Visiting a new church can be a little scary and overwhelming. We invite you to explore the options below to make your visit something to look forward to.
We are here because of the good news of Jesus Christ.
We are sinners who have been rescued from sin by Jesus Christ. Though we have different backgrounds, ethnicities, opinions, and personalities, we find commonality in the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We gather each week to worship the one true God revealed in the Bible. We're grateful for the privilege He has given us to worship, live, and serve in Coshocton County.
We rely on God's grace to give us loving unity to grow together in Jesus Christ as one body, submitted to the Word of God and committed to living that Word out in our daily lives.
Who We Are
Calvary is a church family that seeks to know, love, worship, and follow Jesus.
Know
We know Christ Jesus through His Word, the Bible. Therefore, the Bible is the all-sufficient standard for all that we teach, believe, and practice. We treasure the Scriptures at Calvary because we want to know Jesus.
Love
We love Jesus because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). Therefore, we desire for God to continually transform our hearts to love Jesus supremely as our greatest treasure. And those who love Jesus will love their brothers and sisters in Christ. We treasure Jesus at Calvary because we love Him and love one another.
Worship
We worship Jesus because He is worthy of all praise, glory, and awe. He is the Savior, the Promised King, the Redeemer, the Lord. Therefore, our music, services, fellowship ministries, outreach, and ministry plans are for the purpose of exalting and worshipping Jesus. We treasure faithful worship at Calvary because Jesus is worthy of our praise.
Follow
We follow Jesus because He is our Savior and King. Jesus said that those who love Him will keep His commandments (John 14:15). Therefore, we seek to believe and obey all the Bible commands, not to gain God’s favor, but because we have been gifted God’s favor through the gospel of Jesus. We treasure faithfully following Jesus at Calvary because He is our precious Redeemer and Lord.
What to Expect
Walking into a church for the first time can be intimidating, so we want to help you know what to expect when you visit.
We promise not to embarrass you or point you out. If you wish, you can fill out a connection card, and we’ll follow up with you later. You can come knowing you are in the midst of a group of growing people, who all need God’s grace.
What to Wear
The dress in our church is as varied as the people who attend with some in “Sunday best” and others more casual. For all of us, our goal is to dress in a way that keeps the attention on Christ while honoring those around us. We encourage you to come gather with us as you are.
Sunday School
On Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m., we come together for Sunday School for all ages, where we learn about God and His Word and its application to all areas of life. Following Sunday School, we have about a 15-minute break for fellowship before our morning worship service begins at 10:15 a.m.
Sermon
Preaching at Calvary is generally expositional, meaning that it seeks to systematically work through passages of Scripture, declaring the point of a particular biblical passage, with practical application rooted in the grand story of the Bible. Sermons usually last around 35 minutes and are packed with material for reflection. Our sermon series regularly alternate between the Old and New Testaments. All preaching is driven by the gospel, the Bible’s main message of God saving sinners through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
While there are several reliable and trustworthy English translations of the Bible available today, we have chosen to use the English Standard Version for teaching and preaching.
Children
We are thankful for God’s gift of children at Calvary. We encourage parents to train their children to worship as part of the church. We provide nursery for children up to age 3 for the entire worship service and dismiss children K5 through 3rd grade for Junior Church before the sermon. Some children remain in the service the entire time, and we welcome their presence.
Service Format
At Calvary we follow the regulative principle of worship. That means our worship is intentional, orderly, and follows the Bible’s presentation of corporate worship gatherings. In our 10:15 a.m. service we sing several songs, hear the Scriptures publicly read, offer prayers to God, and sit under the preaching of God’s Word. We close each morning worship service with a call to respond to God’s Word, a hymn, and prayer. Typically, our morning service is finished around 11:30 a.m. Our church family enjoys greeting, visiting, and encouraging one another long after the service concludes.
Music
We desire to participate in and minister to one another with music that rightly presents biblical truth, exalts the character and glory of God, and directs us to the hope of the gospel. Our music is blended, incorporating the great hymns of the faith while also enjoying modern hymns and praise songs that fulfill our purpose of honoring Christ.
Currently, our Sunday morning singing is led by a worship team and accompanied by piano, keyboard, and acoustic guitar. To aid our congregational singing, we project the words of the songs to a large, central screen. While we are thankful for our musicians, the fullest sound during our worship is the voices of God’s people lifted together in worship of our God.
Meet the Team
Sam Brown
Senior Pastor
Pastor Sam began his ministry at Calvary in November of 2016, serving the church as Assistant Pastor and Office Manager. After serving as Interim Pastor beginning in January 2021, he was called to serve as Senior Pastor in In May 2021. He has been in pastoral ministry since 2010.
He is a graduate of Northland Baptist Bible College and Graduate School, earning his Bachelor of Arts in Pastoral Studies (‘06) and his Master of Arts in Biblical Studies (‘08). His Master of Divinity degree is in progress at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Sam met his wife Alyssa at Northland and they were married in 2006. God has blessed them with four boys: Ethan, Owen, Andrew, and Ezra.
Pastor Sam’s ministry passions include expositional preaching of the Scriptures, the call of the gospel of Jesus as the eternal hope for all people, gospel-centered discipleship, the study and teaching of historic sound doctrine, and Baptist history and polity. His desire is to lead Calvary to know and love Jesus Christ and to make Him known to all people.
What We Believe
We Treasure God’s Word
We believe the Bible to be the complete, God-given, and trustworthy Word of God. Therefore, the Bible governs our lives. As God’s written word, the Bible is God’s communication to us of who He is, what He does, and what He expects of us. The Bible alone holds the authoritative answers to the questions of life and eternity. And at the heart of the Bible is the revelation that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, the Savior of the world. It is through Christ that we are saved from our sins, and it is through Christ that our lives are transformed by the grace of God. This work is accomplished in us by God through His Word.
We Prioritize Expositional Preaching
Because we believe the gospel is central and that our church life should be governed by the Word of God, we practice expository, Christ-centered preaching. Expository preaching means that we seek to preach the whole counsel of God’s Word, to communicate the clear and original meaning of the text, and to make relevant and accessible application to the listener.
The expositional preaching at Calvary exalts the gospel of Jesus Christ. The good news of Jesus’ death, burial, and ressurection for the forgiveness of sins is the eternal hope offered for everyone. At Calvary, Jesus is at the center of our preaching because Jesus is our hope.
We Hold to our Baptist Roots
Calvary Baptist Church of Coshocton, Ohio, has existed for well over 100 years, and we are thankful for our Baptist history of preaching and treasuring Christ. As a Baptist Church we hold to Baptist distinictives such as the priority of the Scriptures, autonomy of the local church, the priesthood of the believer, liberty of conscience, saved and baptized (by immersion), church membership, and the separation of church and state. Calvary is a member of the Ohio Association of Regular Baptist Churches.
While we have our own established statement of faith, we are thankful for many historic and modern creeds and confessions. Those are:
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The Apostle’s Creed
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The Nicene-Constantinoplitan Creed (A.D. 325 and A.D. 381)
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The Second London Baptist Confession (1689)
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The New Hampshire Confession (1833)
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The Baptist Faith and Message (2000)
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The GARBC Articles of Faith (2020)