Calvary Baptist Church Reaches out to Community

By: Emily Ferro
Posted In: News

Aquidneck Island is home to many churches from a large variety of denominations and backgrounds. One of these churches is Calvary Baptist Church in Middletown, R.I. The church was established 35 years ago, the past six of which have been under the leadership of Pastor Scott Tucker. In pursuit of spiritual growth in the church and its surrounding community, Pastor Tucker and other attendees of Calvary Baptist have integrated many outreach programs to their weekly schedule. These programs range from Bible studies to connecting all across the globe with missionaries. Curious about these outreach opportunities, I sat down with Pastor Tucker to find out more.

Q: Are you involved with any other churches in the Newport or Middletown area?

A: Not any on the island per se, but in the state we have a Teens for Christ that we meet once a month. that’s our big outreach to teenagers in our community.

Q: Can you tell me more about Teens for Christ?

A: We’re trying to reach our public schools, because that’s what most of our kids are: public school. Right now another [outreach] opportunity I am looking into is [that] there are no opportunities in Middletown, Newport, or Portsmouth for reaching those young people spiritually, so that’s a huge door right there that needs to open.

Q: I saw an ad in the yellow pages for a Bible study. Is that a teen Bible study or more of an adult meeting?

A: The Wednesday night is mostly Bible study, but Sunday school is that way. The ladies that had [the Bible study] are kind of on hiatus right now, but when a person accepts Christ as their Savior, we disciple them, so that’s a personal Bible study time.

Q: Is the Wednesday night service the same as the Sunday service?

A: [It’s] pretty much the same format. Wednesday nights and Sunday too are even kind of broken up. We have an opportunity for the children. They have a meeting of their own and then on Wednesday night the teens and the young people have their meetings and we have a time of prayer and Bible study in the auditorium.

Q: Is the service for the kids the Patch the Pirate club which is mentioned on your website? And what exactly is that?

A: The Patch the Pirate goes from first through sixth grade, and it’s a combination of singing and Bible memorization and [the kids] have a Bible lesson each night. They have a firstthrough sixth grade and then my wife [teaches] the 3-5 year olds, so we have two different groups. And then the seventh through 12th grade meet at the same time.

Q: What is the difference between the Sunday prayer and the Sunday service?

A: We have prayer meeting that’s just for anybody that wants to come. We have a time for prayer for the services and for folks that might not be feeling well at 9:30 a.m., so that’s more optional. We have usually a lot smaller group, so it’s just another opportunity for the church to come together and pray.

Q: As far as outreach, your website said every Saturday you meet at 10 a.m. for community outreach?

A: Yeah, we use that time as an opportunity to reach folks for Christ. Some people believe that you can reach people by feeding them, and [other churches] do a lot of soup kitchens and things like that, and we’re not opposed to that, but we try and reach their soul because their soul is going to go to eternity someday so that’s trying to be a light to our community. This time of year, of course, it’s a little colder so we try and make more phone calls and more home to home visits. Usually we go door to door to try and reach the whole island for Christ.

Q: So it’s not so much focused on helping out in the community, but do you have service projects?

A: During the summer time we help the elderly. [And in the winter,] We haven’t done as much of it, but we like to help move snow. We can get our young people to do that.

Q: And do you usually get a good turnout for the Saturday [outreach meetings]?

A: It’s okay. I’m from the south as you can tell, so it’s a little bit different up here for stirring up that, but we have a decent turnout. [We usually get] 5-10, and our attendance is about 70-80, so ten percent is not bad, but it’s not great.

Q: What kind of response do you usually get to the door to door and telephone outreach?

A: The telephone works pretty well. We haven’t had a huge response on the door to door, but we know we’re doing what the Lord wants us to do so we keep doing it.

Q: As for more far-reaching ministry, there is an enormous list of missionaries on your website. Are they all families that went to Calvary Baptist Church?

A: No. Some of them are; we have one lady that’s with the church right now in China. She’s back getting more support.

Q: Are they more short term visits, or long term?

A: No, this is usually an investment. They’re there until the Lord leads them somewhere else, but they’re there for a long period of time. Some of those names have been in their area for 20+ years. We’ve been supporting some for about the same existence of the church, so it’s a long term investment. Each year we probably put out about $25,000 a year to those different missionaries.

Q: Is there anything else you would like me to know about the church?

A: Well it’s a family-oriented church and that’s what it means to be a Christian; you’re in the family of God… We’re trying to reach every group. We’re a small church so we’re limited, so we do the best we can with what we have and what the Lord enables us to do.