Calvary Church: Supporting Global Workers as Family

Amy and Ravi* may be the only people proclaiming the gospel in a rural village in South Asia. But they’re not doing it alone. Through their sending church, they’re supported by a family of believers that invests in their ministry as its own.

“Our sending fellowship is like our parents,” says Amy. “They equipped, mentored and commissioned us before we were sent out. They continue to support us through prayers and financial, spiritual and emotional support. They keep up with us regularly either through email, phone call or Zoom, and also they’ve sent people from our fellowship to visit with us.”

This sending fellowship is Calvary Church of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. For this church, missions isn’t an every-so-often pursuit or just a line item in the budget. It’s woven into its DNA.

Calvary has a long and deep heritage of involvement in cross-cultural ministry. Today the church sends nearly 100 global partners serving around the world. And, as Amy and Ravi have experienced, it invests in them through far more than finances, starting well before workers reach the field.

Amy and Ravi were both born in South Asia and came to Christ from Hindu backgrounds. While attending Calvary they sensed God leading them to return to their homeland to reach a community that no one was engaging with the gospel. From the beginning of their journey, the church came alongside them, starting with helping them prepare well.

The couple participated in Calvary’s extensive Cross Training, a program involving reading, ministry experience, classes and mentorship that’s required for all cross-cultural workers sent through the church. And, as they prepared, Calvary ensured that Ravi and Amy built a Global Partner PAC (Prayer & Care) Team: a group of people committed to regularly praying for and connecting with them. “Our goal is that they can have someone to talk to on a deeper personal level,” says Terri Sherman, Global Ministries Coordinator at Calvary Church. She explains that PAC teams also serve as connection points to the rest of the church, bringing prayer needs to others in the congregation and making church leadership aware of specific opportunities to come alongside workers with practical support.

In 2014, with their PAC team behind them, Ravi and Amy were commissioned for ministry in South Asia and departed to begin serving there. They purchased a small piece of land in a community with no known believers and started to farm it, enabling them to build relationships and begin establishing a long-term presence there.

As they sought to invest in the community in ways that open doors for the gospel, their church family invested in them through regular connection, prayer and financial support. In 2019, as Ravi and Amy sought to expand their outreach, a special gift from Calvary enabled them to buy additional land. Soon, they began constructing the Barnabas Building, a multipurpose facility that will provide more opportunities to build connections, meet practical needs and, by God’s grace, establish the Church where it doesn’t yet exist.  

“That was their dream,” recalls Terri. “And now to see the pictures of them actually living in it and just being in the community, it's just amazing.”

The church has not only watched that dream being fulfilled, it has been an ongoing part of turning Ravi and Amy’s vision into reality. Calvary has collected funds for the Barnabas Building as part of its Thanksgiving offering several times over the last few years, enabling the church to send gifts above and beyond their regular donations that have covered the costs of numerous stages of construction. And, in addition to investing funds, it has invested its people, sending members of the congregation to come alongside Ravi and Amy, encourage them and experience their ministry firsthand.

In October 2023, six members of Calvary traveled to South Asia, tools in hand, to help with construction. “They made bookshelves for our library and cleaned up inside the building,” Ravi and Amy shared in a prayer letter. “They even built themselves a worktable for their woodworking. … Their flexibility and positive attitude made it easy for us, although there were many occasions where they had to wait for materials or electricity. The local men were very impressed with the team that was willing to do all sorts of manual labor.”

“The team also came with lots of treats and gifts,” Ravi and Amy recall. “It was like Christmas at our house. Our longing to be home (Lancaster) was fulfilled by the team being with us for 12 days.”

Calvary’s ability to serve the workers it sends as beloved family members stems from its commitment to integrating global ministries into every part of the life of the church. “We always want to make global [ministries] a part of everything that we do here,” Terri explains. They give workers sent through the church abundant opportunities to share about their ministries everywhere from children’s ministries to a college and career program to a group of senior saints that prays on Wednesday nights. And they offer housing for them when they’re in the area to make home assignments—and connecting with the congregation—easier.

These efforts not only benefit the workers sent through Calvary but also equip and disciple church members to participate in God’s work around the world as they partner with those who are sent. “That's part, too, of global ministries,” Terri says. “We need senders, not just goers.”

Churches like Calvary that invest deeply in the workers they send and encourage the entire congregation to be involved in God’s global work exemplify the partnership that makes ministry in least-reached communities possible and sustainable. “Calvary Church is what Christar considers a model sending church,” says Don, a Christar Church Partnership rep who regularly connects with Calvary and seeks to serve them as they send and support cross-cultural workers. “Mobilizing their own members is a core priority. They have an intensive training process that includes mentoring, local cross-cultural ministry, field visits and agency selection. Calvary’s ongoing care for their workers on the field, on furlough and in retirement shows how much they value their people.”

He continues, “The congregation is intentionally involved in prayer groups for their global partners. Clearly, the Great Commission is alive and well when we observe sending churches like Calvary Church.”