Baptist Builder— Calvary Baptist Church, Goderich, ON
Appeal: #253
Located on the shores of Lake Huron is the town of Goderich, once described by Queen Elizabeth as the “prettiest town in Canada”, and home to Calvary Baptist Church.
It was on October 27, 1963 that God opened the doors to Calvary Baptist through, in part, the faithful prayers of men and women who pled for the Lord’s blessing in starting a ministry in their community.
What started with 38 members back in 1963 has grown to over 65 worshippers on Sunday mornings. Pastor Sam Katchikian began serving this retirement community in the spring of 2020, just as COVID-19 began to grip the world, shuttering business and churches. Faced with the unique challenges of preaching to an online congregation and visiting members from a distance, it was a difficult time for a pastor to start ministry at a new church.
Calvary is a community-minded congregation and seeks impactful ways to connect with its local community. This is done on a regular basis through a weekly children’s program, in addition to VBS, and other special events like drama productions and musical concerts.
The church building has been constructed in several stages with the last main addition—a gymnasium and kitchen opening into the basement level—being completed in 1995. With a number of seniors in the congregation experiencing mobility issues, the leadership have long seen the need to provide better accessibility to the building. While a vertical lift would be ideal, the cost is quite prohibitive. Given the size of the congregation, another more viable and affordable option is a chair lift for the stairs.
It has been difficult to raise funds for such an expense given the size of the aging congregation and the reality that the majority of them are on a fixed income.
Baptist Builders is seeking to raise $15,000 to $20,000 to make a chair lift possible for Calvary Baptist. Would you prayerfully consider how the Lord would have you partner with Baptist Builders to assist with this need?