things that are going on in Sovereign Grace churches outside the States.
MARK PRATER:
Yes, I do. And the updates I want to give, I really want to connect them to God and His work and His glory. Psalm 67:1-2 says this: May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.
The updates I'm going to share with you are just a few illustrations of how God is blessing us and how His face is shining upon our small family of churches as we attempt to proclaim His saving power in different nations throughout the world.
I never thought we would be in this place. This is—really, again, the Lord's doing, and it's marvelous in our eyes. And all these updates I'm about to share, He gets all the glory, He gets all the credit because it's His doing, it's His leading. And that's what makes all this so joyful to report: God gets all the glory in it.
So just to remind folks, we currently have 98 full partner churches in Sovereign Grace—70 in the States and 28 outside the States. In addition, we have 41 candidate churches officially pursuing adoption into Sovereign Grace. But I'm just talking about partner churches, full partner churches that have been adopted.
In the next couple of months, we will adopt, or we will add, two partner churches in the nation of Costa Rica. Iglesia La Gracia in San Jose, Costa Rica. Those are the men we ordained last year. And Juan Jo was sent off to Lebanon. And of course, Andres and Daniel are now leading that church. They are ordained in San Andres. The other one is Iglesia Gracia Soberana in Jacó, Costa Rica, led by Eduardo Sandoval. Guys in Sovereign Grace know him as Chespi. He was ordained just a month or so ago, and he will become a full partner church.
We have our first full partner churches—actually, our second and third partner churches—in Costa Rica, since we already have one in Cartago.
And then by this fall, we will have three full partner churches in Colombia, in the cities of Santa Marta, Barranquilla, and San Gelajo. All of those men have now passed their ordination exams. Jakobis has already been ordained, and the other two men in Barranquilla and San Gelajo will be ordained in the coming months, and they will become full partner churches.
We'll add a partner church by the fall, another one in Bolivia. We already have one in Santa Cruz. This will be in Cochabamba, and that'll be another partner church in Bolivia.
And then we're about to add a full partner church in London, England.
So that will take us—certainly by the fall and this number could change—it could go up. We'll have 105 full partner churches. That's 70 in the United States and 35 outside the United States.
So just some wonderful ways that God is at work and how our polity and our statement of faith and our ordination process are strengthening the adoption process that we have in Sovereign Grace.
BENJAMIN KREPS:
Those are some very encouraging updates. It is amazing to see our family grow. And that includes something that you mentioned a moment ago, a new church plant actually in London by a guy who is a friend to many of us who are checking out the podcast right now. Tell us about that.
MARK PRATER:
Yes, Grace City Church of London is being planted by Pat Tedeschi. He has a small team and they're just beginning public services.
Pat’s original plan was to help lead a church into Sovereign Grace, one he had been interacting with in London. The founding pastor really, very much last-minute, changed his mind.
And so, Pat, really a man of integrity, decided to let that church do what it wanted to do and just prayed, sought counsel, and thought, 'let's plant in another part of London.' Grace City Church is just getting started. And if you're interested in joining that church plant, by the way, contact Pat Tedeschi, because others will be joining him to strengthen that team.
I don't remember what part of London it is. I couldn't find it before we recorded this. But if I find out, we'll pass that along in a podcast at some point. That's our newest church plant. We currently have nine additional church plants underway; with this one, it'll be 10 in eight different nations in Sovereign Grace, which is very exciting. Another way that God has blessed us and His face has shone upon us.
BENJAMIN KREPS:
Wonderful. It really is remarkable and encouraging for those of us who've been following along with Pat and Dana's story to see that detour, that disappointment in the initial plan, and then, really, what appears to be wonderfully providential: the pivoting to a church plant.
As I've talked with Pat and learned more about the church plant, you just see how God is in it, as you've been saying this whole time about Him at work in our family of churches. So, you have one more story about a church that is already part of Sovereign Grace, has been for a while, and is growing.
MARK PRATER:
Yes. And we've got other stories like this, but this was one that just came across my inbox this week. And it's Calvary Gospel Church in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, led by JP. He was ordained a few years ago. They've been a full partner church, as you mentioned, Ben.
And they are in the town that they're in, in Andhra, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, which is primarily Hindu. And so they've been faithfully sharing the gospel. And it's hard for them to get a public meeting space in a Hindu community.
What JP and his wife did is they built another level on top of their house, a big room where the church meets on Sunday. And they filled it up with people who are coming to Christ. And so they decided, we need to just build an extension on this room because I've seen before-and-after pictures in my inbox this week—people were just jammed together in the room.
And so there are some wonderful stories coming out of that church, where, for example, JP's wife sold her family's jewelry to support this building project. Other members of that church also gave a month's salary. They took their entire month's salary and gave it to this fund to help extend the building. And then we were able, as a denomination, to give funds from our Asia Pacific fund to add more. And that extension is built and now finished, and the after picture—you look at this room, you can see where the extension is—the place is full again.
Now people have got a little bit more room, not quite jammed together, but I'm looking at this picture and thinking, how much longer is that room going to be able to allow everybody that's there?
And the reason that this is significant is a couple of reasons. Again, it's in a Hindu community. And they had trouble getting a loan from a bank, to put it that way, like we would be able to here in the States, because they're a Christian organization.
And yet, they find a way to get it done through sacrificial generosity. So that's just one story, but it demonstrates the power of the gospel in a Hindu community. People are being reached with the good news of Christ. They're born again, and now they're being discipled in Christ.
And so, if you think of it, pray for JP. Pray for the members of Calvary Gospel Church as they continue to reach out with the good news of Jesus Christ, because they are declaring the saving power of God in their nation, and as a part of Sovereign Grace, we're joining them in that as we declare the saving power of God to all the nations.
BENJAMIN KREPS:
Yes, you know, those who have been following along in the podcast for a number of years—over the last six years or so—may recall, back a few years ago, you had an update with JP and his church where doors were opening in that Hindu community around them as they sought to minister to their neighbors and share the gospel.
So fast forward a couple of years, and now the church is bursting at the seams. Man, it is so encouraging to trace the hand of God and His sovereign grace working in our family of churches.
And so, yeah, thanks for the updates. We are grateful that our story is one of God being glorified. It's not a story of us being impressive. It's a story of God at work.
And so, like you mentioned at the beginning, He is being glorified, and we couldn't be more grateful in Sovereign Grace.
So thank you for the update, Mark. Thank you for checking out the podcast, everybody. We'll see you here next week, Lord willing. Bye for now.