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 to be conformed into His image by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are not a denominational church, nor are we opposed to denominations as such, only their over-emphasis of the doctrinal differences that have led to the division of the Body of Christ.

• We believe that 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 the 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 a great place to music in our worship.

• We believe worship of God should be intelligent. Therefore, our services are designed with great emphasis upon teaching 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 truly been worshipping Him.

• We believe in all the fundamental doctrines of evangelical Christianity.

• We believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, that the Bible, Old and New Testaments are 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 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 are 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 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.

• We reject: The belief that true Christians can be demon possessed.

• We reject: “5-point Calvinism” (i.e., a fatalistic Calvinistic view that leaves no room for free will; specifically we reject the belief that Jesus’ atonement was limited. Instead We believe that 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; instead We believe that anyone who wills to come to Christ may do so)

• We reject: “Positive confession” (the faith movement belief that God can be commanded to heal or work miracles according to man’s will),

• We reject: Human prophecy that supersedes the Scripture.

• We reject: The incorporation of humanistic and secular psychology and philosophy into Biblical teaching.

• We reject: The over-emphasis of spiritual gifts, experiential signs and wonders to the exclusion of Biblical teaching. In our services, we focus on a personal relationship with God through worship, prayer, and the teaching of the Word of God. We teach both expositorily and topically. We do not allow speaking in tongues loudly during services, or prophecy while a Bible study is in progress because we do not believe that the Holy Spirit would interrupt Himself. We have specific “after-glow services” and believer’s meetings when these gifts of the Spirit may be exercised.

While Calvary Chapel Bible Institute holds to these beliefs, we welcome any believer in the Lord Jesus Christ who has a sincere desire to grow closer to Jesus. Our desire is to share in the fellowship of Christ in a way that brings glory to God; to avoid division; and to share in his agape love.