Church Adds 127 New Nazarenes Since Moving to New Location
Calvary Church Delivers "A Place to Belong" in Memphis Suburbs

After outgrowing their facilities on Stage Road in Memphis, Calvary Church moved to the country. In 1997, with a God-given dream to get ahead of the population growth curve, the 56-year-old Calvary Church of the Nazarene secured a 27-acre church campus site on Houston Levee Road in Cordova and moved to their newly constructed church home in 2001. Now they are located in the middle of a fastgrowing area of new homes and new schools and new businesses.

Calvary now has 445 members with a worship attendance of 442 and a Sunday School attendance of 338. Last year, 31 new Nazarenes joined the fellowship. Pastor Lynn Holmes has served Calvary Church for nine years. Awe-inspiring worship, vital small groups, and ministry to families form the backbone of the church's well balanced ministry.

The upbeat themes-"a place to belong" and "our mission is to love people into the family of God"- appear on every piece of literature. Direct mailing communicates the place-to-belong language over and over. The first impression team sees to it that visitors are welcomed in every possible way. The first welcome is by a young family standing near the first turn into the church parking lot dressed in tee shirts bearing the message "A place to belong."

Here are some randomly chosen though replicable ideas that appeared in one Sunday's bulletin at Calvary Church:

•“Welcome to Calvary Church. Thanks for joining us. We want your experience to be enjoyable.”
• To assist you in identifying and contacting church leaders, photos of board members are posted on the main corridor bulletin board.
• Youth ministry “infoline” 901-788- INFO.
• Alabaster month – stop by the African hut to get your Alabaster offering box.
• Singers Sunday – a monthly mass choir event for all enthusiastic worshipers. Participation is easy. Pick up a CD at the table in the lobby. Rehearse on your own or attend the Wednesday evening Family group.
• Every Sunday morning, breakfast is available at our kitchen corridor.
• Please complete a Response Card. We’d love to get to know you and pray for any concerns you might have.
• Offering is an extension of worship. . . You are not obligated to give, but this opportunity is available to you as an expression of worship.
• Singles on Sunday - 12-5 pm. For any single parent or grandparent who could use an afternoon of relaxation or errand running. Call the church office to register your children.
• Back to School Sleepover. Friday 7 pm- Saturday 9 am in the children’s sanctuary. . . . Please help your child invite a guest to this fun night. We will be presenting the gospel to every child through a special devotional. See the sign-up sheet on the children’s table.

At press time, a Saturday night worship service was planned to begin on October 15 as a strong way to relate to their community of young families. A whole church four-week missionary training series, "Planting Seeds: a plan for reaching our community," was offered to prepare the church family for "the new challenges of providing additional programming on Saturday evenings, and maintaining and improving all that we currently offer to the community around us."

Congratulations to Calvary Church for the many ways you are fulfilling your statement of purpose: "Our mission is to love people into the family of God and disciple them to remain for a lifetime."

by Neil B. Wiseman