Our Mission

Here at Calvary, we understand our mission as a church family like this:

We strive to glorify God by being a Christ-centered, caring church through missions, ministry, worship and discipleship.

In one way, of course, this statement summarizes the mission of almost any church. Congregations don’t exist for the sake of themselves but in order to expand God’s glory by living for His purposes as they’ve been revealed through Jesus Christ. That’s why we engage in missions and ministry: telling the story of who God is and what God has done for us – and living that story by meeting needs and serving others just like Jesus did. That’s why we engage in worship: celebrating the things that God has done, is doing, and has promised He will do; listening to God as the message of the Bible speaks to us today; and responding to God by offering our lives to Him. That’s why we engage in discipleship: learning about the life God has called us to lead and encouraging one another as we seek to submit to God’s Spirit so that He can help us live that life.

But while all these things are true not only of Calvary but also of almost any church, we like to think that one of the things that sets us apart is our level of caring. Of course, we know that lots of other congregations are caring, too. But we take very seriously the idea of being a “Christ-centered, caring church.” Christ-centered caring, we believe, compels us not only to love each other deeply within the fellowship of the church, but also to  love others deeply beyond the fellowship of the church. In Christ, God “expanded the circle” of who gets in on His love. So we, too, seek to expand that circle through small but meaningful acts of caring. As our pastor is fond of saying: “Small things done with great love will change the world.”

Our Beliefs

Calvary stands within a great family of churches – both Baptist congregations and congregations of other denominations – that affirm the historic beliefs of the Christian faith. We believe, for example, that God is “the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth;” that Jesus is “His only Son, our Lord,” who suffered, died and rose again so that we could receive the gift of salvation; that His Spirit continues to be available to us to show us our faults and to lead us into truth and life; and that Jesus will return one day to establish his Father’s kingdom forever.

Like other churches within our Baptist tradition, however, we do not use a creed or other doctrinal statement to enforce a particular set of beliefs. Instead, we believe that each person has both the opportunity and the responsibility to determine what he or she believes; taking into account the wisdom of Christian teaching across the ages, and understanding that the Bible (and the Bible alone) is the ultimate authority by which all beliefs and all lives are judged.

Of course, we understand how helpful it can be for church members (and for potential guests) to have a fuller statement of the beliefs that have stood the test of time and which, therefore, provide a reliable guide for those who are trying to develop a deeper awareness of what they believe. As a result, Calvary has adopted The Baptist Faith and Message (1963 version) as an expression of the beliefs that bind us together. If you’d like to read that entire statement, you can find a copy in the “Calvary Documents” section of this website.