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STATEMENT OF FAITH
   
What We Teach
A Summary: Some excerpts taken from “What Calvary Chapel Teaches”
Published by Calvary Chapel
Bible College in 1994

Because of its size and influence, many Christians have asked exactly what Calvary Chapel believes, what are its distinctives? What sets it apart from other Christian groups? At Calvary Chapel, we have always been hesitant to try and answer those questions, not because we are unsure of our beliefs, but because we are cautious to avoid division within the Body of Christ.

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 distinctives that make Calvary Chapel unique and which define our mission. While the following is certainly not exhaustive, we hope it helps to answer some of the most frequently asked questions regarding Calvary Chapel.

DENOMINATION?
One of the most common questions we hear is: "What denomination is Calvary Chapel?" In a broad sense, Calvary Chapel is the middle ground between fundamentalism and Pentecostalism in modern Protestant theology. Calvary Chapel rejects the over-emphasis of spiritual gifts and 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 do not allow speaking in tongues loudly during services because we do not believe the Holy Spirit would interrupt Himself.

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.

Calvary Chapel services are designed to be centered around the verse-by-verse teaching of God’s Word. Many Pentecostals think Calvary Chapel is not emotional enough, and many fundamentalists think Calvary Chapel is too emotional

WORSHIP
Some Calvary Chapels are quite traditional in their worship services, while others are more contemporary. Some of our churches are filled with elderly people in suits and ties, and some are filled with young people in jeans and tee shirts. Many are a combination of all different ages, styles, and races of people who come together with one common focus: love for Jesus Christ and the desire to know Him more intimately.

LEADERSHIP
We believe the family is to be patterned after the church, and that the church is patterned on the eternal model of Jesus Christ (The Bridegroom) and His Bride (The Church). Since God has designed the man to be the “head” in the marriage relationship (Ephesians 5:23; I Corinthians 11:3; I Timothy 2:12-13), we believe this pattern naturally follows for the church. We therefore look for godly men as pastors and elders to oversee the flock here at Calvary Chapel. We do not believe in ordaining women as pastors and/or elders. This does not at all mean that women cannot be used mightily in ministry. It only means that we do not believe the Lord has called women to be the “overseers” of the church.

CHURCH GOVERNMENT
Church government at Calvary Chapel is very simple, not a complex bureaucracy. Committees and sub-committees are essentially non-existent. Basically, at Calvary Chapel we believe that the pastor is responsible for the church, responsible to hear from God, and responsible to feed and love His people faithfully. Elders are appointed in the larger churches to help the pastor care for the spiritual needs of the congregation, and deacons help the pastor care for the material needs of the church.

In addition, our churches have church boards as required by most states which vary in size depending on the size of the church, and which usually are made up of mature Christian businessmen who can advise the pastor with respect to the business operations and decisions of the church such as property management and financial matters. At Calvary Chapel, church organization is de-emphasized, and only the organization that is needed to run the church is instituted. The pastor guides the church as he is led by the Holy Spirit, and we trust God to put pastors where he wants them to be.

CLARITY ON CERTAIN BELIEFS
At Calvary Chapel, we reject some popular doctrines of certain Christian groups because we believe them to be in error Scripturally. This does not mean that we will not fellowship with those holding these views, it simply means that such views are outside the boundaries of what constitutes a Calvary Chapel church.

At Calvary Chapel, we are strongly pre-millennialists and pre-tribulation rapturists.

We reject the belief, held by some Pentecostals and charismatics, that Christians can be demon possessed. The Scripture says “greater is He that is in you than he who is in the world” which makes no sense if a believer can be simultaneously indwelt by both the Holy Spirit and evil spirits. Christians can be attacked by demons, but they cannot be possessed or controlled by them.

We reject “five-point Calvinism.” For a deeper understanding of what Calvinism is, see Calvinism, Arminianism & The Word of God by Pastor Chuck Smith, but for our purposes here, suffice it to say that Calvary Chapel rejects two of the five points of five-point Calvinism. First, Calvinism teaches that Jesus’ atonement on the Cross was limited, that is, that He died only for a chosen group, His “elect,” not for the sins of the entire world. At Calvary Chapel, we believe that Jesus died on the Cross for all the sins of all people, and that anyone can accept Him as Lord and Savior and be born again. Strict five-point Calvinists believe that only the elect can be saved and that God has elected others to spend eternity in hell.

Secondly, we reject the Calvinistic teaching called “irresistible grace,” which is the belief that man cannot, even if he wants to, resist the wooing and calling of God to salvation. Instead, at Calvary Chapel we believe that man has free will and he can resist the call of God if he chooses to do so. Therefore, those who hold to five-point Calvinism are outside of the borders of what defines Calvary Chapel.

We reject the teaching of “positive confession.” At Calvary Chapel, we believe that many believers, both in the Bible and in daily life, are often afflicted not because their confession is wrong, but simply because we live in a foreign world.

Some churches have incorporated human, secular psychology and philosophy into their teaching programs, creating sermons that are based more on secular humanistic theory than on the Word of God. While we respect our fellow believers who work in mental health related fields, we at Calvary Chapel believe that the central mission of the church is to proclaim God’s Word to a lost and hurting world. We believe people respond best when God’s Word is proclaimed in the power and love of the Holy Spirit. It is God’s Word that changes lives for the better.

This is not to imply that we object to the work of the many dedicated Christian mental health professionals; conversely, we thank God for them. Our point is simply that in our ministry, we emphasize the teaching of God’s Word.

CONCLUSION
By clarifying some of what we believe at Calvary Chapel, our purpose has been simply to help others less familiar with the movement gain insight into who we are. It has not been our intention to say that we are right and everyone else is wrong, nor has it been our intention to argue our position with any Christian believer. We are content to agree to disagree, and we desire to have nothing but love and fellowship with anyone who calls on the name of the Lord in truth and sincerity.