SGC Europe Pastors and Wives Retreat
An update from Ed O’Mara, Lead Pastor of Chiesa Grazia Sovrana di Torino, Italy, and SGC Area Leader for Europe…
The Lord is doing a good work among our family of churches in Europe. God has assembled an identifiable group of pastors from various European churches who share SGC theology and values. Our desire in Europe is to build our beloved local churches and reach our dark communities with the same glorious gospel that you treasure in your contexts!
The pastors of SG Europe’s partner and candidate churches have met several times over the past 2½ years to build relationships, care for one another, learn about partnership in Sovereign Grace, and receive training in our shared values. Our most recent gathering was a 3½ day pastors and wives retreat in the south of England, in the week after Easter. Grace Church of Bristol planned and administrated the hospitality for this event at a nearby Christian retreat center. There were 29 people (10 couples plus 9 children) from various partner and candidate churches representing Galway (IRE), Bristol (UK), London (UK), Santander (ESP), Antalya (TUR), and Torino (ITA).
While a primary aim of all of our gatherings is to grow our relationships, this particular context also focused on strengthening our marriages with the gospel. One of the messages that has defined and shaped our family of churches is Mike Bullmore’s “The Functional Centrality of the Gospel.” We do not merely behold the truths of the person and work of Christ, but we are moved to action. We apply and live in the entailments that Jesus grants to us from the cross!
We have been well-taught in SGC about the powerful potential that biblical marriage has in promoting an environment of grace and in making the person and work of Christ manifest. As such our topic, “Functioning Gospel Centrality in Marriage,” was intentionally selected both to refresh each couple as well as position us to nourish our respective local churches. We drew this out through specific applications such as gospel centered communication and biblical conflict resolution in marriage. We also discussed how to not merely instruct our people but to model grace such that we foster a local church culture of gospel centrality and true biblical fellowship.
We also had plenty of time to build our relationships. We shared updates, sang together, and prayed for each other. We laughed, played games, enjoyed getting to know one another more deeply, and cared for each other. And no trip to England would be complete without taking in some British culture, complete with a tour of a castle and a meal of fish and chips in a seaside town under some light rain!
This retreat was truly a blessed time that strengthened what God is doing among the SG European group. It positioned us for more fruitful future ministry and grew our desire to continue building relationally and receive more training in the core values of SGC. We believe that this approach will grow us into a healthy, interdependent network of pastors and that our local churches will benefit directly from these contexts.
Finally, we would be remiss to not extend our thanks to all of you who prayed for us! Thank you also to those who have given to the SGC European Development Fund. Without your support and giving, these sorts of contexts would not be possible. As God is putting together the fabric of the European region, we simply cannot express the depth of our gratitude for both your support and the ways in which you continue to show us the path of walking nearer to our Saviour! We are so grateful for our SGC family and pray that He would receive glory from all of our churches across the globe!
