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 are not a denominational church, nor are we
opposed to denominations as such, only to their over-emphasis of
the doctrinal differences that have led to the division of the
Body of Christ.
We believe the only true basis of Christian fellowship
is Christ's (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
in all the fundamental doctrines of orthodox
evangelical Christianity.
We believe
in the inerrancy of Scripture. The Bible,
both the Old and New Testaments are the inspired, infallible Word
of God.
We believe that God is eternally existent in three
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 Jesus ascended to Heaven, He 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 are freely offered to all 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
in the gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in
the Scriptures, and that they are valid for today if they are
exercised within the Scriptural guidelines. We as believers are
to covet 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 is worthless.
We believe
that 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 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.
This motivates us to holy living, heartfelt worship, committed
service, diligent study of God's Word, regular fellowship, and
participation in adult baptism by immersion and Holy Communion.
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.
