Calvary Baptist Church sits on East Delaware Avenue in downtown Newark, Delaware, a few blocks from the University of Delaware campus and just across the street from a brick storefront labeled "Misfits" where its members park on Sunday mornings. The building has been a constant in the neighborhood for as long as most of its neighbors have been alive: founded in 1950, Calvary was constructed by its earliest members, who hauled the bricks themselves from the railhead. Today it is a 200-member American Baptist congregation with a reputation for racial integration, international mission giving, and a deep commitment to people on the margins of life in Newark.
A Doing Church Since 1950
Calvary began in 1950 with a handful of believers who wanted a Baptist witness in their part of town. They were a "doing" church from the start. Their first sanctuary was built of bricks hauled from the railhead by the charter members. Decades later, the same instinct shows up in how the congregation spends its money: despite its modest size, Calvary is consistently among the top twenty churches in mission giving across the entire American Baptist Churches USA denomination.
Long before that became a talking point, Calvary made a quieter mark on its region by being the first racially integrated church in the area. That history is still part of who the congregation is. Today the church welcomes people of many ethnicities, ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, and viewpoints, and members describe the diversity as one of the things that makes Calvary Calvary.
One Blended Worship Service Each Sunday
Calvary worships together once a week, at 10:30 a.m. on Sundays, in a single blended service that weaves traditional and contemporary elements together. Members describe it as "comfortable but reverent and meaningful," and they mean it. Past services have featured soloists and instrumental ensembles, dance ministry, and skits. The point is to let the service reflect the diversity of the people in the pews.
Visitors are told the dress code is "come as you are," both physically and spiritually. The church does not care what people wear, only that clothing be appropriate for a public place, and it welcomes worshippers whether they are arriving joyful, full of grief, or anywhere in between. Communion, called the Lord's Supper, is celebrated on the first Sunday of every month. Anyone who believes in Christ is welcome to receive it; membership and baptism are not prerequisites, because, in the words of the church, "It is Christ's table, not ours."
The service is livestreamed every Sunday through calvarybaptistnewark.online.church, with an archive of past services available on BoxCast. The church acknowledges that virtual worship is a supplement, not a substitute, for the in-person gathering that members consider the default for believers who can be present.
Children are welcome in worship. A children's story time is built into every Sunday service except the first Sunday of the month, when the observance of communion takes its place. The church is upfront about the fact that children squirm and fuss, and it is not bothered by either.
Children and Youth at Calvary
Childcare is available during the 10:30 worship hour for infants through preschool-aged children. A staff nursery attendant cares for infants and wobblers; a volunteer takes care of toddlers and preschoolers and brings them into the sanctuary in time for the children's message. Children from kindergarten through fifth grade can attend Kids for Jesus class on Sunday after the children's story, running from fall through spring and going on break in the summer.
The safety of those children is taken seriously. Every Calvary staff member and regular childcare volunteer is screened through a nationwide background check.
For middle and high schoolers, Calvary runs a year-round Youth Group that meets on Wednesday evenings during the school year from 6:30 to 8:15 p.m. in the youth lounge on the third floor of the church building. The Youth Group is led by Kyle West, who can be reached at kyle@calvarybaptistnewark.org.
The program is built around four verbs: Come, Grow, Go, and Serve. Students come to fellowship with other Christians and worship God; they grow in faith and develop a personal relationship with Jesus; they go and share their faith with friends who do not yet believe; and they serve God with their lives. The rhythms include weekly small-group Bible study, monthly outings, an annual Winter Blast Retreat at Camp Ichthus in the Poconos, an annual all-nighter lock-in, mission trips in the summer, and a separate winter retreat. Youth Group members have traveled to North West Philadelphia on mission with the Philadelphia Project to renovate homes and serve a local congregation. The teens raise part of the money for these trips through scholarships and congregation-wide support.
Adults in the Middle of the Week
Calvary's adult ministry clusters around Sunday school and a Wednesday evening hour. The Adult Fellowship Bible Study gathers at 9:30 a.m. on Sundays in Room 201 and works its way through the entire Bible on a six-year cycle using the International Sunday School Lesson plan. The Wednesday night hour during the school year features an adult Bible study held in a hybrid format (in person and on Zoom) along with the youth group study and choir rehearsal.
The choir has traditionally numbered ten to fifteen singers. It rehearses on Wednesday evenings and sings in worship several times a month. Dr. D. Blake Smith, who also coordinates the Voice Area at the University of Delaware and directs the UD Lyric Theatre, leads the choir. Lynette Phillips, the church's accompanist and organist, has been at the Calvary console since the 1980s. She was baptized in the church in 1969.
Small Groups Across the Week
Calvary understands the word "church" as people, not a building, so a network of small groups meets in homes, on Zoom, and around tables in the church facility. Several run on a regular cadence. The Women's Book Discussion meets on the second Monday of every month at 8:30 p.m. on Zoom for candid conversation about books and life. The Men's Study Group meets on the second Saturday from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall. Disciples with Grace and Wisdom gathers on the second Thursday and is designed for the congregation's senior members. Loops of Love, the church's prayer shawl and craft ministry, meets on the second Saturday from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. in Room 207. Pam Hart leads a Ladies Devotional Luncheon roughly four times a year.
Small groups wind down in the spring and summer, and new groups launch each fall.
Outreach on the Front Lawn and Around the City
Calvary is perhaps best known in Newark for what happens outside its walls as much as inside. Its outreach work runs through several long-standing ministries.
Bread of Life is a weekly luncheon served after Sunday worship for anyone who is hungry. It pairs a hot meal with a short, simple conversation around a passage of Scripture.
Hope Dining Room is a local nonprofit that provides a free lunch every weekday in Newark. Calvary's cooks and volunteers rotate through Hope once a month, on the third Thursday.
Code Purple is a rotating winter shelter coordinated by Friendship House of Delaware, in which homeless guests stay overnight in participating churches when the temperature drops below a set point. Calvary is one of the shelter congregations.
Christmas for All is Calvary's overnight Christmas Eve and Christmas Day program for the homeless and the lonely, beginning with a Christmas Eve dinner in the Fellowship Hall and continuing through the church's Christmas Eve services into Christmas morning, with breakfast and gifts.
Sidewalk and Front Lawn Ministries include a prayer mailbox for passersby to submit prayer requests, a vegetable garden that grows on the front lawn and offers its produce to anyone who walks by, and prayer vigils and memorial services for homeless community members who may not otherwise be remembered.
Duck In is a Wednesday-morning tradition during the school year in which volunteers offer donuts, coffee, and other refreshments to the many University of Delaware students walking past the building on their way to class.
Refugee Sponsorship and Anti-Racism
Calvary has a long history of sponsoring refugee families. Its earliest effort, in the 1960s, brought a Cuban refugee family to the area. The church's current sponsored family came to the United States in 2018 after fleeing violence in the Central African Republic, and Calvary members have helped them learn American culture, find work, and secure permanent residency. The family's story was featured in an NPR report in 2021 about the state of refugee resettlement in the United States.
The congregation also maintains an active Anti-Racism ministry that reads, learns, and acts on issues of race in the church and the wider community.
Creation Care, Sacred Grounds, and the Cookbook
Calvary's Creation Care team works with the American Baptist Creation Justice Network to "love God by caring for the created world and love neighbor by advocating for a healthy, livable world." The team has produced an Eat Clean, Calvary Cooks cookbook full of healthy, sustainable recipes, hosts learning sessions for children and adults, is updating the church facility with more energy-efficient fixtures, and is working to register Calvary's grounds as a Sacred Grounds site through the National Wildlife Federation. Weekly conservation tips appear in the church newsletter.
Service Projects and Mission Trips
Calvary members organize and join several ongoing service projects. Every Christmas, the church assembles Ditty Boxes of small gifts and supplies for seafarers coming into the Port of Wilmington who may be separated from their families over the holidays. Each year Calvary walks in the Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community in support of Friendship House. Members participate in community cleanups and ring bells for the Salvation Army outside local stores.
Mission trips are an established part of Calvary's calendar. The church's most significant international relationship has been with ministries in La Paz, Mexico, where teams have assisted with clothing distribution, a breakfast program, and building projects at Principe de Paz Church. More recently, Calvary has joined other regional congregations to assist with recovery and rebuilding after storms in places like North Carolina and Puerto Rico.
Annual Rhythms Through the Year
Several recurring events mark the church's shared calendar. Family Faith Days, held in local parks on three Sunday evenings each summer, are the congregation's current answer to Vacation Bible School, simpler and shorter but full of Bible stories, snacks, and games for kids. The annual Fall Festival coincides with the Newark Halloween Parade on Main Street and offers games and treats for children and families. Holiday Dinners include an Easter breakfast, a Thanksgiving Sunday luncheon, and a Christmas Eve dinner. A family hayride and bonfire is held at White Clay Creek State Park each autumn. The Reindeer Run and Romp 5K, held each December, raises money for Special Olympics Delaware. The congregation also organizes outings to Wilmington Blue Rocks baseball games.
Ecumenical and Interfaith Life
Calvary partners gladly with other Christian congregations for special services throughout the church year, including Ash Wednesday and Maundy Thursday, and participates in the local interfaith Thanksgiving service each November. The senior pastor currently convenes the Newark interfaith clergy group, and the church hosts an annual "Love Your Neighbor" Interfaith Picnic and Potluck at Paper Mill Park.
What Calvary Believes
Calvary does not maintain its own lengthy doctrinal statement. Instead, it affirms the historic, shared Protestant and Baptist convictions: that God is a loving creator who made all people in His image, that Jesus is God's Son and the fullest revelation of God's character, that the Bible is the divinely inspired and authoritative source for Christian faith and practice, that humanity is sinful and broken but invited into forgiveness and new life through Christ, that the Holy Spirit gives every believer gifts for building up the church and sharing God's love, and that Jesus will return to bring His kingdom to full fruition. The church emphasizes the same things Jesus emphasized, especially the call to love God, love people, and to weight matters of justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
What it means to be Baptist, in Calvary's understanding, is captured in four freedoms drawn from Walter Shurden. Soul freedom means each person has the right and responsibility to respond to God for themselves, which is why Calvary does not baptize anyone until they have made their own personal and conscious decision to follow Christ, at whatever age that may be. Church freedom means each Baptist church is autonomous and governs itself; Calvary associates with American Baptist Churches USA, but the national body does not exercise authority over the local congregation. Bible freedom means the Bible is the only authoritative source for faith and practice and that every believer has the right and responsibility to read and interpret Scripture under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and in fellowship with other believers. Religious freedom means advocating for the separation of church and state so that everyone may worship freely, or not worship at all.
Membership at Calvary is by baptism, by transfer from another Baptist church, or by statement of Christian experience for those already baptized in another tradition. Baptism is by immersion, though the church accepts other forms of baptism as valid for membership and will work with anyone whose physical condition makes immersion unwise. Communion is open to anyone who believes in Christ. New members are encouraged to attend Calvary 101, an orientation offered a few times each year, usually right after Sunday worship.
Staff and Leadership
The pastoral team is led by Senior Pastor Corey S. Fields, a native of Harrisonburg, Virginia, who came to Calvary in 2016. Pastor Corey holds a Bachelor of Communication from James Madison University, a Master of Divinity from Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, and a Doctor of Ministry from Central Baptist Theological Seminary. He served as Associate Pastor at First Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas for a decade before moving east. He serves on the board of American Baptist Home Mission Societies and on the board of Friendship House of Delaware. He lives with his wife Dayna and their two children in the Pike Creek area.
The Ministry Associate is Rev. John Lowery, who came to Calvary in 2025. A native of Pennsylvania with degrees from Penn State, Wilmington University, and Grace College and Theological Seminary, John served in ministry at Pilgrim Baptist Church in Newark for more than twenty-five years before joining its sister congregation. He was ordained in 2022 and was officially installed at Calvary in a spring service that welcomed members of Pilgrim Baptist.
Dr. D. Blake Smith directs the choir and serves as Artistic and Creative Director of UD Lyric Theatre at the University of Delaware. Lynette Phillips is the accompanist and organist. Kyle West coordinates the Youth Group. Stacy Hauser serves as Administrative Assistant, Summer Smith as Technology and Communications Assistant, and Consuelo "Connie" Garcia as the staff Nursery Care Provider. Deacon Pam Hart leads the Ladies Devotional Luncheons.
Partners and Affiliations
Calvary is proud of its denominational and community relationships. The congregation affiliates with American Baptist Churches USA, the most ethnically diverse Protestant denomination in North America, and with its regional body, American Baptist Churches of Pennsylvania and Delaware (ABCOPAD). It also partners with Friendship House of Delaware, Jewish Family Services RISE for refugee integration, Delaware Interfaith Power and Light, The Newark Partnership, Hope Dining Room, Special Olympics Delaware, and the wider Newark interfaith community.
Getting to Calvary in Downtown Newark
The church building sits at 215 East Delaware Avenue. Parking is limited on the church's own lot, which is on the east side of the building next to the Misfits convenience store. On Sunday mornings, Calvary worshippers may also park in the Planned Parenthood lot at Haines Street and Delaware Avenue, in the University of Delaware lot on Haines Street until 1 p.m., and in any of the surrounding municipal parking spaces, which are free from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sundays. New bike racks are now available outside the main entrance for those who ride. Normal office hours are Tuesday through Friday, 8 a.m. to noon, and the phone number is 302-368-4904.
Calvary Baptist Church is a 200-member congregation in downtown Newark, Delaware, that has been shaped by its founding members, its neighborhood, and the people who keep showing up to serve on its front lawn, in its Fellowship Hall, and at tables across the city.