On Sunday, Feb. 4, Grace Community Church (GCC) in Sun Valley, California, celebrated the 55th pastoral anniversary of John MacArthur. The 84-year-old pastor, author, and Bible teacher has led the nondenominational megachurch since February 1969.
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To mark the milestone, GCC held special worship services Sunday morning plus a Q&A with MacArthur in the evening. “We are so grateful to God to be able to celebrate Pastor John and his 55 years of faithful ministry today,” the church posted on social media, “and we eagerly anticipate how God will continue to use him to lead our church and to advance the Gospel.”
MacArthur, a graduate of Talbot Theological Seminary, is also president of Grace to You, a nonprofit teaching ministry. He has been married to wife Patricia for more than 60 years.
Celebrating John MacArthur’s ‘Legacy of Faithfulness’
On social media, well-wishers congratulated Pastor John MacArthur on the ministry anniversary. Phil Johnson, executive director of Grace to You, shared a clip from Sunday’s worship service, writing, “Sweet celebration today recognizing John MacArthur’s 55th anniversary as pastor of Grace Community Church.”
North Carolina Pastor Grant Castleberry wrote, “Simply an amazing kindness from the Lord that John MacArthur celebrated 55 years today at Grace Church. What a legacy of faithfulness to Christ!”
During his Sunday message, MacArthur spoke about having a “front-row seat” to the work of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit during the past five-and-a-half decades .
To open the evening’s Q&A session, the pastor admitted that marking 55 years feels “overwhelming.” He said he had tried to prepare some written remarks but couldn’t do the experience justice. “It’s all number ones,” said MacArthur, indicating the challenge of ranking all that God has made possible.
John MacArthur on Longevity in Ministry
For his many years behind the pulpit and microphone, MacArthur credited God and the GCC congregation. “Longevity in ministry is rare,” he said, “and long endurance of a congregation that continues down the same path, growing and flourishing, is rare as well.”
Pointing to the church leaders on stage with him for the Q&A, MacArthur said, “When you stay a long time, it’s amazing how extensive the fruit becomes, and the reason that happens is because you are literally building strong people. And the church really rises and falls on the strength of the men that lead it.”
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MacArthur described himself as a spectator who’s been able to see God raising up people. “What makes Grace Church so unique and its ministries so effective,” he continued, “is the strength of the men who have grown up in this environment and carry the truth with the same passion that I do. And the Lord has used them and their gifts to go way beyond anything I could ever have imagined.”
