Sovereign Grace Ministries

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Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM) is a group of neocharismatic, Evangelical, Christian churches primarily located in North America.^[1]

It can be described as an apostolic network.^[2] There are congregations in Bolivia, Ethiopia, Great Britain and Mexico.^[3] Sovereign Grace's apostolic team is currently led by C. J. Mahaney and is based in Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA, where it shares a building with Covenant Life Church.^[4][5]

History

The organization of over 70 member churches grew out of the charismatic renewal of the 1970s under the leadership of Catholic Charismatic Larry Tomczak and has its roots in the Gathering of Believers (now Covenant Life Church) in Maryland.^[6] It was formally established in 1982.^[7] CJ Mahaney, whom Larry Tomczak had been asked to "take under [his] wing and help... grow in the faith" in 1972, was the co-founder of both Covenant Life and People of Destiny.^[8] Both Mahaney and Tomczak withdrew from the Charismatic Catholic scene shortly before the creation of Covenant Life Church.^[9]

Tomczak and Mahaney were both close to some leaders of the British New Church Movement, speaking at New Frontiers' Bible Weeks and Stoneleigh Conference. They were also associated with Maranatha Campus Ministries for a period.^[10]

In "The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Modern Christian Thought" published in 1995,^[11] Alister McGrath associated PDI with the shepherding movement and described it as having "informal links with Bryn Jones," the UK house church leader.^[12] In the mid-1990s, religious anthropologist Dr. Karla Poewe contrasted PDI with the Vineyard Church. She wrote that "Vineyard is particularly attractive to the young and intellectual... People of Destiny serves a Catholic constituency." ^[13]

Tomczak left the leadership of PDI in 1998 and later suggested that the increasingly Calvinistic theology of PDI was a major factor in his departure.^[7][14] He has described the parting of ways with Sovereign Grace Ministries as "an unbelievable nightmare" during which his family "were threatened in various ways if [they] did not cooperate with [PDI/SGM]... A letter was circulated in an attempt to discredit me and to distort the events surrounding my departure."^[15] Other notable charismatic figures, such as Lou Engle, founder of The Call prayer concerts, and Che Ahn, pastor of Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena, CA, also ceased to be formally associated with PDI during this period.^[16]

Sovereign Grace Ministries currently identifies itself as "a family of churches passionate about the gospel of Jesus Christ... with a strong doctrinal basis that is evangelical, Reformed, and continuationist."^[17] This move towards the Reformed wing of the church is illustrated by Sovereign Grace's partnerships with speakers such as John MacArthur, Mark Dever, and John Piper, who speak at the Together for the Gospel Conferences.^[18]

Blogs and web pages critical of SGM have been created.^{[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31]}

Previous names

Sovereign Grace Ministries was known as "People of Destiny International" until 1998.^[32] British restorationist leader Terry Virgo states that Larry Tomczak and CJ Mahaney, leaders at the time, had become "increasingly uncomfortable" with the "People of Destiny International" name, and it was shortened to "PDI Ministries".^[33] In 2002, the group adopted its current name of "Sovereign Grace Ministries."

Church planting

Church planter Fred Herron described PDI/SGM church planting as "colonization", and wrote "...a pastor or leader from a mother church gathers a core group of people to plant a new church, however, instead of planting the church in a bedroom community, the entire team relocates to a totally different city".^[34]

The first church planting team was sent out to Cleveland Ohio and founded the church North Coast Church in the earliest years of Covenant Life Church. Church planting continues.^[35]

For many years, PDI did not adopt existing churches, but later altered its policy. SGM adoption of an existing church begins primarily through the development of a relationship with leadership and continues with strategic dialogue to evaluate the doctrinal and practical compatibility of Sovereign Grace with the church desiring adoption. ^[36]

Publishing

PDI/SGM published a magazine for about twenty years. Initially entitled "People of Destiny", the title later changed to "Sovereign Grace".^[37] The first issue had the words "Are You A Pioneer - Or A Settler?" on the front cover.^[38] Larry Tomczak was the founding editor. Publishing ceased in 2002.

Larry Tomczak was an author with mainstream Christian publishers from the early 1970s onwards.^{[15][39][40][41]} During the 1990s, SGM published a series of "Pursuit of Godliness" books penned by SGM authors.^[42][43] In recent years CJ Mahaney has also authored mainstream Christian books.^[44] Joshua Harris was a published author prior to joining SGM, and has continued his work as an author since arriving at Covenant Life Church.

Preparation for Parenting

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Practices allegedly based on Gary Ezzo's "Preparation for Parenting: A Biblical Perspective : A Study in the Philosophy, Psychology Practice of Nurturing a Newborn"^[45] led to controversy over "parent-directed feeding" (PDF); physical punishment for young toddlers; and lack of independent research into practices based on the book. The controversy among Christian leaders, pediatricians, and lactation experts was reportedly international in scope.^[46] Kathleen Turner and Elliott Miller, writing for the Christian Research Journal, conducted an investigation into churches utilizing Ezzo's techniques,^[47][48] including Covenant Fellowship of Philadelphia, an SGM congregation.^[49][50]

Excommunication

The Turner and Miller article reported the excommunication of a couple who "were involuntarily 'released from membership' and even barred from unofficial church functions after voicing concerns about PFP [Preparation for Parenting]" at Covenant Fellowship of Philadelphia.^[47] SGM allegedly replied to a request for reinstatement, stating "The pastors philosophy on family life represents many fundamental differences which we will aggressively teach in the future. Wisdom would dictate that you need a church home which supports rather than challenges your strong opinions."^[51][52][53]

Footnotes

External links

• Sovereign Grace Ministries Website
• Josh Harris church related site for Joshua Harris