What We Believe

WE BELIEVE:

  • Worship of God should be spiritual!
    Therefore we remain flexible so the Holy Spirit may direct our worship.

  • Worship of God should be inspirational!
    Therefore we give a great place to music in our worship.

  • Worship of God should be intelligent!
    Therefore, in our services, we emphasize Bible teaching so God may instruct us how He would be worshiped.

  • Worship of God is fruitful!
    Therefore we look for His love in our lives as the greatest evidence that we are truly worshiping Him.

Statement of Faith

WE BELIEVE:

  • In one personal, transcendent, and holy God, the creator of all, Who is eternal and who manifests Himself in three separate persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

  • In the inerrancy of Scripture, that the Bible, Old and New Testaments, in the original autographs, is the inspired, infallible Word of God, a complete and final written revelation of God to humanity.

  • That Jesus Christ, though fully God became a man for the suffering of death, that He is the promised Messiah, 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.

  • 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.

  • In the person and work of the Holy Spirit who indwells, seals, and empowers every believer, baptizing them into the Body of Christ. We further believe that the Holy Spirit will come upon any believer who asks in faith, enabling him/her to preach the Gospel in power. We also believe all of the gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in the Scriptures are valid for today if they are exercised within the scriptural guidelines. We believe that love is more important than all the gifts, and without this love all exercise of spiritual gifts is worthless.

  • Jesus Christ is the head of the Body, His church, and that church government should he simplistic rather than a complex bureaucracy. We desire to be led by the Holy Spirit in all the functions and directions of the ministry of the church.

  • In a personal devil called Satan who, along with all his evil angels, called demons, is destined to spend eternity in the Lake of Fire, and who now seeks to deceive the believers and defeat the work of God, but who can be resisted by believers who are in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit, protected by God, and interceded for by Jesus Christ our Lord.

  • That the nation of Israel has a special place in God's plan and that all the promises of God to Israel will be fulfilled.

The Biblical Balance: 

In a broad general sense, Calvary Chapel is the middle ground between fundamentalism and Pentecostalism in modern Protestant theology. In fact, we believe that this is at least part of the reason why God has raised up this ministry.

“Fundamentalism” is that portion of Protestantism that holds to the literal interpretation of the Scriptures, believing that they are divinely inspired and inerrant. Hence, the "fundamentals" of the faith are emphasized. Although the modern news media and the liberal church scorn fundamentalists as backwards and stupid, the truth is that fundamentalism has preserved the integrity of God's Word and held on to the essential doctrines of the orthodox faith.

“Pentecostalism” as a modern movement grew out of the Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles at the turn of the 20th Century, and spawned denominations that emphasize the fullness of the Holy Spirit and the exercise of spiritual and scriptural gifts of the Spirit that had fallen dormant in the main line churches. Also criticized by the liberal church and news media as being emotionally driven, Pentecostalism restored to the church the importance of gifts of the Spirit and the power of God for the believer today.

Over the years, however, fundamentalism, while it clung to the integrity of God's Word, tended to become rigid, legalistic, and un accepting of spiritual gifts. Similarly, Pentecostalism became enthusiastic and emotional at the expense of the teaching of God's Word.

Calvary Chapel is the balance between the two. At Calvary Chapel we believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in the Bible, and we encourage their exercise, but always decently and in order, and with the primary emphasis on the Word of God which we look to as our primary rule of faith.

To quote Pastor Chuck Smith "We believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in the Scriptures, and that they are valid or 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.”

Because of this balance, Calvary Chapel services are designed to be centered around the verse by verse teaching of God's Word, and special "after glow" services are provided where the gifts of the Holy Spirit can operate freely under the leadership of mature Christians. Many Pentecostals think Calvary Chapel is not emotional enough, and many fundamentalists think Calvary Chapel is too emotional. That balance is indication, in my opinion, that we are right where God wants us to be.

Calvary Chapel began in the late 1960's as a small non-denominational church of 25 members pastored by Chuck Smith.

As we approach the turn of the century, Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa is home to some 30,000 believers, The Word for Today publishes Bible study books and tapes all over the world, KWAVE broadcasts God's Word to all of Southern California, and Calvary Chapel's Bible College provides Bible education to thousands at its home campus in Murrieta, California and at over 20 extension campuses world wide.

Because of its size and influence, many Christians have asked exactly what Calvary Chapel believes, what are its distinctive's, what sets it apart from other Christian groups.

At Calvary Chapel, we have always been hesitant to try to answer those questions, not because we are unsure of our beliefs, but because we are cautious to avoid division within the Body of Christ. After all, what really matters is what we have in common as Christians: the "essential" doctrines of the infallibility of God's Word, the virgin birth of Christ, His sinless life, death for our sins, bodily resurrection, ascension to glory, and personal return to rule the earth. These are the essence of Christianity, and agreed upon by virtually all born again believers.

When we move away from the essential doctrines to those that are less essential we risk-setting barriers up in the church, something we at Calvary Chapel have no desire to do. Still, Calvary Chapel is distinct from denominational churches and other Protestant groups and people want to know what those distinctions are. If you want to learn more about what those distinctions are, please click here to download our booklet.

It is not our purpose to cause division or discord in the Body of Christ, conversely, we long for unity among God's people of all persuasions, and we allow for a great deal of flexibility even within our own ranks. 

Calvary Chapel pastors are not clones who all believe exactly the same thing. Still, there are definite distinctive that make Calvary Chapel unique, and which define our mission for Christ.