Purpose and Vision
Calvary seeks to be a Reproducing Great Commission, Great Commandment, Great Cause Community
GREAT COMMISSION: The key word in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) is Discipleship. This can be defined with 3 Ls:
- Learning the Lord Jesus: Matthew 28:20, Ephesians 4:20-24
- Likeness to the Lord Jesus: Matthew 10:24-25; Romans 8:28-30; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18
- Lordship of the Lord Jesus: Matthew 16:24-28
At Calvary we are learning about our King Jesus and His Kingdom, growing in likeness to our Lord, And learning to live in submission to our Lord, joyfully denying ourselves, taking up the cross, and following Him daily.
GREAT COMMANDMENT: The key word is Love (Matthew 22:34-40). 1 Timothy 1:5 teaches us that the 'goal of our instruction is Love.' The Great Commandment directs our discipleship upward to the Lord, inwards to one another, and outwards to the World:
- Loving the Lord Jesus Preeminently: Matthew 22:34f
- Loving One Another Intimately: Matthew 22:34f and the many 'one another' commands
- Loving His Lost World Compassionately: Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 6:27-38; Romans 9:1-3
At Calvary we want 'all that we do to be done in love' (1 Corinthians 16:14).
GREAT CAUSE: The key phrase is 'Joyfully Glorify God' (1 Corinthians 10:31; John 17; Colossians 3:17) The first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism tells us that 'Man's chief end is to Glorify God and Enjoy Him forever.' We are convinced that 'He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him' (John Piper). This 'Joyfully Glorifying' God is defined beautifully by Lord's Prayer Living:
- His Name Magnified on earth, not ours
- His Kingdom built on earth, not ours
- His Will done on earth, not ours
At Calvary we want the Lord's Name, Kingdom, and Will to be central all we do and His Glory to be the main motivation in all of life.
Our Core Values are seen in our commitment to be a '5 W' Worshiping, Word Loving, Witnessing, World Missions, 'One Another' Fellowship.
WORSHIP: We are created to Worship the Lord 24/7. As we behold the Glory of the Lord we are slowly becoming like Him. We are passionate about Lord's Day Worship and United Prayer Worship.
WORD: We live on every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. 1 Timothy 4:13-16 emphasizes the radical importance of the Ministry of Preaching and Teaching the Word. Expository preaching through books of the Bible is essential for the health and vitality of the Calvary family. We love the Perfect Word as it enables us to love the Living Word, the Lord Jesus and to hear His voice and follow Him.
WITNESS: Acts 1:8 reminds us that we are all called to be witnesses of the Lord Jesus who are seeking to Know Him and to Make Him Known in both Word and Deed. This emphasizes the importance of both Mercy Ministry where we are learning to 'engage in deeds to meet pressing needs so we will not be unfruitful' (Titus 3:14) and Message Ministry where we are creatively seeking to share the Good News with a lost world.
WORLD MISSIONS: We know that we are blessed by the Lord in order to be a blessing to the Nations (Psalm 67; Matthew 28:18-20). It is indeed true that any church that is not radically committed to Missions will become a mission field. We are committed to Praying, Giving, Going, and Sending so that the Gospel will cover the earth as the waters cover the seas.
'ONE-ANOTHER': Our final 'W' (sounds like it any way!) is 'One-Another.' The Lord has ordained that the way we grow in grace is in intimate relationships with one another. We are learning how to live out the wonderful 'one-another' commands in Scripture in our loving relationships with each other as we commit ourselves to the Calvary Community.