CHIESA GRAZIA SOVRANA di TORINO

Welcome to our English Page!

We are so thankful that you are taking the time to get to know us. While our desire is to build an Italian church we recognize that Torino is an international city. We created this English "mirror" page as a way of making it easier to get to know us and make contact with us. Feel free to browse and/or make contact with us in English or Italian, and we hope that we get a chance to meet you in person!

Who are we?

The primary and central reality, the fuel of our church family life, is the gospel of God's grace in Jesus Christ. "Gospel" literally means "good news"— and the gospel is the best news human beings can hear! Jesus Christ, true God and true man, came to save all who trust in Him. His saving work removes our personal guilt and deals with the consequences of sin in humanity and in the world. You can learn more about the good news in the section entitled "Search Deeper: What is the Gospel?" at the bottom of this page!

This unmerited gift of God is the primary reason for our community life. This is because our salvation is the result of His initiative and was accomplished all by His work. As such, His grace takes the primary place at the center of our community life! We are seeking to build a church family in which we are continually reminding each other of what Jesus accomplished by dying on the cross, resurrecting from the grave, and ascending to heaven. In so doing, we receive comfort, strength and a certainty of our eternal home. This also produces a profound gratitude for His immense and merciful love, which motivates us to share the message of gospel-hope with others and it motivates us, even despite our weaknesses, to strive to live every aspect of our daily life for the honor and glory of God!

In short, we articulate this with three key phrases. We are transformed sinners who are:

SAVED by the grace of God

SUSTAINED by the grace of God

SENT by the grace of God

SAVED by the Grace of God

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

(Ephesians 2:8, ESV)

Our existence and identity both as individuals and as the people of God are founded on a simple yet profound truth: we are saved by the grace of of God in Jesus Christ, alone! To say that we are saved implies we needed to be rescued. So what have we been saved from? This is an important question, not to be overlooked. We have been saved from God's punishment for our sin which ends in the terrible consequence of death. When sin entered the world, it created a downward spiral toward to which all people are subject. This is true first in a spiritual sense but it is also true in a physical sense. To be forgiven for our sin saves us from this grim reality and grants us the gift of eternal life. We neither deserved nor earned this gift. We simply receive it by faith and with gratitude based on the work that Jesus completed on the cross. From first to last, our salvation is all of Christ and all of grace!

For this reason we our meetings are characterized by gratitude. We sing songs of thanksgiving to God because Jesus suffered the condemnation and punishment that was rightfully ours and, in our place, defeated death. We listen to teachings centered on the person and work of Christ which the Spirit of God applies to our hearts and increases our gratitude for Jesus. We encourage each other with this truth, especially as we walk through the difficulties ever-present in this sin-wrecked world. All of this enables us to more fully give thanks to God with our hope set on the certainty of eternity with God. In everything we do and in every season of life we desire to be filled with the joy that comes from a heart deeply grateful to God for His grace toward us.

Again, you can learn more about this immense grace available to anyone who believes, in the last section of this page.

SUSTAINED by the Grace of God

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

(Philippians 1:6, ESV)

Both our individual life and our community life as a church-family depend entirely on God's power. In fact, for us to persevere in our Christian walk, we need the grace of God to be at work in us and through us. As such, our growth and transformation as disciples who reflect the Saviour springs from the perfect life of Jesus and the undeserved grace we receive from Him! As we follow Jesus in this life, we walk with confidence that what He began, He will also complete! Each day is a step forward in being made more like Christ! 

This transformation, sometimes called the sanctification process, occurs within the context of a healthy Christian community that is centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ. Each aspect of this glorious message strengthens believers: His divine nature, His sinless life, His death in place of sinners, His resurrection which anticipates our own, and His ascension to His heavenly throne as the just and good King; these essential realities are the focus of our life, which is hidden with Christ in God. As we focus on the powerful realities of the gospel, we are able to see the ongoing transformational work of God's Spirit taking place in one another. As such, we enjoy an environment in which the gospel message is celebrated through encouraging one another and caring for one another in our trials and our triumphs, all by the grace of God and for the glory of His name! 

SENT by the Grace of God

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

(Matthew 28:18-20, ESV)

The undeserved gift of salvation and eternal life we received through trusting in Jesus changes the way we see the world around us. On one hand, Torino and Piemonte are filled with beauty. On the other hand they are filled with people who do not yet know or understand the message of God's grace. This means many around us are living lives without meaning and without hope, all the while inching closer to death each day. Many even reject God and His grace believing they can find peace and happiness through their own good behaviour. This is a clear denial of the Biblical teaching and offer of freedom and forgiveness. 

Our church family is rooted in the knowledge and understanding of His infinite grace. We have been entrusted with the mission of proclaiming the gospel of forgiveness to those who don't yet have saving faith in Christ. We are committed to our city and province. We have a deep desire to reach as many people as possible with the wonderful message of God's forgiveness through Jesus. It is a message that everyone needs and the only condition required to receive the gift of grace is to come with empty-hands, recognizing that sin has pushed as away from God and left us broken and oppressed. Our passion is to go, by grace and with a message of grace, throughout Torino and Piemonte, making Christ known and inviting others to follow Christ into joy and peace. When Christ calls a person to Himself, He invites them into His family. 

For this reason, we are a church for all sorts of people. Anyone who wishes to know the person and work of Jesus and the impact that His Spirit has on the lives of those who seek Him with their hearts can be part of His family. As one small expression of God's universal family in Torino, we invite you to come and get to know us. If you are interested to know more about us, the next section gives a brief overview of what we believe. You can also contact us here (in English or Italian) so we can get to know you and make arrangements for you to join us for a worship service.

What do we believe?

We are part of a global family of interdependent churches called Sovereign Grace Churches. Our beliefs profoundly shape our identity as both a global family of churches and individually as churches. You can learn more about us through the following.

> At the heart of everything we are and do as a family of churches and as individual churches is the good news of God's grace in Jesus: learn about the Gospel by scrolling to the bottom section of this page.

> We are a global confessional family of churches united by one belief: browse our Statement of Faith.

> We are united by theological convictions that summarize biblical teaching: check out what we mean by reading about our 7 shared values.

> We believe that the fruit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is manifested in a church culture with specific characteristics: read more about our 7 shaping values.

However, we would be even more excited to meet you in person to answer your questions. Please feel free to contact us, here! 

Search deeper: What is the gospel?

"Gospel" means "good news": and what good news! To truly understand the profound greatness of this good news, it is first necessary to understand the full depth of our problem (the bad news!).

God is unique: not only because He is the only God, but also because no one can grasp Him with their own mind or approach Him. You might think of this a bit like the sun: God's brilliance is so intense that it cannot be looked at or approached by mere human beings. This is, in short, what we mean when we say that God is "holy": God is unique, inaccessible, outside of creation, indescribable, immortal, and sovereign over all. Yet this same God was pleased to create us so that we could live in relationship with Him and know Him as He is: good, faithful, generous, and an unending source of life.

However, man dishonored God by choosing the path of disobedience instead of His good and perfect path: this is the essence of our guilt (or sin) against His perfect and sovereign character. Man has tragically rejected Him as his King: He who, being the Creator, is the only possible source of meaning and joy for our life. God's just punishment (or wrath) is now upon us and we can consider all its gravity in its most evident consequence: the inevitability of physical death. In reality, the situation is worse than we might think: we are, first of all, already spiritually dead, incapable of not rejecting the holy and just God. Reviewing our behaviour and our motives reveals that each of us is self-focused and willing to do bad things to get what we want. This is the disease of the human soul, and although it is difficult to accept, by understanding our problem we can seek out the cure that God provides and therefore embrace the full extent of God's love.

In fact, although God is righteous in His condemnation of us, God has still revealed His mercy to a fallen and dying world by providing a definitive solution to the problem of sin. That solution is none other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Born as a true human being on this earth, while remaining, at the same time, truly God in His person, Jesus of Nazareth lived a life perfectly obedient to God. Although He was tempted like us in every way, He never disobeyed. This does not mean that Jesus came simply to leave us a supreme example. The center of His mission was to die on the cross and voluntarily take upon Himself the punishment for sin. Without Him we would have had no hope: only a divine and perfectly innocent person could have paid that price and, thus, remove the just condemnation from those who believe in Him alone. However, the good news is better than we might think. Jesus, after three days, was resurrected: His perfect life and His perfect death have not only purchased forgiveness, but also eternal life for those who turn away from pursuing sin and place trust in Christ alone for forgiveness of all past, present, and future sins. 

When one places trust in Jesus, God declares them JUST. This means we receive forgiveness and the free gift of eternal life, all through the graciousness of the person and work of Jesus! Justification is an undeserved and free gift that cannot be earned. Understanding justification as a work totally free and totally performed by God frees us from the burden and illusion that we can or must contribute in some way to our salvation. This also frees us to see that the work of salvation is brilliantly God-honoring and not meant to honor mankind. Our response, then, is to cooperate with God and act, with the strength He provides, to live a life of grateful worship that obeys Him and follows in the footsteps of Jesus. This includes fighting the sinful, indwelling impulses which remain in us and are opposed to Him. Again, the good news is better than we might think: God adopts those whom He forgives and grants us the right to become children of God. This means that our walk of obedience is not on our own. We are loved, strengthened, and preserved by our loving Heavenly Father, through the close and constant presence of His Holy Spirit. Then on the day when we all see Jesus Christ Himself return in His glory to make believers and the entire world what they were created to be, without sin or death forever, we will be made instantly like Him - free from sin and living in the uninhibited light of God's holy glory.

For these reasons, the Gospel of grace in Jesus Christ is truly the best news a human being can ever hear! The invitation, therefore, cannot be clearer or more freeing. Won't you consider this invitation? 

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 

(Matthew, 11:28, ESV)

Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. 

(Acts 3:19-21, ESV)

We would love the opportunity to get to know you and talk about the good news of Jesus. Please reach out here! It would be our privilege to talk with you about the gospel and to help you know the gracious gift of salvation!