What is unique about Calvary Church?
If you drive past our building, the first thing you may notice is some beautiful colonial architecture. For some this may suggest that Calvary is a more “traditional” fellowship. Well you know what they say about judging a book by its cover. Once you get past the front door, you’ll find a diverse, growing fellowship with a heart for embracing our community, opening ourselves to friendship and sharing our love for Christ.

A lot of churches have impressive mission statements (we encourage you to check ours out). While words are important, we thought you might be more interested in what we’re doing. Calvary has been working hard to grow a community of faith that reflects the faces in our community – a colorful banner of experiences, traditions, and perspectives. We’re excited about the changes taking place in our neighborhood and welcome the opportunity to worship, serve and learn together.

Calvary is affiliated with the Reformed Church in America. What does it mean to be reformed?
To be reformed means to agree with the Christian beliefs outlined in the Apostles' Creed. It also means to understand that faith is communal, and that our relationship with God always includes responsibility toward other humans. We emphasize the law of God, not that people must follow rules to be good enough for God, but that the law is a gift from God to help us live together in human community. Likewise, reformed churches are traditionally strong on discipline, meaning that the community takes care of its members and encourages them to live together in a bond of mutual responsibility to the lordship of Christ in their common life.

The Reformers also have a unique understanding of vocation. Each person is called (vocatio) by God to serve both the church and the community in whatever role he or she plays. This concern for community does not stop at the doors of the church but reaches into all aspects of life.

Christ is its starting point of the reformed faith, and Christ is the goal toward which it moves. The very first fact brought to our attention in the Heidelberg Catechism is the fact that we belong to Christ. That becomes the touchstone for all that follows.

What is the history of the RCA?
In the small colonial town of New Amsterdam, on a Sunday in 1628, about fifty people gathered around a crude table in a mill loft. Their celebration of the Lord's Supper marks the birth date of the Reformed Church in America. The congregation they founded still continues today as the Collegiate Reformed Church in New York City, the oldest evangelical church in North America with a continuous ministry.

From there, the RCA grew with subsequent waves of immigration from the Netherlands, spreading into New Jersey and up the Hudson River, across upstate New York, into Michigan, Iowa, and the Midwest, and finally to California--and many other places in between.

Especially in the twentieth century, the RCA has seen its membership broaden beyond its traditional Dutch roots and now has congregations of many ethnicities.

An outline of the RCA's history is available online.

Why do you baptize infants if they don't know what's going on?
We do so because baptism is a sign and seal of God's covenant of grace with us and our children. Baptism is the visible word of God that we are cleansed in Christ's blood, buried with him unto death, that we might rise with him and walk in newness of life.

The RCA baptizes infants as well as older children and adults. The journey of faith that begins in individual baptism continues in the church community. In the RCA, baptism is always performed in the context of a congregation of God's people. Baptism is the mark of corporate as well as individual faith. The congregation commits itself to the spiritual nurture of the infant, child, or adult being baptized.

Recognizing the symbolic cleansing and refreshing characteristics of water, the RCA affirms sprinkling, immersion, and pouring as methods of baptism.

What is the stance of the RCA on contemporary issues?
The RCA's General Synod has taken official positions on a number of issues. Summaries of these can be found linked from our Positions page.

What is a sacrament?
The word sacrament is based on the Latin word sacramentum, which means "something sacred." In the early church sacramentum came to stand for many things sacred, including rites that had a hidden meaning. During the Reformation, using Scripture as a guide, the reformers limited the number of sacraments to two: baptism and the Lord's Supper. These sacraments, instituted by Christ, are a means of grace within our faith community. They are visible signs and seals of something internal and invisible and the means by which God works in us through the power of the Holy Spirit.

What is baptism?
Baptism is a sign and seal of God's covenant of grace with us and our children. Baptism is the visible word of God that we are cleansed in Christ's blood, buried with him unto death, that we might rise with him and walk in newness of life. At Calvary baptism is always performed in the context of our faith community. The congregation commits itself to the spiritual nurture of the infant, child, or adult being baptized. Baptism is the mark of corporate, as well as individual faith. The journey of faith that begins in individual baptism continues in the church community.

What happens during baptism?
In baptism God promises by grace alone
to forgive our sins;
to adopt us into the Body of Christ, the church;
to send the Holy Spirit daily to renew and cleanse us;
and to resurrect us to eternal life.
Through baptism Christ calls us to new obedience,
to love and trust God completely;
to forsake the evil of the world;
and to live a new and holy life.

How does Calvary Church practice baptism?
Calvary is pleased to offer baptism to infants of believing parents as well as older children and adults. Recognizing the symbolic cleansing and refreshing characteristics of water, Calvary affirms sprinkling, immersion, and pouring as methods of baptism.

What is communion?
Communion, also known as the Lord's Supper or Eucharist, is Christ's gift to the church. On the night in which he was betrayed, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and shared it with his disciples. "This is my body that is for you," he said. "Do this in remembrance of me." He also took a cup of wine and said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me."
Following Jesus' example and instruction, when the church celebrates the Lord's Supper we receive gifts of bread and wine; we give thanks to God; we break the bread and pour the wine; we share the food and drink with each other. In these simple actions believers experience a profound mystery: Christ himself is present and his life passes into us and is made ours. As baptism is the sign and seal of our ingrafting into Christ, so the Lord's Supper is a means by which Christ continually nourishes, strengthens and comforts us.

What happens during communion?
Through our prayers and the sharing of bread and wine we are joined to Christ and through Christ to each other. At the table we remember what God has done for us. The past event of our Lord's death, resurrection and ascension comes into the present so that its power once again touches us, changes us, and heals us. We gather at the table with joy. Our eating and drinking is a celebration of our risen Lord. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ is present with us at the table and so we give joyful thanks for what God has done and is doing in our lives and in the world. We come to the table in hope. We look forward with joyful anticipation to the coming reign of God when "Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other" (Psalm 85:10).

How does Calvary Church practice communion?
There is great diversity in the practice of communion at Calvary. Communion is celebrated several times a year. The form can include the practice of intinction (coming forward to dip the bread in the cup), seated (with the passing of individual cups and pieces of bread) or some other form.

Who may participate in communion?
Christ is the host and invites us to his table. All who have been baptized into Christ are welcome to participate in the Lord's Supper at Calvary.