Missions Update: Sovereign Grace Missions Fund 2020

Sovereign Grace Churches is fast becoming a global family. 

We have enjoyed close friendship with pastors and like-minded congregations in other nations for decades. For most of our denominational history, however, all our partner churches were English-speaking and found in the United States. That’s been changing in a major way. In the last two years alone, Sovereign Grace planted four international churches in places like Brazil, Australia, Bolivia, and Ethiopia. 

I couldn’t be more excited! I firmly believe our seven core values, the distinctive graces every SGC church agrees to embrace and embody, are not relics of American culture. They are biblical priorities. They transcend our place and time because they define the kind of church Jesus is eager to plant and build among every tribe and tongue. 

Being faithful in global gospel ministry requires two things. It requires churches like our own to maintain a passion for declaring the good news of Jesus where he has yet to be named. We must fight hard against the tendency to drift into a self-centered ministry mindset where we only care about what “our” church is doing or “our” church needs. And then we have to remain not just willing, but eager and faithful to resource our global mission through generous giving. 

I’ve watched the Lord make us more and more that kind of church. At our elders meeting this week, we marveled at how giving to KingsWay’s International Missions Fund in the second quarter of 2020 was nearly double what we received during the second quarter in 2019. Since the beginning of 2020, we’ve also been able to invest 4% of all our general fund income into our denominational mission fund. That’s a four-fold increase over what we gave to our denominational mission fund in 2019 and a solid step toward our 10% goal. 

Sovereign Grace publishes an annual report highlighting the work God is doing in and through our denomination. This year, most of it is devoted to gospel ministry outside the United States, and for the first time ever, one of the testimonies is written entirely in Spanish. That’s because the report isn’t just going to English-speaking, American churches. It’s going to Sovereign Grace Churches around the world, a growing number of whom speak Spanish.

Take a few minutes to read the 2020 Missions Brochure: Soli Deo Gloria. The stories captured in there will encourage your soul. Then ask the Lord how you can contribute financially to the gospel ministry God is doing not only through our church, but also through other, like-minded churches around the globe. We’re on the same team. A win for them is a win for all of us. That’s worth celebrating and supporting, both corporately and individually.