A Brief History of Calvary Bible
Calvary Bible Church began as an outreach ministry of Grace Bible Church (Washington, IL). A group met for Bible study as the first step, and then the church was formally organized in June of 1983 in Lacon, IL. The church has rented facilities for most of its existence, and then completed the first part of a building in 2001. Pastors Dan Green and Maynard Mathewson served the church in years past, and Tom Nofsinger began his pastoral ministry at CBC in 2005.
What is the Church?
This question is important and simple, and deserves a straightforward answer. As a church family we see the Word of God (the sixty-six books of the Bible) as our handbook for what we believe and how we live. Therefore, our answers about the church must come from the Bible. The goal of the next few paragraphs is to make a few key statements about what the Bible calls the church to BE and DO.
Am I Good Enough to be in the Church?
This question helps to point out one myth about Christians and the church. Entrance into God’s family is not about our personal goodness. Instead, a great statement that best describes Calvary Bible could be this: “No perfect people allowed!” Any Christian or church that is true to Jesus Christ and His gospel will agree that Christians are people who have recognized their bondage as sinners and their need for Christ’s perfect sacrifice, not those who are self-righteous without Him.
As human beings who have sinned against a holy God, we do not make ourselves worthy and then come to God so He will accept us. That is impossible and clearly not the good news about Jesus revealed in the Bible. A person comes to faith in Jesus Christ as Savior, and turns over his or her life to Jesus Christ as Lord. The Bible calls sinners to come to Christ in the midst of their need, because He is a merciful Savior. God’s saving grace is active, and God begins a work of cleansing in every true child of God (see Ephesians 2:8-10; Philippians 2:12,13).
Therefore, the church is a community of believers who are seeking to follow Christ and honor God with their lives. The church is a group of people who have been called together because of the Gospel, and who long to be better equipped to know God and serve others. The Apostle Paul often calls believers “saints” when he wrote to churches 2,000 years ago. This is not a statement about our actual goodness at any given moment, but instead a statement of identity in Christ. God sees Christians as holy saints, because of the blood of Christ shed for sinners.
Another statement that helps define the church and what it should be like is this: “Come as you are – but don’t stay that way.”
When a person receives the gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ, he or she comes to Jesus full of need. Through the power of God’s Word, the help of the Holy Spirit and fellowship in the church, believers can increasingly grow in obedience to their Lord and Savior. We come to Christ because we need His righteousness. And when this miracle of new life occurs, God promises He will not leave us the same! “Come as you are — but don’t stay that way.”
Building a Solid Foundation
These next statements are ministry values and priorities that we want to be faithful to at Calvary Bible:
- We believe the church includes those who have personally trusted in Jesus Christ as Savior (John 1:12; Acts 16:31).
- We believe those who have responded to the Gospel through faith in Christ will be growing spiritually, which demands a personal commitment to walk with Christ and a commitment to fellowship and worship in the local church (Ephesians 4:16; Colossians 2:6,7).
- We believe the foundation for spiritual growth is through God’s Word, as it is taught and applied, both personally and in the life of the church through God’s power supplied by the Holy Spirit through prayer (Acts 4:31; 20:32; 2 Timothy 3:16,17).
