When it comes to doctrine, culture, preferences, traditions, lifestyles, politics, behaviours, etc., Sovereign Grace Church takes a "closed-hand/open hand" approach. The closed hand hangs onto the non-negotiable tenets of Christian orthodoxy: sin is the problem, Jesus is the answer, the Bible is true, and Hell is hot.
The open hand, however, allows room for differences when it comes to secondary matters; allowing freedom for conscience and wisdom to guide folk where the Bible is silent. This open hand fosters unity among the diversity of expressions found in Sovereign Grace: Carnivores and vegans, surfers and book worms, rugby players and stay at home mums, beer drinkers and coffee sippers.
In this way, we are seeking to simultaneously heed the Bible's commands to have sound doctrine (1 Tim 4.16, Tit 1.9, 2.1), to love our Christian brothers and sisters (1 Pet 4.8, 1 John 4.7-21), and to avoid unnecessary divisions (Rom 16.17, 1 Cor 1.10, 12.25, Titus 3.10).
That said, here's what we hold in the closed hand...
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We accept the Bible, including the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament, as the written Word of God. The Bible is the only essential and infallible record of God's self-disclosure to mankind. It leads us to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Being given by God, the Scriptures are both fully and verbally inspired by God. Therefore, as originally given, the Bible is free of error in all it teaches. Each book is to be interpreted according to its context and purpose and in reverent obedience to the Lord who speaks through it in living power. All believers are exhorted to study the Scriptures and diligently apply them to their lives. The Scriptures are the authoritative and normative rule and guide of all Christian life, practice, and doctrine. They are totally sufficient and must not be added to, superseded, or changed by later tradition, extra-biblical revelation, or worldly wisdom. Every doctrinal formulation, whether of creed, confession, or theology must be put to the test of the full counsel of God in Holy Scripture.
Copyright © 1998, 2001 Sovereign Grace Ministries
We prefer to describe ourselves as a family of churches. The distinction is not simply semantic. Denominations are often seen as being defined, in large part, by specific legal or organisational structures that join individual churches together. At the heart of Sovereign Grace Ministries is not structure, but broad doctrinal agreement growing out of a shared passion, especially among our pastors and other leaders, for the centrality of the gospel. Our unity arises from a pervasive passion for starting, establishing, and strengthening local churches with the gospel, for God's glory.
At the core of our doctrine is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel is our primary passion, both in our proclamation and in our daily lives. We are active and intentional about being a cross-centered, gospel-centered family of churches. Surrounding this core is an emphasis on sound doctrine. We describe our doctrine as being essentially Reformed, yet including a commitment to continuationist practice as biblically defined. Finally, we desire all these convictions to inspire a passion for the local church, the context where all believers are to grow in holiness, be equipped for service, and bear witness to the saving grace of God.
Do you want to know more? Please see our statement of faith as well as the book The Cross Centered Life.
A helpful way to summarise our Reformed convictions is that we hold to a Reformed soteriology (the doctrine of salvation). We believe that God is sovereign over all things, including the salvation of individual sinners, and that all things, including salvation, have as their ultimate goal the glory of God. Such a perspective keeps the gospel central and grace amazing.
We do believe and cherish the doctrines that historically have been called the TULIP (Total depravity; Unconditional election; Limited atonement or, perhaps more accurately phrased, particular redemption; Irresistible grace or, more accurately phrased, effectual calling; and Perseverance of the saints). However, we never want to focus on more narrow aspects of Reformed theology to the neglect of truths that are central, and that we share with many other Christians. These truths include the gospel, sola fide (justification by faith alone), and sola Scriptura (Scripture alone as the sole infallible source of doctrine and authority).
While we believe that Reformed theology faithfully represents the teaching of Scripture, our ultimate theological commitment is not to a particular system of theology, but to theology that is biblical. We have no other boast but the cross of Christ.
Beyond this agreement on the general tenets of Reformed theology, there are a few aspects of doctrine and practice that are common to many Reformed traditions but to which we do not hold. These include infant baptism, cessationism (the belief that some miraculous spiritual gifts have ceased), and some traditionally Reformed types of church government.
While such a combination is not common, it is by no means theologically inconsistent. A cessationist perspective (i.e. a belief that the so-called sign gifts of the New Testament came to an end after the apostles) does not follow necessarily from the general tenets of Reformed theology. Indeed, a robust view of the sovereignty of God suggests that believers can expect to experience regularly what some theologians have called the active presence of God.
The insistence that gifts such as prophecy were limited to the apostolic age most commonly arises from entirely understandable concerns about the issue of revelation. Scripture is truly, and must remain, the only source of inspired, inerrant, authoritative revelation from God for the faith and life of the church. However, New Testament teaching regarding spiritual gifts in no way implies that the gifts necessarily endanger the role of Scripture in the church's life. Our experience with spiritual gifts confirms this.
The best way to prevent the undermining of Scripture's authority is, quite simply, to maintain and teach a high view of Scripture. Scripture must be allowed to function in a way that demonstrates that it is indeed God's normative revelation for the faith and life of the church. This includes allowing Scripture to govern the use of spiritual gifts. We strongly believe that, when the use of gifts is tested and governed by Scripture, two things will happen: God's people will be edified by the proper functioning of the gifts in accord with God's purposes, and Scripture will be protected as the only authoritative and normative rule and guide of all Christian life, practice, and doctrine - see our statement of faith.
If you'd like to hear more in answer to this question, then please click on the video below. As Mike Pasalich (Pastors College Graduate 2008), interviews Pete Greasley (International Church Planting Oversight, Sovereign Grace Ministries), asking him this very question: click here.
Having responded to the gospel with repentance and faith in the finished work of Christ, believers are also to observe the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper.
A sacrament is a blessing from Christ which is a sign (a picture) and a seal (a mark of being set apart) given to teach and assure believers of their salvation. The sacraments serve as visible signs of an invisible grace which has already taken place in the life of the believer. The Lord Jesus ordained two sacraments: baptism (Matt. 28:19) and the Lord's Supper (1 Cor. 11:23), also known as "communion." Participation in the sacraments does not bring salvation; this comes only by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone (Eph. 2:8-9; Gal. 2:16).
Baptism uniquely portrays the believer's union with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection (Rom. 6:3-5). Therefore, in Sovereign Grace we practice baptism by immersion, which vividly pictures these realities. Romans 6:4: "We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life."
Baptism points to the beginning of the Christian life (Matt. 28:19; Acts 2:38) and displays one's commitment to turn from sin and trust in Christ for salvation. For this reason, we do not baptize infants. If you were baptized as an infant, we would be very much encouraging you -in obedience to Scripture and as part of becoming a member of Sovereign Grace Church -that you be baptized as a believer. Acts 8:12: "...when they believed...they were baptized, both men and women."
We hold to the continuity of all the spiritual gifts given to the church referred to in Scripture. We find nothing in Scripture that suggests that these gifts have passed away or will pass away prior to Christ's return. Rather, Scripture portrays these gifts as available to believers and vital to the mission of the church. We want to be obedient to Scripture's commands, not simply to acknowledge spiritual gifts, but to earnestly desire them (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:1).
Thus, we are continuationist in that we believe in the present-day work of the Holy Spirit in the many ways that the Spirit's work is described and manifested in Scripture. However, we are careful to emphasize the broad work of the Spirit. We never want to be preoccupied with the more spectacular aspects of the Spirit's work to the neglect of the countless ways in which the Spirit is at work in our lives. Most importantly, nothing could be more spectacular, miraculous, or powerful than God's work of regeneration in a person's heart.
We believe that the biblical standard for church leadership, on any level or in any position, must include character and integrity, proven through humility and accountability. Gifting is certainly important, but it cannot qualify a man for ministry apart from sufficiently godly character.
We believe that the primary responsibility for identifying and training pastors lies with the local church. Using the same criteria mentioned above, pastors have the responsibility to identify and raise up into pastoral ministry men whose character and gifting appear to indicate a pastoral call on their lives (2 Timothy 2:2).
Recognising the limited resources of many congregations, we seek to serve our churches with Sovereign Grace Ministries' Pastors College. The college exists to train leaders for ministry within our churches, and to support existing pastors with ongoing theological training. Men who display a pastoral call are recommended by their churches and then invited to attend the Pastors College. This is a ten-month program of rigorous academic training within the context of a particular local church, Covenant Life Church, in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The local church context provides a model for the students to participate in, observe, and learn from. Thus we build into them the values for local-church life and ministry that we hope to see replicated in the churches we plant.
Graduates of the Pastors College serve in a variety of capacities, from internships to staff positions to leading new church plants. After a period of observation and proven ministry, Sovereign Grace leadership team, in concert with the relevant pastors, oversees an ordination process that involves written and oral testing on the wide variety of biblical, theological, and practical concerns related to pastoral ministry.
For more information about our Pastors College, click here.
It is important first to affirm that men and women are created equally in the image of God and are therefore equal in personhood, importance, and dignity before God. As believers saved by the grace of God through the gospel, men and women are co-heirs of the grace of life, and neither can claim special status or privilege in the church. Moreover, all Christians are called to be vital and committed members of a local church, and to use their gifts for the edification of the church and the glory of God.
All of this points to the vital role that women are to play in the church. However, in keeping with God's created design, Scripture restricts women in one area: they are not permitted to teach or to have authority over a man (1 Timothy 2:12). The distinction between men and women is therefore not one of worth, but of role. The role differences between men and women reflect the differences in roles among the members of the Trinity, and differences in the creation order (that is, man was created before woman, yet both are equally in the image of God). We therefore believe that all members of the church are to use their gifts for God's glory, but that the leadership of the church is reserved for men.
Yet the leadership role is only a small portion of church life. Women in Sovereign Grace churches have vital roles to play in the building up of the church and the advancement of the gospel, as do men who are not pastors. Women are expected to cultivate their gifts, use them to the glory of God, and labour alongside their brothers for the cause of the gospel.
Complementary roles for men and women, including an honour and respect of women equal to that of men, contribute to the overall vitality of the church. Pastors are called to equip the church as a whole for the work of ministry, not to do all the work of the ministry. Because we are all focused on Christ and him crucified, we all share in the joy of seeing the gospel advanced.
Do you want to know more? We support the complementarian position of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Two highly recommended books on the subject are Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth, by Wayne Grudem (Multnomah), and Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood, edited by Wayne Grudem and John Piper (Crossway). The latter is available as a free PDF download.
Quite simply, it takes time and the development of a relationship. Over time and through a process of becoming acquainted with each other - e.g. through conversations, conference attendance, exposure to Sovereign Grace materials, and strategic dialogues with a member of the Sovereign Grace leadership team (or, more typically, a Sovereign Grace pastor representing the team), an interested church becomes more familiar with the doctrine and practices of Sovereign Grace. The goal of this process is to arm the interested church with an accurate portrayal of Sovereign Grace's strengths and weaknesses, warts and all. This process also affords the Sovereign Grace pastor/team member an opportunity to assess the compatibility of the inquiring church with Sovereign Grace. The goals of this process are doctrinal fidelity, a commitment to mission, and a significant relational component.
If you have any further inquiries, please email us.
Sovereign Grace is led by a team of men committed to planting and supporting churches, and caring for and training pastors. The team is led by C.J. Mahaney, and also includes Dave Harvey, Jeff Purswell, Joshua Harris, and Pat Ennis.
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