We’ve been celebrating God’s gift of the local church for our Church Membership Month. One of the best ways to experience the joys and privileges of belonging to our church is through our small groups. Make plans to attend one this week and see what it’s all about. Each group is different. Visit as many groups as you need in order to find the one that fits you best.
We’ve been talking a lot about generosity this week for our Church Membership Month. The House of Hope is a great place to give your time, energy and affections to our neighbors. We’ll be there next Wednesday (2/22) to serve a meal, spend time with the residents, play games with the kids, and more. Come experience all the great things the Lord is doing. Hit the button for more information.
Our Church Membership Month might have you asking questions about church membership. Why is it important? What exactly are the joys and privileges of belonging to a local church? How do I join the church? These are great questions and we have answers. Whether you’re looking to join the church or have questions about the church, we want to hear from you. Hit the button below to get in contact with a pastor.
We gather every Sunday to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed. God's Word is preached and the Holy Spirit transforms our hearts. We expect to encounter Jesus and be equipped to better serve him each week.
Thanks to all who missed the sermon because you were serving during the service. We are grateful for you and couldn't have done it without you. Enjoy listening to the recording.
February is our Church Membership Month. Each Sunday you’ll hear teaching and member testimonies pertaining to the four aspects that define our culture: joyful, generous, ordinary, neighbors. This week we focused on generosity.
Generosity starts with Jesus. God loved the world and gave us Jesus so that we might have eternal life (John 3:16). This means that we can trust God to graciously give us all things because he gave us his own Son (Romans 8:32). Since we have experienced divine generosity we have every reason to be generous. Consider our Membership Covenant. We commit to “give of our finances to support the congregation, care for the needs of others, and support the work of our gospel partners.” This is the kind of generosity we see in Scripture. It encompasses our whole lives and it is done joyfully and freely (2 Corinthians 9:7).
Think about generosity this week. In what ways can you be generous today? How can you give of your time and resources to help others? How can you continue to grow in generosity? Start by reading the Scripture references above or hit the button for a short article on generosity by a pastor from one of our partner churches.
Thank you for being a generous church.
Generosity is a defining characteristic of our church culture. Last Sunday we asked Paul and April—two members of our church—to tell us how they have experienced and increased in generosity by being a part of our church. Read what they had to say below.
April:
We’ve been asked to speak on the generosity of this church. For us, this is an easy task. The members of this church have been generous to our family for 6 1/2years. Every single year since we’ve became members, my family has been through life changing events and God has used this church to help us through them all. We could spend an hour talking about this church's generosity with meal trains, baby showers, grief counseling and more. For the sake of time, I will share with you two examples of how church members were generous with their time.
Most recently, Kirsi, Lois, Sue and Diane were very generous with donating their time to support my family during the six week recovery following my surgery. For six weeks I could not lift or care for my one year old son and needed support ten hours a day. Each of these generous women got on the freeway early in the morning to be at my house in Huntington beach by 7:30am before Paul left for work. They stayed until 5:30pm each day they volunteered. This is generosity indeed. It was heart warming seeing Clark being cared for by women who loved him. It gave me peace of mind and helped me to recover well. Beyond taking care of Clark, these generous women prayed with me, counseled me and even did the chores I was unable to do. God used them in a grand way to serve my family.
I'd like to mention another chruch member who was generous with his time back in 2016 when we had just joined the Sovereign Grace family. Back then we were newly weds living on Grand St. and Chapman right around the corner. We had just found out that the baby we had been loving for 12 weeks in my womb had passed away. When we were ready to leave the house we took a walk. We ended up at Chapman Univeristy. We were grieving. It was painful. We ran into a church member. It was Dustin Smetona. He said, “Hey how ya doing?” Paul responded with an, "Oh, ok" and I burst into tears. Dustin could have said something like, "Oh man. Looks like you had a rough day. I'll be praying for you. See ya." But instead he took the time to sit with us, hear us, pray with us and read Scripture. He was generous with his time in order to show fellow members love, care and support. That's what membership is. It's supporting each other through life's joys and griefs. Life is hard. You dont' have to go through it alone. When you lose a parent or a child you will want to be surrounded by God’s generous and loving people like we have been.
Paul:
Thank you for being a generous church. Generosity is having open hands. You do not hold onto those gifts God has given you but, in turn, have your hands open whenever others need something. As the body of Christ, you have supported us in so many ways. You have given us your time, finances, and personal property. There are so many of you that have helped us throughout the years.
I’d like to mention one more example of generosity. In 2019 our neighbor had an electrical fire and, sparing many details, it left us homeless. We lost all of our clothes and possessions on the 2nd floor. Many of you generously gave us your clothes. Sue and Les opened their home to us for nearly two months. They freely gave us shelter, food, counseling, and prayer. They were very generous, especially with their Saturday bacon and bagels. Because of them, our burdens were so much lighter and have left us with a lasting reminder that God will always care for us.
I think we are prone to lean on our limited resources. We forget that God, in His great love, works in the hearts of His people to freely give us things we need. I just want to encourage you all that "It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35).” Thank you.
We are excited to announce our new Sunday morning curriculum. We’ll be switching to the Gospel Project for kids. Our hope is that this curriculum will better serve our kids and families by clearly teaching the gospel in fun and engaging ways. We look forward to introducing it later in the month.
And don’t forget about our Monthly Memory Verse Challenge! Here’s our verse for February:
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” John 15:12
You can view our memory verse schedule here. Start practicing and get ready to recite on the 26th.
God is doing amazing things around the world through our denomination. Our partners are translating gospel resources in other languages and sending them to places like China, Belarus and Korea. We’re getting reports from our churches in the Philippines, Thailand, and Pakistan about the many ways God is moving. A group of leaders just graduated from the Pastor’s College in Australia. The list goes on. You can read about all these stories and more by hitting the button below.
What does all this mean for you? It means you’re a part of something bigger than you. You can play your part in Sovereign Grace Missions by praying for our partners. Here’s a list of our needs:
Pray for the Sovereign Grace Leadership Team retreat going on now. It includes our U.S. Regional Leaders, Global Leaders, and a group of future leaders asking God to envision, strengthen, and equip our leaders to serve our churches throughout the world.
Pray for Billy Raies, Erik Schmaltz, Philip Estrada and Allen Dicharry as they head to Nepal from Feb 21 - Mar 1 to serve our Key Leader in Nepal—Barnabas. Pray for our partnership and his Pastoral Team.
Pray for the 11 young people who started their Young Leaders Internships in SG Australia this month. They are Abella Lick, Georgia Lick , Luke Counsell , Esther Monck , Hollie Roberts, Froilan Samonte, Josh Taylor, Amy Taylor, Marcos Cabral, Hannah Payne, and Sebastian Fasano.
Pray for Rich Richardson and the team of 8 SG Pastors who are coming together in Phoenix from Feb 21-22 to talk about SG Church Development in Latin America (outside of Mexico). Please pray for quick camaraderie in the group, for creative ideas, and one heart.
Pray for the growing number of Sovereign Grace church members that are seriously considering cross-cultural mission. Please pray for me (Dave Taylor), the Emerging Nations Team, Mark Prater (Executive Director of Sovereign Grace Churches), and those asking the question. May we together discern the will of God in each of these situations, may His guidance be clear as we seek to reach the ends of the earth for Jesus.