"We Live to See People Transformed Into Devoted Followers of Jesus."
What We Believe
Calvary Chapel has been formed as a fellowship of believers in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Our supreme desire is to know Christ and be conformed to His image by the power of the Holy Spirit. We believe the only true basis of Christian fellowship is Christ’s agape love, which is greater than any of our differences, and without which we have no right to be called Christians.
We Believe That:
- The Scriptures (both Testaments) are the inspired, inerrant Word of God.
- God is eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and that He is the personal, transcendent, and sovereign Creator of all things.
- Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human, that He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, provided the only means 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 Jesus ascended to heaven. He also 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.
- Sin and Salvation: 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 by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. When a person repents of sin and accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, trusting Him to save them, they are immediately born again and sealed by the Holy Spirit, all their sins are forgiven, and that person becomes a child of God, destined to spend eternity with the Lord.
- Spiritual Gifts: The gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in the Scriptures are valid for today so long as they are exercised according to Scriptural guidelines. We are to desire the best gifts, seeking to exercise them in an orderly fashion and in love, that the whole body of Christ might be edified. Love is more important than the most spectacular of gifts, and without love all exercise of spiritual gifts is worthless.
- Church Government should be simplistic rather than a complex bureaucracy; we depend on the Holy Spirit to lead, rather than on fleshly promotion.
- Eschatology: We await the pre-tribulation rapture of the church, and we believe that the second coming of Christ with His saints to rule on the earth will be personal, pre-millennial, and visible. We are motivated by the above to holy living, heartfelt worship, committed service, diligent study of God’s Word, regular fellowship, participation in baptism by immersion, and Holy Communion.
- Communion: We believe that communion is a sacrament that Jesus prescribed for the Church (Christians) to frequently take together. Jesus began this practice for believers in Matthew 26:26-30, Mark 14:22-26 and Luke 22:14-20. We also find Paul giving further instructions in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, reminding us that we ought to take communion seriously and that we ought to come to communion with a right heart before God, and with repentance, believing in the Gospel that we profess. Because of this, we believe that non-Christian's should not take communion, as they are not coming to communion with a right heart and repentance while believing in the Gospel that they are demonstrating and communicating while taking communion. You can listen to a full sermon from Pastor Jon regarding communion at this link.
- Baptism: We believe that baptism is a public demonstration of your faith in Jesus as your Savior. It is an outward expression of the inward work that Jesus has done in your life by dying on the cross for your sins and rising from the dead. You can learn the full details about our beliefs on baptism and sign up to get baptized at this link.
We Do Not Believe:
- The belief that true Christians can be demon possessed.
- “5-point Calvinism”- a hyper-Calvinistic view that leaves no room for free will; specifically, we reject the belief that Jesus’ atonement was limited (we believe He died for all people), and we reject the assertion that God’s wooing grace cannot be resisted or that He has elected some people to go to hell. We believe that anyone who wills to come to Christ may do so. Please note that we believe this is a secondary issue and although we do not hold to it as a church, we do not have an issue with others who do believe in Calvinism.
- “Positive confession”- the faith movement belief that God can be directed to heal or work miracles according to man’s will.
- Human prophecy that supersedes the Scripture.
- The incorporation of humanistic and secular psychology and philosophy into Biblical teaching and counseling.
- The over-emphasis of spiritual gifts, and experiential signs and wonders to the exclusion of Biblical teaching and sound doctrine. We seek to teach the Word of God (both expository and topically) in such a way that its message can be applied to an individual’s life, leading that person to greater maturity in Christ, and equipping them for ministry.
If you would like to discuss any of these things further, please click here to contact us.