This is part of a series of interviews with pastors of churches whose attendance has grown 20% or more in 5 years. We hope this series will be a resource of ideas to help increase worship attendance at your church.

Established in 1960, the people of Calvary United Methodist Church in Normal, Illinois relocated to a new 40 acre site early in 2002. With the building program came intentional teaching and preaching about growth, reaching beyond the boundaries of the building, and making disciples for Jesus Christ.

We continually ask the question, “What can we do to make our measure of hospitality exceed the expectations of our visitors?” We strategically station greeters at entrance points, offer free coffee, lemonade, and pastries, provide gift mugs to first time visitors, and offer guided tours of the building. At the beginning of each service the Directing Pastor clearly articulates words of greeting to visitors using phrases like, “It is an honor to have you with us today. If you are new to our community or looking for a church home, we invite you to connect with Calvary. We would love to be your church home.”  We provide the best of nursery care in a safe and attractive environment, and offer outstanding ministries for children, students and parents.

To clarify Calvary’s focus on spiritual growth and evangelism, we renewed our vision statement this last year.  ‘Connect with God, one another and our world’ is underscored by our focus on excellence in all of our services of worship. We continually alter our worship times and styles to better connect with the culture of our people. We have a full time director of Multi Media Ministries to provide the best possible technical support for our worship experiences, and will soon add a director of Worship Arts to ensure the future quality of our music, drama, and other artistic components. Our services are based around sermon themes that are planned one year in advance. Each sermon series is designed to reach important segments of a growing congregation. For instance, we follow traditional lectionary themes during Advent and Lent. With the crowds of Christmas and Easter we promote an upcoming series that will have a broad appeal for those visitors who may return to worship on a regular basis. In June and July we usually design a series for those who are ready for more depth and growth in the faith.

Randy Perry

Integrating visitors and new members into the life of the church is the second component of our vision statement. Our Connections classes are offered to guests on a regular basis which informs them about our ministries and draws them into volunteer opportunities.  Names, spiritual gifts and interests of new members are communicated to ministry leaders immediately upon a person joining so that the new member will be invited onto a committee or team.

Outreach is the third component of our vision statement. Mission trips and local service projects are ongoing practices of all age groups, and one tenth of our budget goes to outreach ministries each year. We make our facilities available to groups outside of our church, and our pastors often officiate at weddings and funerals for families that do not have a church home.

Over time, our approach has evolved to stay relevant to be more intentional in helping all connect with God, one another and our world.  Our vision reflects our priorities and provides the basis for all we do.

Dr. Randall K. Perry – randy.perry@connectwithcalvary.org

Church website – http://www.connectwithcalvary.org