WHAT  WE  BELIEVE

STATEMENT OF FAITH

I. Scripture
We believe the Bible is the Word of God, comprising the totality of Holy Scripture, is verbally inerrant in the original text, and remains inerrant, inspired, infallible, and sufficient in all its substance for salvation, sanctification, life and practice. Therefore, it is the supreme, final, and authoritative standard for faith, theology, and moral decisions. We seek to teach the Word of God in such a way that its message can be applied to an individual’s life, leading that person to greater maturity in Christ. (CCT affirms the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy)

II. Historicity
We believe in the full historicity and comprehensibility of the biblical record of primeval history, including the literal existence of Adam and Eve as the progenitors of all people, the literal fall in the Garden of Eden and resultant divine curse on creation, the worldwide cataclysmic deluge, and the origin of the nations and languages at the tower of Babel.

III. God
We believe that the triune God eternally exists in one essence and three distinct persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit; that He is essentially Spirit, personal, transcendent, sovereign, life, love, truth, almighty, simple (i.e., essentially one without parts), timelessly eternal, unchangeable, wise, just, holy, relational, pure actuality, dynamic, infallible in all things, including His foreknowledge of all future decisions and events, and that He created the heavens and the earth in six historical days.

IV. Creation
God is the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens and the earth and of every basic form of life according to the six historic (non-mythical) days described in the book of Genesis (Gen. 1:1-2:3). The creation account is factual, historical, and is the foundation of our understanding of the created universe, God’s power, and his glory (Psa. 19:1). Further, God exercises providential care for every life form in His creation (Mt. 6:25-33). And Christ is the conserving Cause of all things (Heb. 1:3; Col. 1:17). We reject theistic and naturalistic macroevolution as unbiblical, unjustifiable, and based on naturalistic assumptions. Further, by its denial of the biblical teaching on creation, it undermines many essential doctrines of the Christian Faith (cf. Gen. 1:27; Mt. 19:4-6; Rom. 5:12-14; 1 Cor. 11:8-9; 15:45). We also believe in a literal, worldwide flood that destroyed the earth, animal life, and the human race, except for Noah and those he took in the ark with him (Gen. 6-9; Mt. 24:37-39; 1 Pet. 3:20).

V. Jesus Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human, possessing two distinct natures which are co-joined in one person; that He was miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, lived a sinless and miraculous life, provided for the atonement of our sins by His vicarious substitutionary death on the Cross, was physically resurrected in the same body that was buried in the tomb by the power of the Holy Spirit; that Jesus Christ physically ascended back to the right hand of God the Father in heaven, and ever lives to make intercession for us. After Jesus ascended to Heaven, the Holy Spirit was poured out 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. (CCT affirms the Apostle’s, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds insofar as they are consistent with Scripture).

VI. Holy Spirit
We believe the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead who seals, indwells, sanctifies, baptizes, teaches, empowers, reveals, and guides the believer into all truth. The Holy Spirit gives gifts to whom He wills, and ought to be exercised within scriptural guidelines. We as believers are to earnestly desire the best gifts, seeking to exercise them in love that the whole Body of Christ might be edified. We believe that love is more important than the most spectacular gifts, and without this love all exercise of spiritual gifts are worthless.

VII. Mankind
We believe that man is created in the image of God; however, after the fall of Adam and Eve, all people are by nature separated from God and responsible for their own sin, but that salvation, redemption, and forgiveness are offered as a free gift by the Lord Jesus Christ to all based on His grace alone. When a person repents of sin and receives 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.

VIII. Salvation
Salvation is initiated, attained, and procured by God through the death of Christ on the cross for our sins and His resurrection from the dead. The salvation Christ offers is available to all and is received freely by grace alone and through faith in Christ alone, apart from good works, thereby justifying and sealing the believer by the Holy Spirit.

IX. The Church
The universal Church is an organic body composed of all believers, both living and dead, who have been sealed by the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. The church has the responsibility to worship the Lord and share the good news of Christ’s death and resurrection to the world, making disciples, baptizing believers, and teaching them to observe sound doctrine and live a morally pure life. We believe church government should be simple rather than a complex bureaucracy, with the utmost dependence upon the Holy Spirit to lead, rather than on fleshly promotion or worldly wisdom. The Lord has given the church two ordinances which are to continue until He returns — adult baptism by immersion and Holy Communion. Water baptism is not necessary for salvation, and cannot remove sins, but is a picture of the salvation already received by the believer. We believe the only true basis of Christian fellowship is Christ’s sacrificial agape love, which is greater than any secondary differences we possess, and without which we have no right to claim ourselves Christians.

X. Worship
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 gatherings are designed with great emphasis upon the teaching of the Word of God that He might instruct us how He should be worshiped. We believe the 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 God in spirit and truth (John 4:24).

XI. Christ’s Return
We await the imminent rapture of the church and the second coming of Christ which will be physical, personal, visible, and premillennial. This motivates us to evangelism, holy living, heart-felt worship, committed service, diligent study of God’s Word, and regular fellowship.

XII. Eternity
We believe those who are saved by Jesus Christ will spend eternity with Christ in heaven in a conscious state of blessedness, reward, and satisfaction; that those who do not personally receive the finished work of Christ by faith will spend eternity separated from God in a state of conscious torment.

XIII. Satan
We believe there is a real personal devil of great malevolence, cunning and power, who seeks to deceive, tempt, kill, steal and destroy, yet his power is limited by God to only what God permits him to do; that the devil has been defeated positionally at the cross of Christ, and will be defeated practically at Christ’s glorious second coming which will eventuate in the permanent quarantine and punishment of the Devil, Beast, and False Prophet, in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone.

XIV. Marriage and Sexuality
We believe marriage is between one biological man and one biological woman only, and the marriage bed is undefiled. Sexual relationships outside the bonds of heterosexual marriage are both unbiblical and immoral. We also believe that the intentional confusion/blurring of genders and functions/manners naturally and uniquely given to men and women distort God's established order - which functionally places man as the head of woman, Christ the head of man, and God the Father the head of Christ.

XV. Race and Ethnicity
We affirm God made all people from one man. Though people often can be distinguished by different ethnicities and nationalities, they are ontological equals before God in both creation and redemption. “Race” is not a biblical category, but rather a social construct that often has been used to classify groups of people in terms of inferiority and superiority. All that is good, honest, just, and beautiful in various ethnic backgrounds and experiences can be celebrated as the fruit of God’s grace. All sinful actions and their results (including evils perpetrated between and upon ethnic groups by others) are to be confessed as sinful, repented of, and repudiated.    We deny that Christians should segregate themselves into racial groups or regard racial identity above, or even equal to, their identity in Christ. We deny that any divisions between people groups (from an unstated attitude of superiority to an overt spirit of resentment) have any legitimate place in the fellowship of the redeemed. We reject any teaching that encourages racial groups to view themselves as privileged oppressors or entitled victims of oppression. While we are to weep with those who weep, we deny that a person’s feelings of offense or oppression necessarily prove that someone else is guilty of sinful behaviors, oppression, or prejudice. (Genesis 1:26–28; Acts 17:24-26; 1 Corinthians 13:4-7; 2 Corinthians 12:16-18)

XVI. Culture
We affirm that some cultures operate on assumptions that are inherently better than those of other cultures because of the biblical truths that inform those worldviews that have produced these distinct assumptions. Those elements of a given culture that reflect divine revelation should be celebrated and promoted. But the various cultures out of which we have been called all have features that are worldly and sinful—and therefore those sinful features should be repudiated for the honor of Christ. We affirm that whatever evil influences to which we have been subjected via our culture can be—and must be— overcome through conversion and the training of both mind and heart through biblical truth.
We deny that individuals and sub-groups in any culture are unable, by God’s grace, to rise above whatever moral defects or spiritual deficiencies have been engendered or encouraged by their respective cultures. (Romans 1:18-32; Ephesians 4:17-24; Colossians 3:5-11)

XVII. Racism
We affirm that racism is a sin rooted in pride and malice which must be condemned and renounced by all who would honor the image of God in all people. Such racial sin can subtly or overtly manifest itself as racial animosity or racial vainglory. Such sinful prejudice or partiality falls short of God’s revealed will and violates the royal law of love. We affirm that virtually all cultures, including our own, at times contain laws and systems that foster racist attitudes and policies.
We deny that treating people with sinful partiality or prejudice is consistent with biblical Christianity. We deny that only those in positions of power are capable of racism, or that individuals of any particular ethnic groups are incapable of racism. We deny that systemic racism is in any way compatible with the core principles of historic evangelical convictions. We deny that the Bible can be legitimately used to foster or justify partiality, prejudice, or contempt toward other ethnicities. We deny that the contemporary evangelical movement has any deliberate agenda to elevate one ethnic group and subjugate another. And we emphatically deny that lectures on social issues (or activism aimed at reshaping the wider culture) are as vital to the life and health of the church as the preaching of the gospel and the exposition of Scripture. Historically, such things tend to become distractions that inevitably lead to departures from the gospel. (Genesis 1:26-27; Deuteronomy 10:17; Acts 10:34; Romans 2:11; Ephesians 6:9; Galatians 3:28; James 2:4)

XVIII. We Reject:

• The belief that true Christians can be demon possessed and are helpless against the craft and wiles of the Devil; 
• Any philosophy or theology which denies that human freewill can be exercised in the receiving of Christ’s free gift of salvation; specifically, we reject the belief that Jesus’s atonement was limited in its extent, instead, we believe that He died for all unrighteous people and that any perceived limitation in one’s free rejection of Christ’s finished work of atonement, and we reject the assertion that God’s wooing grace cannot be resisted or that He has elected some people to go to hell; instead we believe that anyone who wills to come to Christ may do so freely as a result of the Holy Spirit’s conviction and wooing persuasion of the heart;
• “Positive confession,” (e.g., the Faith movement, that views faith as a force that can create one’s own reality or that God can be commanded to heal or work miracles according to man’s will and faith);
• Human prophecy that supersedes, or is contrary to, the Scripture
• Any introduction of psychology and philosophy which is contrary to Scripture and is in substance “according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ” into biblical teaching;
• “Open Theism” or “Freewill Theism” which reduces God’s timeless, unchanging, dynamic nature, and exhaustive foreknowledge of future free decisions, to creaturely modes of being and operation;
• The “Emergent Church” movement insofar as it departs from the historic orthodox Christian doctrines in favor of postmodernism; 
• The Contemplative Prayer (CP) and Spirituality movement insofar as it incorporates alien eastern philosophies of religion, pantheism, and panentheism into a believer’s communication with God or the “emptying” of the mind and the vain repetition of words;
• The overemphasis of spiritual gifts, experiential signs and wonders to the exclusion of biblical teaching. 
• The attempt by anyone (including Christian scholars, academic institutions, or church pastors) to utilize critical theories of understanding, and genre classification, of the Scriptures which leads to relativizing and/or dehistorizing of the biblical text.
• Any prayer movement that emphasizes corporate prayer (spoken in any language) outside the guidelines of order presented by Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 14.

 

PHILOSOPHY OF MINISTRY

BIBLICAL EXPOSITION:  We place great emphasis on the exposition of Scripture and teaching the entire Bible chapter-by-chapter and verse-by-verse. Exposition is more than merely speaking about the Bible or from the Bible; it is the proclamation of the Bible itself. We believe that Bible exposition is inductive: directing the listener to the Bible’s own truth without preconceived ideas. We believe that Bible exposition is exegetical: demanding that the pastor critically examine the text with accuracy and basing his message upon observable principles of interpretation.

CHRIST CENTERED WORSHIP:  In Calvary Chapel, we love offering ourselves to the Lord and worshiping and praising and rejoicing and resting in Jesus for all He has accomplished for us. We worship Him for what He has done in taking our sin on Himself and giving His life for us. And we worship Him for ever living at the right hand of the Majesty on high making intercession for us and presenting us faultless. And we worship the Father and the Son and the Spirit for all they mean to us for the rest of eternity.

EQUIPPING THE SAINTS:   At Calvary Chapel, we learn to walk in the Spirit and have a renewed mind. God has given gifts to believers to serve His people. We are to win people to Jesus; disciple those people in Jesus, and send out for Jesus.

EVANGELISM:  Calvary Chapel was born in revival. It’s very birth and growth was because Jesus Christ gave himself for us on the cross, that He might give Himself to us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, that He might live His life through us sharing the good news. We believe in and love sharing the good news of Jesus and do it with zeal. Calvary Chapels as churches love all manner of public preaching of the gospel, desiring to reach all we can with the good news of Jesus saving us. Thus, there is also many varied methods of preaching Christ; in public open air evangelistic meetings, missionary outreaches around the world and through many media forms. Our desire is “to know Him and make Him known.”

ESCHATOLOGY:  Calvary Chapel holds to the Pretribulational and Premillennial interpretation of Biblical Eschatology. This view anticipates a literal fulfillment of yet unfulfilled prophecies just as previously fulfilled prophecies have been literally fulfilled (Matthew 5:17-18).

GRACE AND LOVE:  Grace has been defined as God’s unmerited favor. In contrasting grace, mercy and justice, I see that justice is getting what I deserve, mercy is not getting what I deserve, and grace is getting what I don’t deserve. Thus our proper attitude should be, to consent to be loved, though we are aware of how unworthy we are of that love; to refuse to make resolutions and vows to be better, for that is to trust in our flesh; to expect to be blessed, though we know how unworthy we are of those blessings.

PASTORAL LEADERSHIP:   (1 Timothy 1-3) sets out four qualifications for elders and pastors: moral character, giftedness to teach, divine calling, and male gender. God uses women in ministry and in strategic ways, and the Holy Spirit gifts women as He does men according to His will, but the office of pastor and pastoral authority is reserved for qualified men.

HOLY SPIRIT:   The equipping and enabling of the Holy Spirit allows us to reach the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We acknowledge that to live for and serve the Lord, we need the filling (empowerment) of the Holy Spirit.

SERVANT LEADERSHIP:   Calvary Chapel places an emphasis on servant leadership. This is the conviction among its pastors that the churches we pastor do not exist to serve us, but that we are called to serve and lay our lives down for them. “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25-28).

INTEGRITY AND MORALITY:   Ministers of the gospel and pastors should have lives that clearly line up with scripture, and as such a pastor’s life should be earmarked by integrity and moral purity. n Calvary Chapel ministries, we desire to be men who not only talk the message, but also walk the message. We are aware that God has entrusted the care of His sheep to us, and because we take such a charge seriously, we guard our hearts, and we minister with integrity, and moral purity.

STYLE:   A distinctive characteristic of Calvary Chapel is our relaxed casual style. Calvary Chapels are minus the hype. We’re not into the carnal pursuit of new programs or spiritual hype to try to appeal to people. It’s the Word of God that we trust in, that we teach, that we rely on. It’s the foundation upon which we are built.