Looking for a Church that Follows the Masters Plan

Calvary Baptist Church has come through much history of growth as a church that believes in “Carrying out the Great Commission through healing hurts and meeting needs.” There is a world of needs and hurts out there. With strong pastors who care about people, our churches can each meet many needs.

Calvary’s emphasis is primarily on DISCIPLESHIP – preaching and teaching the gospel for the purpose of bringing people to a saving knowledge of Christ, followed by helping Christians to mature in the knowledge of the Scriptures and how to live as Jesus taught and modeled.

We don’t take the great commission seriously if we don’t help each other grow in obedience.
-Kevin DeYoung

Discipleship is a major practice that churches and individual Christians are commanded to do based on Matthew 28:19-20: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Phillip Nation said, “I’d say that all the church does should involve making disciples.” A twitter friend says, “Take God everywhere you go.”

Make Disciples

Isn’t discipleship the same as EVANGELISM? Matthew 28:19-20 seems to combine the two. The mistake we often make is to share the gospel, lead them to salvation, baptize them, and then leave them there – at the new birth stage. Discipleship continues the process of “raising” the new believers – teaching, training, and helping them to discover and apply their spiritual gifts in the service of the kingdom and the church. In 2 Timothy 2:2 Paul instructs, “Commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

Worship in the Everyday

What part does WORSHIP play? Church worship services provide wonderful settings in which believers can come together and share in our love for and praise to God in song, prayer, and pulpit messages. It also provides opportunity for members to invite unsaved or unchurched friends to join us and, hopefully, be saved as a result. Worship helps to bind us as a fellowship of believers. We are convicted and encouraged (“pumped up”) to go through our week, boldly “taking Christ with us everywhere.” 

Speaking of FELLOWSHIP, this is a fourth aspect of the church. Fellowship is being together in ways that affirm, love, accept, and enjoy one another. It gives us a sense of belonging. Belonging is a longing of most people. We do fellowship when we join a LifeGroup, share greetings and hugs, gather around the coffee and donut table, share prayer concerns, and have socials together outside of Sunday church meetings. 

“They devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple complex, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with a joyful and humble attitude, praising God and having favor with all the people. And every day the Lord added to them those who were being saved.” Acts 2:46. A tweeter called @D6Leader wrote, “The way you get people is the way you keep people.” How do we get people? We usually “get” them first by our friendship. This falls under both fellowship and ministry.

Every Member is a Minister

MINISTRY is meeting needs and healing hurts. We seek to meet needs and heal hurts in various ways as God gives us vision and opportunity. John the baptizer sent a question: “Are You the One who is to come, or should we look for someone else?” Jesus’ reply: “Go and report to John the things you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with skin diseases are healed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news.” Luke 7:20-23. In Matthew 25:35-36,40, Jesus tells what it will be like when He comes in His glory and judges the nations, separating the sheep from the goats. To the sheep He will say, “For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you took care of Me; I was in prison and you visited Me. Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.”

Calvary meets needs and heals hurts by providing housing for elderly and the handicapped and by involvement in various ways with residents of these homes. We meet Christian education needs for children from preschool through high school. We heal hurts through these ministries and through a Christian counseling center. We are also involved in prison ministries. These ministries didn’t happen overnight. They began with a preschool and grew from there. These ministries reach needs of children to elderly as well as to families of individuals to whom we minister.

The “Great Commission” – to make disciples of all nations – is not necessarily the beginning but rather the result of:

Ministries – meeting needs and healing hurts.

Fellowship – friendship, acceptance, and affirmation.

Worship – lifting up the name of King Jesus in prayer, Scriptures, and singing.

Evangelism – sharing the good news by words and deeds – “taking God with us everywhere!”