After taking a break for the month of December, we’re excited to resume our small group meetings! Every 1st & 3rd Friday of the month at 7pm, three different groups meet throughout our city to share in the joy of Jesus, encourage one another, and apply the gospel to each other’s lives. Outside of Sunday mornings, small groups are the most important moment in the life of our church. Make it a priority to attend one this Friday.
Every Tuesday we publish a blog post to lay out in one place what’s going in the life of the church for the upcoming week. See below for a snapshot of what’s on the calendar this week:
6:30am - French Park Grass Area
7:00pm - Houlton, Roenicke, & Erkelens homes
10:00am - Meeting Room: Ballroom
This past Sunday, marked a milestone moment in the life of our church. We commemorated the transition of Jeff Schlieder into the role of Senior Pastor of Cross of Grace Church. As we did, we heard God’s word proclaimed from 1 Pet 5:1-5 and learned what we should expect of our pastors and how we should respond to them. The picture of faithful pastoring that is offered by the Apostle Peter and the entire scope of the Scriptures is that of a shepherd. Pastors come into God’s own shepherding work and are called to model their ministry after Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd himself who lays down his life for the sheep. Pastors have been temporarily entrusted with the care, protection, and leadership of Christ’s sheep and their task is to direct them back to him, time and time again. Would we receive our pastors with gratitude and humility as an expression of our trust in the Chief Shepherd of our souls - rejoicing in the Christ who suffered once for our sins, and will return to receive us into glory with him.
2024 is next week! We are excited to continue to build relationships, be a blessing, and bring the joy of Jesus to our neighbors in the new year. Please join us in prayer for these events and consider how you’d like to get involved as we go into our city and love our neighbors:
French Park Run Club - We’ll continue meeting every Thursday at 6:30am for a casual run in the middle of our community. A great way to get in shape and get to know our Santa Ana neighbors. In 2023, we were so excited to see the Lord bear fruit through the Run Club as it connected our neighbors to the Bridge Course and led to new guests joining us on Sunday mornings! Considering joining us Thursdays at the French Park grass area.
Picnic in the Park - We’ve got plans for a spring and a fall picnic in the center of our neighborhood. Right after church, we’ll grab our lunches and some games in order to be together in the midst of our French Park neighbors. We will use this time to invite our neighbors to have lunch with us and continue to build relationships within the community. Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to get updates on when the next Picnic in the Park will be held.
Annual French Park Events - After 2 years of throwing a Block Party in French Park and hosting our first ever Carols in the Park, we're more committed than ever to being known by our French Park neighbors as a people who are for them. We want to be the kind of church our neighbors don’t want to go away. So we’re leaning in with creating annual special events in the center of our neighborhood. We're eager to meet, bless, and build relationships with our neighbors and these events are designed to do just that. Look forward to June of 2024 for the return of our Block Party & December 2024 for Carols in the Park!
Gospel Outreaches - During the first half of the year, we’re picking out 2 Saturday mornings to go into our city to have spiritual conversations, share the gospel with our neighbors, and become equipped and emboldened to make evangelism a part of our everyday lives. Love going out to do this sort of thing? Join us! Scared to death about striking up a spiritual conversation with someone you’ve just met? Join us as well! As the Lord works in and through us during these outreach opportunities, it will go a long way to help us build a culture of evangelism at Cross of Grace, keep mission at the center of our Christian lives, and give us the confidence we need to ask that co-worker to lunch, reach out to that family member about coming to church, or invite that friend to the Bridge Course. Watch the blog for more details. Dates TBA.
The Bridge Course - Last but certainly not least, the Bridge is back in 2024! After our first time running a condensed course of 6 meetings this fall (and seeing all the fruit it bore), we’re rolling out all 10 sessions of the Bridge next year. From early September through mid November, we’ll be exploring the Christian faith with our Santa Ana neighbors over the course of a meal, a Bible talk, and a conversation where all perspectives are welcomed. This will be an all-hands on deck initiative, but we believe it will be well-worth the work. Learn more about The Bridge Course here and stay tuned for more details.
The harvest is plentiful! Would the Lord lead us into a new year with fresh faith and eager expectation as we spread the joy of Jesus to our Santa Ana neighbors!
As we give ourselves to reaching our city, would we be encouraged by all the Lord is doing to spread the joy of Jesus across the globe! Watch this video update from Director of Global Missions, Dave Taylor, and learn more about how God is using our family of churches to plant and strengthen churches around the world here. What a privilege we have to play a part in what God is doing to save sinners, build his church, and advance his Kingdom!
Every Tuesday we publish a blog post to lay out in one place what’s going in the life of the church for the upcoming week. See below for a snapshot of what’s on the calendar this week:
6:30 am - French Park Grass Area
10:00 am - Meeting Room: Ballroom
We’re all longing for peace. But, if we’re honest, peace is not our normal experience. According to the story of Scripture, the whole history of mankind has been one of trying and failing to be at peace with God, with each other, and with ourselves. But at Christmas, God himself comes to us from heaven in order to bring true and lasting peace on earth. Charles Spurgeon sums up the story of the world and declares the wonder of Christmas by saying, "There had been no peace on earth since Adam fell. But, now, when the new-born King made His appearance, the swaddling-band with which He was wrapped up was the white flag of peace. That manger was the place where the treaty was signed, whereby warfare should be stopped between man's conscience and himself, and between man's conscience and his God." Our search for peace ends when we find it in the person of Jesus Christ. The promise of Christmas becomes ours when we welcome the Peacemaker into our lives (Lk 2:14).
Join us this Sunday at 10:00am as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. We’ll enjoy a family service of singing classic carols, reading the nativity story, and hearing good news of great joy. There will be special activities for the kids and holiday treats for everyone to take home.
All are welcome to join us for this special moment as we rejoice in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Invite whoever you’re spending Christmas with to come along as we share in the joy that Jesus was born to bring! You can find a copy of our digital flyer here that you can text, email or share on social media to invite your family, friends and neighbors to our service.
Every Tuesday we publish a blog post to lay out in one place what’s going in the life of the church for the upcoming week. See below for a snapshot of what’s on the calendar this week:
6:30 am - French Park Grass Area
10:00 am - Ebell Club: Ballroom
From Mark Prater, Executive Director of our family of churches:
‘One of the ways Jesus taught us to pray is to ask that God’s "will be done" (Matthew 6:10). Praying that short phrase, “your will be done” has wonderful theological and practical implications for our lives. In his book, “Prayer and the Knowledge of God” Graeme Goldsworthy writes, "God graciously allows us to be involved in the carrying out of his will. He gives us the privilege of identifying with his will by asking him to do what he has already determined to do.” It’s stunning that God allows us to be involved in the carrying out of His will, and that begins with us asking Him to do what He has already determined to do.’
Stunning it is! In God’s kindness, we get to participate in the carrying out of His will for our family of churches, and so with that in mind, here’s how you can be praying for us in the month ahead…
Please pray that God would draw unbelievers to Sovereign Grace churches, and save them, as we hold our Christmas related events and services across the world this month.
Please pray that God would use the Sovereign Grace Music “Prepare Him Room” concerts in various cities in December to celebrate the birth of Christ and to declare the good news of the gospel.
Please pray that God would give the members of Sovereign Grace churches opportunities to share the gospel, a powerful reality, with unbelieving family members, friends, neighbors, and coworkers over this holiday season.
Please pray for our two church plants in Mexico, one in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, and one in Huajuapan Oaxaca asking God to provide for their needs, strengthen their church planting teams, and draw unbelievers to both churches.
Please pray that God would bring peace and end the wars in Ukraine and in Israel. Pray that God would turn the tragedies of war into gospel opportunities in both nations. Please continue to pray for the Ark Church, our sister church in Dnipro, Ukraine, asking God to protect them, and to use them to meet practical needs, and to offer gospel hope to people impacted by the conflict in Ukraine.
Please pray that God would continue to provide financially for Sovereign Grace Churches so that we can fund the gospel opportunities He is giving us throughout the world.
… Thank you for praying for our family of churches. May His grace abound to us all!
