Contemporary Church Moves to Historic Building

NORTH CAPE MAY – When meetings were first held in the white clapboard church with a tall steeple and a bell in the tower, members no doubt walked or rode a horse to services.
The building, which was once located in Rio Grande, was moved to North Cape some years ago.
Pastor Bob Lambert, of Cape May Calvary Chapel, couldn’t be more pleased with the historic building dating back to the early to mid 1800s. It is located on the circle on Washington Boulevard in a quiet, residential neighborhood, a few blocks off Bayshore Road,
The church building is owned by Seashore Community Church of the Nazarene. When a sudden change came in Calvary Chapel’s lease in a storefront in Rio Grande, Seashore Community Church offered the congregation a home in the North Cape May church.
“As soon as we walked in here, it felt like home,” said Lambert, who is a lifelong Lower Township resident.
Now in 2009, guitars and drums may have replaced an old pump organ and worshipers arrive wearing casual clothes.
Cape May Calvary Chapel started in a borrowed church building in Erma on Sunday nights and moved to the Kiwanis Club in Court House in 1999 to start Sunday morning services as an offshoot of Calvary Chapel of Vineland.
After outgrowing the Kiwanis Club building, Calvary Chapel moved to a storefront in Rio Grande. Last September, it moved to the Washington Boulevard location.
The church building was used by a number of denominations over the years. Calvary Chapels, of which they are over 600 nationwide, are considered non-denominational, drawing worshippers from many churches.
Rather than preach sermons, Lambert leads a verse-by-verse Bible study during the Sunday 10 a.m. service. He is just starting a study in the Book of Revelation.
Lambert does not race through the verses.
“I try to be real thorough and share everything God has taught me,” he said.
Participants come from as far away as Seaville and Egg Harbor Township.
The music is contemporary praise music, which began in Calvary Chapels and through Maranatha Music has found its way to most every denomination.
Lambert said the church population swells in summer bringing in members from a large Calvary Chapel in Philadelphia.
Calvary Chapel has its roots in the “Jesus Movement” of the late 1960s. Its founder, Chuck Smith, removed the carpeting from his Costa Mesa, CA., church so surfers could come to worship services with sandy feet.
“We just want to help people love God and love each other, that’s what it’s all about,” said Lambert.
He said he hopes to hold a Saturday night Christian music coffeehouse at the church.