At Calvary Chapel, our emphasis is the teaching of the Word of God, chapter by chapter, verse by verse through the Word of God. Our desire is to know God the Father, our Savior Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit through sound expositional teaching of the Word, and by worshipping together in songs unto the Lord.

Statement of Faith

1) Scripture

We believe the Bible is the Word of God and comprises the totality of Holy Scripture and is verbally inerrant in the original text, and remains inerrant, inspired, infallible, and sufficient in all its substance, and therefore, it is the supreme and final authority in faith, theology, and life. 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. (VIU* affirms the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy)

2) Perspicuity

We believe in the full historicity and perspicuity of the biblical record of primeval history, including the literal existence of Adam and Eve as the progenitors of all people, the literal fall in the Garden of Eden and resultant divine curse on creation, the worldwide cataclysmic deluge, and the origin of the nations and diverse languages at the tower of Babel.

3) God

We believe that the triune God eternally exists in one essence and three distinct persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit; that He is essentially Spirit, personal, transcendent, sovereign, life, love, truth, almighty, simple (i.e., essentially one without parts), timelessly eternal, unchangeable, wise, just, holy, relational, pure actuality, dynamic, infallible in all things, including His foreknowledge of all future decisions and events, and created the heavens and the earth in six historic days.

4) Creation

God is the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens and the earth and of every basic form of life according to the six historic days (VIU* and the Age of the Earth) described in the book of Genesis (Gen. 1:1-2:3). The creation account is factual, historical, and is the foundation of our understanding of the created universe, God’s power, and His glory (Psalm. 19:1). Further, God exercises providential care for every life form in His creation (Mt. 6:25-33), and Christ is the conserving Cause of all things (Heb. 1:3; Col. 1:17). We reject theistic and naturalistic macroevolution as unbiblical, unjustifiable, and based on naturalistic assumptions. Further, by its denial of the biblical teaching on creation, it undermines many essential doctrines of the Christian Faith (cf. Gen. 1:27; Mt. 19:4-6; Rom. 5:12-14; 1 Cor. 11:8-9; 15:45). We also believe in a literal, worldwide flood that destroyed the earth, animal life, and the human race, except for Noah and those he took in the ark with him (Gen. 6-9; Mt. 24:37-39; 1 Pet. 3:20).

5) Jesus Christ

We believe that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human, possessing two distinct natures which are co-joined in one person; that He was miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, lived a sinless and miraculous life, provided for the atonement of our sins by His vicarious substitutionary death on the Cross, was physically resurrected in the same body that was buried in the tomb by the power of the Holy Spirit; that Christ physically ascended back to the right hand of God the Father in heaven, and ever lives to make intercession for us. After Jesus ascended to Heaven, the Holy Spirit was poured out 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. (VIU* affirms the Apostle’s, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds.)

6) Holy Spirit

We believe the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead who seals, indwells, sanctifies, baptizes, teaches, empowers, reveals, and guides the believer into all truth. The Holy Spirit gives gifts to whom He will, which are valid for today, and ought to be exercised within 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.

7) Mankind

We believe that man is created in the image of God; however, after the fall of Adam and Eve, all people are by nature separated from God and responsible for their own sin, but that salvation, redemption, and forgiveness are offered as a free gift by the Lord Jesus Christ to all based on His grace alone. When a person repents of sin and receives 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.

8) Salvation

Salvation is initiated, attained, and procured by God through the death of Christ on the cross for our sins and His resurrection from the dead. The salvation Christ offers is available to all, and is received freely by grace alone and through faith in Christ alone, apart from good works, thereby, justifying and sealing the believer once and for all.

9) Church

The universal Church is an organic body composed of all believers, both living and dead, who have been sealed by the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. The church has the responsibility to worship the Lord and share the good news of Christ’s death and resurrection to the world, making disciples, baptizing believers, and teaching them to observe sound doctrine and live a morally pure life. We believe church government should be simple rather than a complex bureaucracy, with the utmost dependence upon the Holy Spirit to lead, rather than on fleshly promotion or worldly wisdom. The Lord has given the church two ordinances which are to continue until He returns — adult baptism by immersion and Holy Communion. Water baptism is not necessary for salvation, and cannot remove sins, but is a picture of the salvation already received by the believer. We believe the only true basis Christian fellowship is Christ’s sacrificial agape love, which is greater than any secondary differences we possess, and without which we have no right to claim ourselves Christians.

10) Worship

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 gatherings are designed with great emphasis upon the teaching of the Word of God that He might instruct us how He should be worshiped. We believe the worship of God should be fruitful. Therefore, we look for His love in our lives as the supreme manifestation that we have been truly worshiping God in spirit and truth.

11) Christ’s Return

We await the imminent rapture of the church and the second coming of Christ which will be physical, personal, visible, and premillennial. This motivates us to holy living, heart-felt worship, committed service, diligent study of God’s Word, evangelism, and regular fellowship.

12) Eternity

We believe those who are saved by Jesus Christ will spend eternity with Christ in heaven in a conscious state of blessedness, reward, and satisfaction; that those who do not personally receive the finished work of Christ by faith will spend eternity separated from God in a state of conscious torment.

13) Satan

We believe there is a real personal devil of great malevolence, cunning, power, and deception, who seeks to tempt, kill, steal and destroy, yet his power is limited by God to only what God permits him to do; that the devil has been defeated positionally at the cross of Christ, and will be defeated practically at Christ’s glorious second coming which will eventuate in the permanent quarantine and punishment of the Devil, Beast, and False Prophet, in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone.

14) Biblical Definition of Marriage

God's original design of the male and female bodies is both descriptive and prescriptive of His divine will. God designed the bodies of men and women teleologically and anatomically to be coupled with the opposite sex for both marriage and procreation. 1. This design is consistent with God's procreation mandate, that man should be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:27-28). Natural procreation is only possible between a genetic male and a genetic female. 2. This design is also consistent with God's institution of marriage between one genetic male and one genetic female (Genesis 2:24). Jesus reaffirms this in the Gospels, describing the marriage union between one male and one female as an act of God in accord with His will (Matthew 19:5-6). Paul affirms the same (Ephesians 5:22-33). Because God's purpose for sexuality is observed in the teleology of the human body, and because His instruction for sexuality is clearly defined in the Bible, as being confined to the marriage relationship, we believe that we should honor God's will for our bodies in sexuality and marriage. Therefore Biblical Christian marriage is between two believers, one being a genetic male from birth, and the other a genetic female from birth.

*VIU - Veritas International University, formerly Veritas Evangelical Seminary. viu.ves.edu