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What We Believe |
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Calvary Chapel Churches are a non-denominational fellowship of believers in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Our greatest desire is to know Christ and to be conformed into His image by the power of the Holy Spirit. While we are not a denomination, we do share a common philosophy of ministry, centering on verse-by-verse, through the Bible teaching and Spirit-led worship. We are not opposed to denominational churches, only to the over-emphasis on non-biblical teachings that divide the Body of Christ. We believe that the true Biblical basis for Christian fellowship is God's love, which is greater than our differences. Without God's love, we have no right to call ourselves Christians. The following is intended to clearly express some of our specific beliefs.
God
Jesus Christ Jesus Christ, the Son of God is the second Person of the Holy Trinity. Through the miraculous virgin birth, He alone is both fully God and fully man. He lived a sinless life in perfect obedience to His Heavenly Father. The Son of God freely gave His life, dying on Calvary's cross, and thereby atoned for the sin of the world. On the third day, Jesus rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of His Father. He is the only mediator between God and man and continually makes intercession for His own. He will come again, according to the scriptures, personally and visibly to consummate human history and the eternal plan of God.
The Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Holy Trinity. While active throughout human history, He is uniquely active in and through the Christian Church, the Body of Christ. He indwells all true believers and seals them for the day of redemption. According to Jesus' words, the Holy Spirit is working in the world, convicting the lost of sin and leading them to Christ. He is active in the church, leading it into all truth and endowing believers with gifts for the purpose of building up the Body of Christ. It is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that the Christian life can truly be lived.
The Bible We believe that the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments were divinely inspired of God and are our sole basis for faith. We maintain that the Scriptures are inerrant and infallible in their original manuscripts. They are the complete, full and final authority on all matters of faith and practice for the Christian Church.
Salvation While originally created to have fellowship with God, man chose rather to exert his own will and rebel against God. The love of God found its fullest expression at the cross, where Jesus, the Son of God gave His own sinless life as a ransom for mankind. Man has no ability at all to save himself from his own sin, and therefore apart from the grace of God is hopelessly separated from God. Salvation is entirely a work of God and is therefore offered to man as a free gift of God's grace, completely apart from any human effort.
The Church The Body of Christ, or the Church, is a body of believers in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Though represented in diverse denominational and non-denominational settings, there is only one true Church universal, comprised of all who acknowledge Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord. Under the care and guidance of Godly leadership, the members of the local church are to fellowship in love and unity with a mind to glorify God in all that they do and say. The Church exists to glorify God and it is through this community of believers that God reaches out to a lost world. |
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