By Jacob Tellers

A year after deciding to unify their two ministries, First Baptist and Calvary Baptist churches have voted to begin the steps to fully merge their two churches into one congregation.

“We will have a new name, a new structure, everything is going to be new,” said the Rev. Clayton Balsley, the senior pastor at First Baptist. “Obviously we will have to make a decision about which location we will be at, but the majority of the people are on board with this.”

A joint ministry team made up of individuals from both churches has been meeting to work out all of the necessary details for combining their ministries the Rev. Mark Miller, associate pastor at Calvary Baptist, said.

“Another challenge is the traditions,” Miller said. “Both churches have their own traditions, their own ways of doing things. So as we are molding into a new church we are going to have to work out all those things together.”

Both Miller and Balsley clarified again that this merger was not due to either declining membership or financial struggles; rather, the merger made sense due to Calvary’s head pastor leaving and it also enables them to make better use of their resources.

“This is purely a God thing,” Balsley said. “This is not two churches that were struggling with numbers, financially.”

Miller said while there have been challenges in combining the churches, he has already seen a lot of positive results, noting that it felt powerful to have the two congregations worshipping together.

“God is going to use this as an example of what churches can do when they work together,” Miller said.

According to Balsley, the merger has helped the churches refocus and re-examine what their purpose is.

“It really is about connecting people with Jesus Christ,” Balsley said. “If that is not our main focus then we have lost the whole point of why we exist as a church.”

A decision has not been made yet as to which building they will end up choosing — First Baptist is at 335 W. Clark St. and Calvary Baptist is at 2016 Bridge Ave. — but Miller indicated that it was unlikely that they would build a new building.

The churches hired in a consultant to give advice on their merger. He met with the churches last Sunday and will meet with them the two weeks as well.

This summer through Sept. 7, the members of the American Baptist Churches USA denomination meet together for worship, alternating each week between their two locations. On odd-numbered days services are at Calvary Baptist. On even-numbered days services are at First Baptist.