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Calvary Lutheran Church is
located at
2415 S. 320th St.
Federal Way, WA 98003
You'll find the
church one block east of the Commons at Federal Way mall,
right near
Exit # 143 of
Interstate 5 |
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Our Vision
 Calvary
will be a faith community - full of enthusiastic and diverse
people - trained to meet a changing culture, by
- believing that Jesus is
for all,
- practicing our faith:
supporting each other, learning together, and sharing
intimate and authentic relationships,
- expecting to serve the
community and world,
- doing the unique work
of telling others that God saves by his grace, through faith
in Jesus Christ.
Our Mission
 Calvary Lutheran exists to
* Invite you into life in Christ,
* Inspire you for a deep faith relationship,
* Equip you to use your gifts in service,
* Engage you in ministry.
Our
Guiding Principles
Everyone is God’s child and is welcome here. Jesus makes
no distinctions between people; neither do we.
Our focus is on the one Lord, Jesus. Jesus calls us to
follow him. We strive to be faithful to that call in all we do
as a congregation.
God saves by grace through faith. Forgiving sins, putting
things right, and promising eternal life are God’s work, not
ours. We don’t have to do anything because, in Jesus, God has
done it all.
Jesus brings us to the Father and each other. Because of
Jesus, we don’t need to fear God but we are free to love God. We
love one another as God has loved us.
Jesus calls us to love, serve, share the good news, and enjoy
life together.
Every day marks a new life in Christ. Jesus sends us into each
day to be his servants and ambassadors with our hearts full of
gratitude and joy.
A Note from Pastor Doug
REACH OUT FEDERAL WAY
The men gathered at the door, waiting to be let in. As we strode
past them, our guide greeted each one by name and they were glad
to see him, but they appeared uneasy about us. Perhaps they felt
like they were on display. In a way, they were. We were there to
see how they were cared for.
Homelessness
Homelessness has been a part of larger communities long before
this turn of the 21st century. Think of hobos riding the rails
and Hoovervilles and Okies during the Depression era. Just as
long as there has been homelessness and poverty, however, there
has also been our deep desire for people to have a home.
As a pastor I experience the effects of an appalling lack of
options for someone living on the streets. I have been on the
phone negotiating a tangled web of social services, pleading for
space just for one cold night for a single woman or a couple
living in their car. When I have finally exhausted my efforts, I
have been faced with either paying for a room at a local
low-cost motel or sending the person off to fend for him– or
herself.
We have few places for women and children and no space for men
in Federal Way, and precious little in the South Sound area.
Community leaders, concerned citizens, and members of nonprofit
agencies and churches in Federal Way have noticed the number of
homeless people in our area, and are not satisfied with the lack
of facility to care for our own. So, they have developed Reach
Out.
Reach Out
Reach Out provides a way for churches to turn space into
shelter.
A congregation offers a portion of its facility for a month
during the year. This is known as the host church.
Or, a congregation agrees to provide meals for a week, or a
couple of weeks, or a month. This is the support church.
Twenty-five men arrive at the host church each night after the
committee meetings and Bible studies and choir rehearsals have
ended. Members of the support church bring a hot meal and serve
the men that night. They leave behind packed lunches and items
for a simple breakfast for the next day.
The men retrieve their sleeping mats and bedding from a trailer
outside, and in the same trailer stow personal items in a cubby
assigned to them.
A staff member spends the night with the men, keeping watch like
a shepherd over his sheep. He arrives in the evening before they
do to get ready for the night. He monitors their arrival and
will see to their security and good behavior during the night.
In the morning, he’ll send them on their way.
In the morning the men put their bedding and mats away, eat
breakfast, clean up the space they have used, and pick up a
lunch before they leave. Some go to work, others go to
appointments at employment agencies, social service providers,
and the program’s own case management office.
The staff member secures the building, and all of them are gone
long before the church staff arrive to start the day.
That night, the whole process begins again.
A Tested Design
Reach Out hasn’t been fully formed yet, but it also doesn’t
exist only in the minds of organizers, either. The process I
just described to you happens every night, right now. In fact,
Reach Out would draw from the experience of two successful
shelter programs in nearby cities.
In Kent and in Renton, churches, in cooperation with local
government, police departments, fire districts, and social
service agencies developed this tightly-run program. A board of
directors oversees the operations and coordinates with area
churches. Catholic Community Services, under contract, provides
the evening supervisors and daytime case management staff.
Will We?
Our location makes Calvary Lutheran Church a logical site as a
host church. We are on major mass transit routes and have
perfect space to feed and shelter 25 men.
We also have the will, having set as a goal in our strategic
plan better service to the community.
I encourage you to ask questions about the program. Discuss it
with others. Look for opportunities to go along on a visit to
current sites. Attend a meeting to meet some of the people
involved and find out more.
Then find a way to get involved.
In Christ,
Pastor Chamberlain
Calvary
Lutheran Staff
 Ministry
Directory
Take a look at this
directory
of the ministries at Calvary and the contact people. The
directory is in PDF format. You may rotate it to view it on your
screen or print it nicely on legal-sized paper. If you would
like further information from any of the contact people, send us
an
email and we will respond to you promptly.
We are an Equipping Church.
Find out more..
 .
Prayer Requests
We would be glad to include your prayer request
on our Prayer Chain and in our weekly worship bulletin.
Forms
Here are some of our forms which are
in PDF format. Simply click on the form name and print out the
form. Complete the form and mail or FAX it to the office:
Calvary Lutheran Church
2415 S. 320th St.
Federal Way, WA 98003
FAX: (253) 839-0345
Forms:
Child
Baptism Information Form
Ministry
Directory
Adult Baptism Information Form
Learning In
Motion Registration Form
Membership Information Form
Building Use Request Form
Youth Medical Release Form
Stewardship
Survey
Time & Talent
Sheet
Calvary's
Strategic Plan
Prison
Ministry Newsletter
Women's Retreat Registration
Vacation
Bible School Registration
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