Great is Thy Faithfulness

Today, February 9, 2024, John MacArthur marked 55 years as the pastor of Grace Community Church. The Lord has preserved Pastor John through extraordinary changes, both in the culture and the church. Through it all, John has faithfully taught truth and God has blessed that commitment. In an article commemorating this anniversary, Dr. Nathan Busenitz of The Master's Seminary chronicles how each of the ministries connected to the John MacArthur Charitable Trust has grown out of the pulpit at Grace Church over the past 55 years. We've reprinted it here to encourage each of you who faithfully support the Trust.

Five months before Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the moon, John MacArthur stepped into the pulpit of Grace Community Church. On that Sunday in February 1969, it was but a few small steps from the front row of the chapel to the pulpit. But that day would mark the beginning of a ministry that God would greatly bless.

From the beginning, Pastor John had three primary ministry objectives. The first was to preach the Word, verse by verse, carefully explaining the meaning of God’s truth to the flock. The second was to raise up the next generation of spiritual leaders. The third was to see Grace Church obey the Great Commission, both in Los Angeles and around the world.

In pursuing these ministry objectives, our pastor’s commitment was singular: to focus on the depth of the ministry and let God take care of the breadth of it. Looking back five and a half decades later, we can only marvel at the ways in which the Lord has blessed the work of His Word. It truly is what Paul expressed in Ephesians 3:20—far more abundantly above all that we could have asked or thought possible.

Consider the ways in which the Lord has blessed these ministry priorities.

TO PREACH THE WORD

Through the clear and consistent exposition of Scripture, the people of Grace Church have grown in the grace and knowledge of God. In His providence, our congregation has also grown in size. What initially fit comfortably in the chapel quickly grew to fill up the Family Center, and then the Worship Center, which was completed in 1977. The Lord further multiplied the influence of our pulpit beyond the walls of our church, through radio and print. Grace to You began informally with the recording and distribution of messages via cassette tapes. Today, GTY represents a broadcast ministry that reaches tens of millions of people each month. Those audio messages are complemented by hundreds of published works, from the MacArthur Study Bible to commentaries to many other printed resources.

From the outset, Pastor John began investing in faithful men, both to develop leaders for Grace Church and to equip future pastors to be sent out. What started as a Saturday morning men’s meeting developed into more formal kinds of leadership training. In the 1970s, so many men were eager for training that Grace Church sent them by the vanload to take classes at Talbot Theological Seminary, which was under the leadership of Dr. Charles Feinberg. The demand was so great that, in 1977, Talbot started an extension campus at Grace Church. Nine years later, in 1986, as the extension campus grew, it became The Master’s Seminary. The previous year, in 1985, Pastor John accepted an invitation to be the president of The Master’s College (now University). Together, The Master’s University and Seminary provide biblically-sound education for Christian professionals (at TMU) and faithful pastors (at TMS). Currently, there are over 3,000 students enrolled at TMUS. With regard to pastoral training specifically, the seminary has more than 2,000 graduates ministering in almost 80 countries around the world.

TO REACH THE WORD

The Lord has also blessed the proclamation of His Word to the ends of the earth. Locally, our church engages in dozens of ministries to those in the Los Angeles area, including 9 foreign-language Bible studies, door-to-door evangelism, and ministries to prisons, abortion clinics, addiction recovery centers, hospitals, and more. Globally, our church reaches the world not only through the broadcast ministry of GTY, but also through Grace Ministries International (GMI) and The Master’s Academy International (TMAI). GMI is the global missions arm of our church, deploying 89 missionary families around the world in 34 countries. A close partner to GMI, TMAI is a network of pastoral training schools that was started and is staffed by graduates of TMS. Currently, TMAI consists of 19 member schools, with more than 70 teaching sites in 23 countries. Collectively, TMAI schools have trained more than 7,500 pastors around the globe. Over the next five years, TMAI expects to nearly double the number of schools that are part of its international training network.

PRESERVING A LEGACY OF FAITHFULNESS

In 2017, the John MacArthur Charitable Trust (JMCT) was founded as a key means to secure and support the family of ministries that God has raised up through Pastor John’s pulpit ministry. JMCT is designed to help facilitate the gospel work of Grace Church and its associated ministries both now and into the next generation. By prioritizing fidelity to Scripture and providing financial support, JMCT is strategically positioned to protect the future sustainability of our collective ministries. Recognizing the need to steward the rich blessing God has entrusted to us, JMCT will continue to play a vital role in safeguarding and sustaining the influence of Grace Church, Grace to You, The Master’s University and Seminary, and The Master’s Academy International.
For this, we give thanks and praise to the Lord. 

ALL GLORY TO GOD

It is only possible to capture a small snapshot of all the Lord has done through the preaching of His Word and the ministry of Grace Church. Much more could be said about ministries like Grace Academy, Grace Books International, Grace Advance, Grace Equip, Grace Media, the John MacArthur Publishing Group, the Master’s Fellowship, the MacArthur Center for Expository Preaching, Legacy Christian Academy, Men of the Word, Every Woman’s Grace, Shepherds Conference, and many more. The magnitude of ministry is impossible to quantify. And all of it is a testimony to the undeserved blessing and enduring faithfulness of God. In Isaiah 55:11, the Lord promised that His Word would not return empty. At Grace Church, we have witnessed that truth unfold in astounding ways. Clearly, it is the Lord’s doing, and we give Him all the glory.