by Elsie Walker
Calvary Bible Chapel’s congregation lets its light shine whether it is helping each other, helping its neighbors, or helping missionaries abroad. The church, located at 76 Main Street
Flanders, offers weekly worship and chances for those attending to gather together and not be strangers, but get to know each other. Recently, the church’s pastor,
Donn Heinrich, shared some information about the church, himself, and how Calvary Bible Chapel touches others.
Calvary Bible Chapel is an independent Baptist church. It began in 1983 when a group in Mt. Olive wanted to start a church. Originally, they met at the Tinc Road Elementary School. In 1985, the congregation acquired the building on Main Street when a Presbyterian church moved from there to a new building.
Heinrich came to the church in 1997. He has a bachelor’s degree from Bob Jones University and earned a Master of Arts degree in Pastoral Studies and a Master of Science degree in Counseling. What inspired him to be a pastor was growing up in the home of a man who had been saved. “Just seeing what the word of God can do, how it changes and transforms life, the difference it makes” are the things made Heinrich realize he wanted to become a part of that and be a pastor. Heinrich is married with three grown children: a mechanical engineer, a nurse, and a music education major in college. The family has an English Labrador named Winston. The pastor likes to watch the Jets and Formula 1 racing.
Sunday worship at Calvary Bible Chapel is at 10:45am; Sunday School for adults and youth is at 9:45am. The style of Sunday worship is traditional; the music is joyful and reverent. The church is blessed with a variety of talents and on Sunday, music may be provided by a duet, a trio or ensemble featuring cello, violin, trumpet, piano or singing. The service is also streamed live on Facebook. Before the service, there is a time for fellowship and people can bring their lunch and fellowship after worship around a table as they eat. There are also informal gatherings during the year which give people the opportunity to get to know others.
The congregation reaches out to others in different ways. There is a Wednesday night prayer meeting. Here people come and pray for various needs. Those who can’t come in person to attend can share in the meeting via Zoom. Also, the people in the church informally share their faith by helping each other and people in their neighborhoods when they see a need. In addition, once a month, a group from the church visits Mt. Olive Manor and shares worship there. “[They are] letting their light shine,” said Heinrich of the congregation. That can include sharing their faith by giving out tracts about it.
“[The congregation] realizes our world is bigger than Flanders,” noted Heinrich. In addition to shining their light locally, they support missionaries in Uruguay, France/Luxemburg, Puerto Rico, and through Gospel Fellowship Association Missions. This year, a group from the church visited the missionary in France/Lumemburg. There they helped with Bible camp and outreach.
Calvary Bible Chapel
76 Main Street
Flanders, New Jersey 07836
973-.927.0374
Website: http://www.calvaryflanders.com/
Email: office@calvaryflanders.com
