Calvary Baptist Church, Providence Rhode Island

NEWS

Calvary Baptist Church Launches 40 Days of Community

January 11, 2006, PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Twenty thousand churches in America and 40 other nations have participated in "40 Days of Purpose," the spiritual growth campaign launched by one of America’s largest churches, Saddleback Church, two years ago.

During this season of Lent hundreds of those churches will take step two in what Saddleback Church founding pastor Rick Warren is calling a "trilogy of campaigns" designed to move churches into implementing God’s five purposes in the world. Warren, author of the best-selling book The Purpose-Driven Life, which recently hit one hundred weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List, calls this follow-up campaign "40 Days of Community." Calvary Baptist Church in Providence is participating in the campaign that begins February 19. "Last year our church had a successful Capital Campaign to raise money to begin to restore our building. This year we are having this Spiritual Growth Campaign to deepen our sense of community within the church and increase our service to the community around our church," said Rev. Dr. Linda Spoolstra, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church. According to Saddleback Church, located in Orange County, Calif., and its affiliated leadership ministry, Purpose Driven, churches that participated in 40 Days of Purpose experienced an average attendance increase of 22 percent, an increase in giving of 20 percent and participation in small groups increased 102 percent.

"Many churches have reported that 40 Days of Purpose was the most transforming event in their congregation’s history," Warren says. "Thousands of church leaders have written us saying, ‘Our church will never be the same’ and ‘This is the greatest thing that has ever happened in our church.’ One pastor wrote, ‘I've seen more growth in our members and our church in 40 days than in the previous 13 years.

"But the biggest response by far has been ‘What’s next? Our church is growing; our people are excited. Everyone is on the same page and moving in the same direction. We have more energy and enthusiasm than we know what to do with. Now what? Where do we go from here?’"

40 Days of Community moves people from focusing on God’s purposes in their personal lives — "What on earth am I here for?" — to focusing on God’s purposes in their church and community — "What on earth are WE here for?"

The primary focus of this campaign is on fulfilling God’s five purposes together by deepening the sense of community within the church and reaching out to the community around the church.

Calvary Baptist Church will be initiating a small group ministry for members and friends and assisting families who live at the new Crossroads facility, which is located directly across the street from the church in a former funeral home.

In The Purpose-Driven Life, which now has sold more than twenty million copies, Warren identifies the five purposes as worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and mission.