Statement of Faith
CALVARY DISTINCTIVES
WE BELIEVE that there is one living and true God, eternally existing in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, equal in power and glory; that this triune God created all, upholds all, and governs all. WE BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER, an infinite, personal Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power and love; that He concerns Himself mercifull
y in the affairs of men; that He hears and answers prayer; that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ. WE BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST, God’s only begotten Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit. We believe in His virgin birth, sinless life, miracles and teachings, His substitutionary atoning death, bodily resurrection, ascension into heaven, perpetual intercession for His people, and personal, visible return to earth
WE BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT, who came forth from the Father and Son to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment, and to regenerate, sanctify and empower in ministry all who believe in Christ. We believe the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Jesus Christ and that He is an abiding Helper, Teacher and Guide. We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit and in the exercise of all biblical gifts of the Spirit as reflected through the fruit of that same Spirit. WE BELIEVE that all people are by nature separated from God and responsible for their own sin, but that salvation, redemption, and forgiveness are freely offered to all, apart from works, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. When a person repents of sin and accepts Jesus Christ as personal Savior and Lord, trusting Him to save, that person is immediately born again and sealed by the Holy Spirit, all his/her sins are forgiven, and that person becomes a child of God, destined to spend eternity with the Lord. WE BELIEVE that the only true basis of Christian fellowship is Christ’s unconditional (agape) love, which is greater than any differences we possess, and without which we have no right to claim ourselves Christians. WE BELIEVE worship of God should be spiritual. Therefore, we remain flexible and yielded to the leading of the Holy Spirit to direct our worship. WE BELIEVE worship of God should be inspirational. Therefore, we give great place to music in our worship. WE BELIEVE worship of God should be intelligent. Therefore, our services are designed with great emphasis upon the teaching of the Word of God that He might instruct us how He should be worshipped. WE BELIEVE worship of God should be fruitful. Therefore, we look for His love in our lives as the supreme manifestation that we have been truly worshipping Him. WE BELIEVE that all the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God, fully inspired without error in the original manuscripts, and the infallible rule of faith and practice. WE BELIEVE that the Lord Jesus Christ committed two ordinances to the Church: 1) baptism, and 2) The Lord’s Supper. We believe in baptism by immersion and The Lord’s Supper (Communion) open to all believers. WE BELIEVE in the personal, visible return of Jesus Christ to the earth and the establishment of His Kingdom; the resurrection of the body; the final judgment and eternal blessing of the righteous and endless suffering for the wicked. Practical
WE BELIEVE the only true basis of Christian fellowship is Christ’s (agape) love, which is greater than differences we possess, and without which we have no right to claim ourselves Christians. WE BELIEVE worship of God should be spiritual; therefore, we remain flexible and yielded to the leading of the Holy Spirit to direct our worship. WE BELIEVE worship of God should be inspirational; therefore, we give great place to music in our worship. WE BELIEVE worship of God should be intelligent; therefore, our services are designed with great emphasis upon the teaching of the Word of God that He might instruct us on how He should be worshiped. We seek to teach the Word of God in such a way that its message can be applied to the individual’s life, leading that person to a greater maturity in Christ. We teach both expositionally and topically. WE BELIEVE worship of God should be fruitful; therefore, we look for His love in our lives as the supreme manifestation that we have been truly worshiping Him. WE BELIEVE that the church government should be simplistic rather than a complex bureaucracy, and we depend on the Holy Spirit to lead, rather than on fleshly promotion. WE BELIEVE that the Bible clearly delineates that spiritual gifts are for the edification of the body and that they are to be exercised in love. We believe that love is more important than the most spectacular gifts, and without love, all exercise of spiritual gifts is worthless. In our services, we focus on a personal relationship with God through worship, prayer, and the teaching of the Word of God. We do not practice speaking in tongues during worship or while a Bible study is in progress because we do not believe that the Holy Spirit would interrupt Himself. God is not the author of confusion. These gifts are encouraged in more intimate settings, e.g. afterglow services and small groups where their benefit can accomplish the purpose for which they have been given – the edification of the body of Christ. Doctrine
At Calvary Chapel we believe in all the fundamental doctrines of the evangelical Protestant church. For example, we believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, that the Bible, Old and New Testaments, is the inspired, infallible Word of God. WE BELIEVE that God is eternally existent in three separate persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe that God the Father is the personal, transcendent, and sovereign creator of all things. WE BELIEVE that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human, that He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, provided for the atonement of our sins by His vicarious death on the Cross, was bodily resurrected by the power of the Holy Spirit, ascended back to the right hand of God the Father, and ever lives to make intercession for us. After He ascended to Heaven, Jesus poured out His Holy Spirit on the believers in Jerusalem, enabling them to fulfill His command to preach the Gospel to the entire world, an obligation shared by all believers today. WE BELIEVE that all people are by nature separated from God and responsible for their own sin, but that salvation, redemption, and forgiveness of sin are freely offered to all by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. As we previously mentioned, we believe in the proper Scriptural exercise of all the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the Bible, the greatest gift of all being God’s love. At Calvary Chapel, we await the pre-tribulation rapture of the church. Calvary Chapel is strongly committed to a belief that the church will be raptured before the seven-year tribulation period described in Revelation chapters 6 through 18. We recognize that other believers hold a different view, but this is the way we see the Scripture’s teaching on this subject. WE BELIEVE that the second coming of Jesus Christ with His saints to rule on the earth will be personal, pre-millennial, and visible. This motivates us to heartfelt worship, committed service, diligent study of God’s Word, regular fellowship with other Christians, and participation in both adult baptism by immersion and in Holy Communion. Calvary Chapel rejects the teaching of “amillenialism” which spiritualizes Scripture and denies the literal 1,000-year reign of Christ on the earth as described in Revelation chapter 20.
