There’s a group of 15 believers in a remote village in south central Burma (or Myanmar) somewhere near the Irrawaddy Delta, who are quickly becoming some of my spiritual heroes. Unlike me, these men and women are consistently facing opposition as they seek to plant a gospel-centered church. Opposition for me is the weird look I occasionally get when mentioning I’m a pastor. But listen to how my friend David describes this group of people:
Our church plant continues to meet on a regular basis, but with significant pressure from both local and religious leaders. At first, we had informal gatherings, but when [the authorities] see a pattern of our folks worshipping on Sunday morning and that our church planter is going from house to house, they accuse us of “changing their religion” and “creating problems” in their village. But the believers have all agreed and confess boldly that they have been changed by Jesus…
Western Christianity is much different than this; stories like this can sometimes be difficult to connect with. But there’s more. The cloud of oppression for this small group of believers changes their actual meetings. During worship, they sing softly. When they’re taking requests before their Heavenly Father, it’s barely above a whisper. Why? They don’t want to draw unnecessary attention resulting in targeted persecution. They live out a Christianity where that possibility is never far from their minds. The pastor of this small church spends each week encouraging these believers to hold fast in their faith. The current study diet: “to be strong in the Lord.” That’s serious stuff. When we talk about church-planting difficulties in the States, we rarely see seminars on how to avoid arrest or suffer persecution for God’s glory. And yet, when you interact with David and this church, you find a group of people who are less aware of suffering than they are of the Savior. I want to be like that. In Sovereign Grace, we’re thinking a lot about people like this group in south central Burma. We’re also thinking a lot about the 41% of the world’s population that still exists unreached by the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we need your help. David is a pastor from Burma who graduated from our Pastors College. He’s got serious game when it comes to planting churches and a real heart to see the gospel preached in his home country. In fact, he is responsible for leading and directing a well-known church planting center, as well as a portion of the teaching. The guy never stops! Currently, David is looking to plant another church near the Irrawaddy Delta in a village largely unengaged and unreached by the gospel. As an inroad, he’s starting a preschool there. It’s crazy stuff, but we’re excited to partner with David to make it happen. But there’s even more. We continue to look at other areas of the world where unreached people groups exist. We’re considering involvement with unreached Muslims in an African nation. We’re supporting translations work and other ministries that work on the front lines. There are also men related to these ventures that we’re considering for the Pastors College. These are all exciting updates that appear to change on an almost daily basis. And each day, we’re reminded that what we need more than anything are your prayers. As you read this, a few Sovereign Grace pastors are visiting this small church in south central Burma to encourage the believers in their faith. Pray that God would use these men in mighty ways. Pray that more would be converted in this small village. Please pray for David. Pray that God would soften the hearts of those unengaged among the Karen people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray for the selection of leaders for these churches. Pray that the gospel would go forth and many would be saved to the glory of God. Pray that we would play our part in Sovereign Grace Ministries and that every dollar spent would be multiplied so that God’s kingdom would expand. May God bless the advancement of the gospel in Burma, North Africa, India, and among the unreached people groups beyond our borders!
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Dave Harvey leads international expansion and church planting for Sovereign Grace Ministries and is based in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania. For more information about the Sovereign Grace church-planting process, click here.
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International | Missions | Sovereign Grace update
Today’s topic is “why plant churches?” I’m going to answer this question in two posts, or maybe three. Or maybe 40. In my first post, I mentioned that church planting is part of our DNA. That’s worth explaining because it goes to our history. I’m going to get to the more important reasons from Scripture in my next post, but let me first tell you a brief version of our story. Way back in the 1970’s, before rock was classic and when disco still had shreds of respectability, there was a teaching ministry in the Washington, DC, area called Take and Give (TAG). For several years, TAG’s weekly meetings attracted up to 2,000 people, most of them young and eager for genuine encounters with Christ. C.J. Mahaney was one of the primary teachers. I’ve heard C.J. say that season was the closest he’s ever come to experiencing authentic revival. Hundreds upon hundreds of young people were powerfully converted to Christ. But as TAG’s attendance grew, there was a concern among some in leadership about the limitations of regularly gathering people for teaching in a non-church context. The Lord was blessing the teaching meetings, but a mere teaching meeting seemed insufficient. People needed care, training, and meaningful relationships in a loving but accountable context. They needed pastors who would teach them and care for their souls. This cast them back upon Scripture. Through study, the TAG leadership began to see that their approach to teaching and caring for Christians lacked a biblical context. They began to gain a burden and a vision for the local church. So imagine this scene. One evening, at the height of TAG popularity, the TAG leaders stun the large crowd by announcing that the Tuesday night meetings are ending. I wasn’t there, but I’m told it was quite the evening. Why would these men possibly tamper with that kind of success? It’s simple. A conviction had reached critical mass. The TAG leaders were convinced that God’s appointed means of caring for his people was the local church, not simply a teaching meeting. Soon thereafter, Covenant Life Church was born. And soon a passion for church planting developed. Our church in Philadelphia was a first fruit of that passion. A small group of families and singles relocated to the Philadelphia area in 1984 for the express purpose of starting a church. As we became established, the vision for church planting was internalized through study and a growing awareness of how God had blessed us through the sacrifices of our sending church. Covenant Fellowship has since planted other churches (ten, to date!) and helped train many other leaders for church plants. And, now, some of those churches are themselves beginning to explore and enjoy the adventure of church planting! Similar patterns have emerged elsewhere within the Sovereign Grace family too. Early in our journey, it became apparent that our churches needed a stronger link than name and common doctrine. A leadership team was formed to help establish strategies for future missions direction. Sovereign Grace Ministries—then called People of Destiny International and later PDI—was formed. The result has been slow, intentional growth from a single church to, as of this writing, more than 85 churches…including eight being started right now. We also work in 22 nations worldwide by helping leaders catch a biblical vision for planting gospel-centered churches. By God’s grace, these churches are joined by a commitment to the gospel and a passion for the local church and missions, which itself spills over from our love for the gospel and the application of God’s Word. Sovereign Grace owes its existence to the grace of God through church planting. That’s why it’s in our blood. But more importantly, it’s in our Bible. Join me next time to examine why Scripture compels us to plant churches. -----------------------------
Church planting | Sovereign Grace update
A Debt of Gratitude from Sovereign Grace Ministries on Vimeo. HT: Citygate Films.
Note: This film forms one piece of our 2009 Mission Presentation. Two of this year’s films are available online. To view the other film (“Kingdom Life: Bahamas”), see this post from last week.
For more Mission Presentation films from this year (or previous years) click here.
Sovereign Grace update | Videos
Right now Matthew Wassink is preparing for a Greek final, studying the book of Acts and the Pauline epistles, and finishing up a research paper on Spirit baptism. The 10-month Pastors College program is coming to an end, and graduation is only days away. But the academic rigors and deadlines are nothing new for Matthew, who graduated from seminary in 2008. At our recent conference Matthew walked through his Pastors College experience to explain a few of the ways he and his wife have benefitted over the past several months. Along the way Matthew shared his path into Sovereign Grace Ministries and the evaluation process that preceded the PC. Matthew’s entire story is marked by humility, trust in God, and faith for the future. His experience is a moving testimony about the difference the Pastors College makes. Listen to the 17-minute testimony here: Download MP3 (3.9 MB)
Sovereign Grace update | Pastors College
Ian McConnell grew up in North Philadelphia, the oldest of six boys in a “rough-around-the-collar” Irish-Catholic family. Today, by God’s grace, Ian is an urban church planter and the lead pastor of Grace Bible Church in Philadelphia. On July 5, Grace Bible Church will celebrate their adoption into the Sovereign Grace family of churches. At our 2009 Pastors Conference, Ian shared his passion for urban church planting and told the story of his path into Sovereign Grace. You can listen to the 14-minute audio clip here: Download MP3 (3.2 MB)
Adoption | Sovereign Grace update | Church planting
Audio clips | Conferences | Pastoral ministry | Sermons | Sovereign Grace update
Each year, Sovereign Grace Ministries presents a short documentary highlighting a few of the activities in our family of churches. This year, we produced three shorter films to highlight our Pastors College, our ministry among international churches, and our church-planting activities in the United States. Our second documentary in the 2008 Mission Presentation features Covenant Life Church in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which was planted by two Pastors College students five years ago and is now planting another church in Addis. View the film here.
International | Missions | Sovereign Grace update | Videos
Each year, Sovereign Grace Ministries presents a short documentary highlighting a few of the activities in our family of churches. This year, we produced three shorter films to highlight our Pastors College, our ministry among international churches, and our church-planting activities in the United States. The first video features the Pastors College in Gaithersburg and the Arche Church in Hamburg, Germany, which sent Christian Wegert to be part of the 2007–2008 Pastors College class. You can watch the nine-minute film, plus two bonus interviews, here. Two additional videos will be released later this month.
International | Sovereign Grace update | Videos
Each year, Sovereign Grace Ministries presents a short documentary highlighting a few of the activities in our family of churches. This Mission Presentation is usually made in Sovereign Grace churches over various Sundays in October. This year, we produced three shorter films to highlight each of our funding categories—our Pastors College, our ministry among international churches, and our church-planting activities in the United States. This year’s Pastors College documentary features the Arche Church in Hamburg, Germany, which sent Christian Wegert to be part of the 2007–2008 Pastors College class. The international documentary features Covenant Life Church of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which was planted by two Pastors College students five years ago and is now planting another church in Addis. The final video is an interview with C.J. Mahaney by Joshua Harris, which addresses some of the structural changes Sovereign Grace Ministries has made to position our ministry for growth in domestic church-planting. Watch a trailer of the three 2008 Mission Presentation videos here.
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Related: Previous Mission Presentations can be viewed at www.missionvideos.org.
Church news | International | Missions | Sovereign Grace update
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