About

Growing in Christ Together

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” 2 Peter 3:18

Our mission at Sovereign Grace Church is to grow in Christ. We want to be people who are constantly growing in our knowledge, experience and love for Jesus Christ through the word of God. Our great and pressing desire is to be a people who do not plateau in our love and knowledge of Jesus, but who know him more and deeper as the years go by. Here at Sovereign Grace Church we look to grow in Christ in the following three ways:

Grow as Family

The single most common metaphor for the church in the New Testament is “family.” The New Testament pulses with the idea that church is more than a crowd, gathering or group—it is a family. The common bond of love ties a family together and they are people joined together through thick and thin. Our goal is that our church acts and looks much like a family. The church is related together because we are all the adopted sons and daughters of God the Father through the blood of our Savior (and elder brother) Jesus Christ. Every family has trials and troubles to work through from time to time, but because we are united together in Jesus the work is worthwhile.

This means we encourage those at SGC to get to know each other in real, meaningful ways. Paul describes the way the church family is meant to live together in Ephesians 4:2-3, “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” One of the many ways we seek to build together as family is through small groups. In these smaller settings, people can get to know others and grow and “do life” together. To find out more about small groups go here.

Grow in Godliness

To be a Christian means that we are called to be on a journey of increased holiness and godliness. Theologians call it sanctification, the process where Christians work in partnership with the Holy Spirit to grow and change. Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.”

Scripture presents the gospel of Jesus Christ as the fuel or key of Christian transformation. Every Christian must understand his identity as a saint in the household of faith. This means that in Christ all believers are declared to be ‘holy ones’ because of the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ. But because we have not yet been transformed to the next and greater degree of glory, we still have the opportunity to fight sin and grow in our experience of Jesus Christ. The topic of how to live this Christian life is one that we tackle regularly in Sunday morning preaching and Sunday Class teaching.

Grow as Witnesses

We live in a world that is profoundly lost, groping in darkness without hope because they are without Jesus. We believe that there is no reason for optimism for these people unless they hear the life-changing, eternity-altering good news of Jesus Christ. Paul says in Romans 1:16 that the gospel is the “power of God for salvation.” We are witnesses to that power, and we must tell others. In Luke 10:2, when Jesus sent out the 72 to preach he said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” As believers we are laborers living in the midst of his harvest. We must tell them about Jesus and his gospel.

Consequently, at Sovereign Grace Church we see ourselves as Christian missionaries in the east valley of Phoenix. Scripture teaches that each believer is called to evangelize and so at SGC there are multiple ways you have opportunity to link up with other believers to evangelize. We have Life 101, Life 102, Redeem Ministries, and various mission trips. Look on the pages for more information or contact us here.