A Traditional Congregation in the Borough of Mohnton
Calvary United Methodist Church sits on West Wyomissing Avenue in the small Berks County borough of Mohnton, Pennsylvania, where it has built a reputation over several generations for strong traditional worship, a respected choir program, and an unusually far-reaching mission footprint. Its mission is to connect with God, with one another, and with the community and beyond, a three-fold phrase that shapes every program that runs out of the building.
The congregation gathers each Sunday around a familiar pattern: Sunday school for all ages at 9:00 AM, followed by a 10:30 AM Traditional Service in the sanctuary (9:30 AM during the summer months). The worship is broadcast on the church's livestream, available through Roku, YouTube, Facebook, and AppleTV, so members and friends near and far can follow along at the same hour. Holy Communion is celebrated on the first Sunday of each month, as well as at the ecumenical Ash Wednesday service hosted in rotation among Mohnton's three downtown churches and at the community Thanksgiving Eve and Christmas Eve services.
What the Traditional Service Sounds and Feels Like
From the moment the acolytes walk forward to light the altar candles until the closing benediction, the service draws on the historic rhythms of Christian liturgy. Pastor Jong Kim describes the approach as one that plans worship to bless and restore believers feeling stressed or battered by the demands of modern life, with the familiar sights and symbols of long-standing Christian practice woven through each element. Anthems from the choral bed and special musical offerings are part of the regular pattern.
The church's emphasis on music has been a point of identity for Calvary Mohnton for several generations. The Senior Choir rehearses on Wednesdays from 7:00 to 8:30 PM in the sanctuary and chapel, robes for the 10:30 AM in-person service, and offers anthems, special offertories, and seasonal music throughout the church year. Choir membership is open to adults and youth at any time. Music Director and Organist/Pianist Scott Piergrossi, who also serves as the church's administrative assistant, brings decades of experience as a vocal accompanist, choir director, and pianist from congregations, schools, and theaters across Pennsylvania, and he also writes a short "2 Minutes" podcast that goes out weekly.
Calvary Care Early Learning Center
For nearly fifty years, Calvary UMC has been operating what is now the Calvary Care Early Learning Center, a state-licensed weekday children's ministry that grew out of the church's preschool founded in 1975 and the school-age care program added in 1982. Originally established to provide a "Safe Nurturing Christian Environment" for the children of working parents, the program reorganized in 2024 as the Calvary Care Early Learning Center and now offers full-time, year-round childcare: morning preschool and pre-K classes, before- and after-school care for Governor Mifflin School District students from kindergarten through sixth grade, and a summer camp for toddlers through fifth graders.
Toddlers must be 24 months old on or before their first day of care. Preschool students must be three years old by October 1 and fully potty trained; pre-K students must be four by September 1. Before- and after-school care is available for Governor Mifflin students, with parents arranging bus stops through the district's Transportation Department each year. The center is an equal opportunity care provider and uses the Bright Wheel management system for weekly tuition billing. Director Sonja Matthews oversees the program from the church's lower level.
Children, Youth, and Family Discipleship
Sunday school classes meet at 9:00 AM for all ages, taught by a rotation of teachers, helpers, mentors, crafters, artists, and musicians coordinated through the church's Christian Education ministry. Children in first through fifth grade are invited to Kid's Club, which meets on the first and third Sundays of each month from 4:00 to 5:00 PM at the church for group activities designed to be both social and formative. Youth in sixth through twelfth grades meet for Youth Ministry on the second and fourth Sundays, also from 4:00 to 5:00 PM, in the Lower-Level Youth Room at 1 West Wyomissing Avenue. The youth ministry gathers for discussion, fellowship, and outings such as Winter Jam.
Family support extends past Sunday morning. Meals for Moms arranges a family dinner for ten days following a birth for any member or friend of the congregation, with new cooks always welcome to join the rotation. The Take Them A Meal online sign-up system coordinates dinners for families facing illness, grief, or other hard seasons. A Safe Sanctuary Policy governs every program involving minors, and a current health and permission form is required for participation in youth and children's ministries.
Small Groups and Adult Discipleship
Calvary Mohnton runs a layered network of adult small groups that meet in homes and on church grounds throughout the year. The Sunday morning Adult Study runs from 9:00 to 10:00 AM in the Chapel Library on the first floor, with a Zoom option for those joining remotely. A Thursday morning Bible Study meets from 9:30 to 10:30 AM, sometimes in the Chapel and sometimes over Zoom depending on the series. A Wednesday evening adult Lenten study gathers for six weekly sessions during the season.
Calvary L.I.F.E. Groups (Living In Faith Everyday) are small groups of men, women, or couples that meet weekly or monthly for devotion, prayer, discussion, or a more intentional Bible study. Koinonia groups, called K-Groups, are mixed-gender fellowships that typically meet at least once a month for Christian conversation, prayer support, and social time, with the format left to the group. Bob Wagner, the church's Certified Lay Minister, oversees K-Groups and brings more than forty years of Calvary membership and a special passion for adult Christian education to his teaching and Bible study leadership. Additional short-term Bible studies are offered throughout the year, with topics, formats, and meeting places chosen by facilitators.
Health, Wellness, and Pastoral Care
The Health and Wellness ministry gathers several of the church's caring ministries under one roof. Pastoral Counseling, offered through Pastor Jong Kim, is available to anyone facing illness, disability, grief, or the "big questions" of faith, with sessions reached through the church office or by email. Prayer Shawls and Lap Blankets, handcrafted year-round by church knitters, crocheters, and sewers who pray over each piece, are blessed and distributed to anyone who could use a tangible reminder of God's presence. Gift bags and gift cards are also available through this ministry.
Beyond these regular ministries, Calvary UMC maintains a working relationship with MemoryCare.com, sharing research-backed resources for caregivers and seniors in the early stages of memory or cognitive impairment. The church's lower level is fully accessible, with a certified chair-lift elevator from the front of the building on North Church Street, and the sanctuary, fellowship spaces, and restrooms on every level are designed to be welcoming to all who attend.
Good Shepherd Mission in Puttur, India
The Good Shepherd Mission is Calvary Mohnton's longest-running mission partnership and the most visible expression of the church's global footprint. Founded in 1979 in Puttur, India, by schoolteachers Henry and Viola Bhasker after a car accident and a promise of prayer, the Mission began by taking in two orphans from the surrounding village. In 1990, Dr. Charlie Wolfe, a dentist from Calvary UMC, traveled through Puttur with a medical and dental evangelism team. His encounter with the Mission led the church to help fund the Good Shepherd Eye Hospital, which opened in 1992 and provided free cataract surgeries to thousands of poor villagers over nearly twenty years of service.
Over time, the Mission has grown into a wide network of ministries. Twelve village churches, each with its own evangelist, have been planted in areas that previously had no Christian presence. The Mission runs an orphanage housing 150 children, an outreach village at Kolladam with a teacher, clinic, orphanage, and church, a home for about twenty elderly residents, daily feeding and worship, and higher education for qualifying orphans. A 20-bed hospital, dedicated in 2006, offers free general practice, gynecological, dental, eye, and physiotherapy services to the poor. An HIV/AIDS and TB center provides care, shelter, clothing, food, and medication to 32 residents who have been shunned by their villages. Calvary UMC continues to send monthly support to the orphanage, evangelists, hospital, and general accounts, and members regularly travel to Puttur for mission trips, with the 2024-2025 team sharing daily reflections during their time on the ground.
Local Mission: The Mifflin Area Food Ministry
Closer to home, Calvary Mohnton is one of four Mohnton-area churches that cooperatively run the Mifflin Community Food Ministry, held on the third Saturday of each month at Zion Evangelical Congregational Church. The effort supplies groceries to between seventy-five and one hundred local families each time it opens, providing roughly a week of food per month to families struggling to make ends meet. Non-perishable donations for the Food Ministry can be brought to Calvary UMC at any time and placed in the lower cabinets at the "Donation Station" in the narthex.
The church also partners with Red Bird Mission in Henderson, Kentucky, on a long-term basis, sends teams to coastal areas rebuilding after hurricanes, and responds to other temporary disaster situations as they arise. Calvary also participates in the ecumenical life of Mohnton, joining St. John's Lutheran Church and Zion Evangelical Congregational Church for the community Ash Wednesday, Thanksgiving Eve, and Christmas Eve services.
Accessibility for Visitors
Visitors will find the building ready to welcome them. The main floor sanctuary and the lower-level Social Hall are both handicap accessible, with reserved parking available for those who need it. Enlarged-print bulletins and hymnals are offered, a hearing device is available upon request, and two wheelchairs plus a walker are kept on hand for anyone who would like to use them. The lower level is accessible from the front side of the building on North Church Street, with a certified chair-lift elevator to the main Social Hall floor. Guests and visitors are always welcome at the Traditional Service, and Sunday school classes are open to learners of every age.
United Methodist Beliefs and Practice
Calvary United Methodist Church shares in the global United Methodist communion, a 12.8-million-member worldwide church whose founder, John Wesley, placed primary emphasis on Christian living and on putting faith and love into action. The congregation joins with millions of Christians through the ages in reciting the Apostles' Creed, confessing God as a Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and professes faith in the mystery of salvation through Jesus Christ, in the present activity of the Holy Spirit, in the church as the body of Christ, and in the Bible as the primary authority for faith and practice.
The church holds that faith and good works belong together, that personal salvation must be expressed in ministry and mission in the world, and that grace is the love and mercy God gives freely because God wants us to have it. Two sacraments are recognized: baptism and the Lord's Supper. The table of Holy Communion, in the words of the United Methodist invitation, is Christ's table, open to anyone who seeks to respond to Christ's love and to lead a new life of peace and love.
Pastoral Leadership and Giving
Pastor Jong Kim, who holds a Master of Divinity from Drew University and brings more than three decades of pastoral and global-mission experience, leads the church alongside Lay Pastor Bob Wagner, a Certified Lay Minister who has been part of Calvary Mohnton for over forty years. Ashley Crabb directs Christian Education and Children & Youth Ministries, and Scott Piergrossi serves as Music Director and Administrative Assistant. The church's work is supported by tithes and offerings, which can be given by check made payable to Calvary UM Church and mailed to the church address, placed in the offering plate on Sunday morning, or given online as that option becomes available.