Welcome

Greetings! Thank you so much for visiting our website. We are striving to reach our community, and our world, for Jesus Christ. God has blessed our church family tremendously and we'd like to share in those blessings with you.

If you are searching for a church home, we'd be honored to have you as our guest. If you'd like some additional information before deciding, then just give us a call or email us. We'll do our best to get right back with you.

If you have questions about the ministry of Calvary MBC and would like to speak with us directly, please feel free to contact us by email. You can just click on the link below and send us a note. If you'd prefer, you can just contact the church office at 580.286.3163.

It is our prayer that God will bless you.

-Calvary Missionary Baptist Church

calvary1950@gmail.com

Oklahoma’s Open Up and Recover Safely Plan still recommends social distancing (6 feet apart) and sitting with households together. We have made the following changes to our Sunday School and Worship Services:

We are happy to see everyone, but we discourage shaking hands at this time.
We have bottles of hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes available at different locations.
Before classes begin, teachers should please take a moment to use a disinfecting wipe to clean the table tops and other objects as applicable.
We have put a sign on every other pew to help remind us to sit with an empty pew between family groups.
When Sunday School class has dismissed, we ask that each one please use a disinfecting wipe to clean the tops of the pews in front and behind you as well as the arm rests at the ends of the pews before the worship service.
Instead of passing the offering plates, we have boxes set up in the hallway in which to give your offerings. There is a box mounted on the wall just before the turn to go to the Fellowship Hall and another box on the table in the hallway.
When services are concluded, we will be dismissed in sections and ask if everyone would wait to visit with one another after leaving the building.

Announcements

Calvary Ladies Fellowship @ 6:30 P.M.

Calvary ladies and guests meet on the second Monday of each month at 6:30 pm for a time of fellowship. The evening begins with finger foods, then a time for a devotion, and ends with a game or two.

Calvary Food Pantry

Calvary Food Pantry will distribute food on the 4th Tuesday of every month. In November and December food will be distributed on the 3rd Tuesday due to Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Message from Interim Pastor Joel Dillahunty

We will all admit that things have changed in this country and more important in our life. Some things have certainly changed or even gone forever.

Church attendance in most churches have not recovered from the shut down and continuing regulations surrounding COVID. For most churches, not all the church members who were attending before the pandemic will return. In fact, church members and church leaders indicate somewhere between 20 percent and 30 percent of the members will not return to your church. This trend is also seen and felt here at Calvary.

So, who are these non-returning church members? Why are they not returning? Here are the most common dropout groups as described in an article from ChurchAnswers.com

The decreasing attendance members. These were your members who, at one time, attended church almost four times a month. Before they pandemic, their frequency of attendance declined to twice a month or even once a month. COVID accelerated their trends. They are now attending zero times a month.

The disconnected church members. If a church member is in a small group such as Sunday School, ladies or mens group, his or her likelihood of returning is high. If they attend worship only, their likelihood of attendance is much lower. This is why we stress in person classes with all precautions taken.

The church-is-another-activity church members. These church members see gathered attendance as yet another activity on par, or lower, than other activities. They were the church members who let inclement weather keep them from church but not their children’s Sunday recreational activities. Commitment to the church was a low priority before the pandemic. They have no commitment in the post-quarantine era.

The cultural Christian church members. They were part of a declining group well before the pandemic. They were those church members who likely were not Christians but came to church to be accepted culturally. These cultural Christians learned during the pandemic that it was no big deal to miss church. It will be no big deal for them never to return.

Research shows that it takes anywhere from 21 days to 2.5 months to break a habit. While church should never be treated like a habit, we can easily see how one sees their membership determines the importance they place on it.

Let me encourage you to come back home. Paul tells us in Ephesians 3:21 that we give glory to God in the church of Jesus Christ. Nowhere else in the world will you find an organization committed to your family’s spiritual growth.

See you Sunday!

Joel Dillahunty

October 2020