Calvary Presbyterian Church was started by a small group in November of 1974. The first meetings were held in homes, but on November 25, the church began meeting in the Cates Center on the Meredith College campus. On December 29th, the Raleigh YMCA on Hillsborough Street became Calvary’s temporary home. The church began searching for a minister in 1975, and on February 29, 1976, Dr. Warren Thuston delivered his first message at Calvary. In June of 1976, Calvary was formally organized as Calvary Presbyterian Church in America with 46 charter members.
The church met in several locations over the next year, and in late 1977, Calvary broke ground for a building at the current location on Ray Road.
In 1980, Calvary had grown enough that a mission church, Peace Presbyterian Church, was established in Cary. In 1981, another mission church, New Covenant Presbyterian Church, was established in North Raleigh.
In 1987, Rev. John Warren, Jr. became Pastor and served until 1992. In November of 1988, a tornado heavily damaged the property, removing almost all the trees from the front of the building to Ray Road, but the building was miraculously spared.
In 1994, Rev. Bill Prince came to Calvary as its Pastor, and in 2001, Rev. Bryan Wright was installed as Pastor. Pastor Wright was called away from Calvary in 2012.
August 2022 marked the nine-year anniversary of our ministry partnership with our current pastor, Nate Wilks. Nate came to us from Cochranville, Pennsylvania, where he served as an Assistant Pastor from 2010-2013. We see the Lord at work in our midst in a number of ways, and are looking forward to what He is going to do with us in the coming months and years.
Calvary is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in America and is a member of its Eastern Carolina Presbytery.