Welcome to Calvary! 

We're a fellowship of believers with a rich history and an exciting future. The church has stood as a gospel beacon in Gravenhurst since 1884, and we're looking forward to becoming a church that changes the world for God's glory. If you're reading this, you're considering joining us at some point, so I want to tell you a little bit about ourselves.

At Calvary, our vision is to see lives transformed by Christ, and not just our lives, but the lives of every person on earth. We believe in and follow a God who is all powerful, and we want to be a part of the process of seeing people's lives completely changed by the life-giving power of Jesus' message of salvation for those who follow and love Him. 

To see this vision completed, we've developed a simple three step mission:

GO DEEP IN CHRIST
LIVE OUT AUTHENTIC FAITH
MAKE DISCIPLES

We want everything we do as a church to fit into this mission, and it helps guide our decision making process and our goals as a community. We know that Calvary is a work in progress. No church is perfect (if you find one, let us know!), and we're actively working to keep moving forward in our mission to build the local church, as well as God's church all over the world. To keep us moving forward, we use our mission as a process as well. The breakdown below helps explain what we mean: 

STEP 1: Go Deep in Christ
This is the introduction step. Everyone needs to start with a desire to deeply understand who Jesus is, what He came to earth to accomplish, and how it affects our lives today. All the ministries that help introduce people to Jesus fit into this step: our Sunday worship service, Junior Church, and youth programming. If you're new to Calvary, or even to the Christian faith, we want you to connect with us here, so that you can learn more about how God can change your life.

STEP 2: Live Out Authentic Faith
Now we're talking about personal application. We don't want our church to be filled with people who know a lot about Jesus. We want to have a church filled with people who act on what they know about Jesus, because our lives have already been changed. Our small groups ministry, mid-week children and youth programs and our other adult ministries all fit in here. As you move through our mission process, we want you to not only talk the talk, but walk the walk as well. This is where what some people might call "religion" becomes a living faith!

STEP 3: Make Disciples
Once you've made a personal commitment to Jesus, and you've started to live out His teachings in your own life, the next step is to help others find Jesus as well. As a church, we believe in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20), which calls all Christ followers to make disciples. Every believer is encouraged to participate in the Great Commission, and everyone who is a member at Calvary is expected to serve in some way to make this happen. Some examples would be outreach events, greeting, sound, worship, teaching, small group leading, mentoring, evangelism, building improvements, even inviting a friend to church. 

Our desire is that Calvary would be a biblical church that is prepared for a 21st Century context. If you love Christ and desire to be a part of an exciting mission, we invite you to come check us out in person. 

Sincerely,
Pastor Mark

LEADERSHIP MODEL

We believe in a plural leadership model with Christ at the helm. There are 3 leadership teams that work together to accomplish the vision. The Elder board is the lead pastor and a group of at least 3 mature Christian men who oversee the spiritual health and vision for the congregation. They are elected from and by the membership of Calvary. The Deacon board is a team of mature men and women chosen from the membership of the congregation. They oversee the assets and policies of the physical building. The staff is the team that develops and carries out the ministries from week to week, with a whole lot of help from our faithful volunteers.

Associations

As a part of our connection to the larger church family in Canada and around the world, Calvary is associated with several organizations. You can find out more about them by clicking on the logos below or contacting the church office.