Skip to Content

What We Believe

Summary

We believe that Scripture is the authoritative, inerrant Word of God, which teaches us that there is one, holy, sovereign and all-knowing God who eternally exists in three coequal persons — Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This triune God, from love and for his glory, created all things out of nothing and pronounced them good. Human sinful disobedience separated man from God and affected all of his creation. As a result, we are naturally enslaved to sin and separated from a relationship with God.

While retaining His deity, God became incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ took the sins of the world on himself and redeemed mankind through his life, death and resurrection. All who place their faith in Jesus Christ and his redemptive work experience an intimate relationship with God, both in this present world and in the world to come.

Our Official Statement of Belief

Revelation

We believe that in addition to his general revelation in nature, God has revealed himself in all the words of the Old and New Testaments. These well-preserved and infallible books contain no errors in the original writings and are our final authority in faith and life. These sacred texts lead us to Jesus Christ, the fullness of God’s revelation, and enable us to rightly interpret God’s active engagement in humanity, nature, and history (Romans 1:20; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21; Matthew 5:18; 2 Peter 3:16; 1 Corinthians 2:10-13; 1 Corinthians 10:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:14-15; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; Romans 15:4).

God

We believe in one holy, sovereign, and all-knowing God who eternally exists in three coequal persons— Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father directs and sustains all things through his Son and by his Spirit.

The Son is the mediator through whom God creates, governs, and redeems the world. The Spirit accomplishes the works of God, bringing honor to the Son who glorifies the Father, so that God is perfectly satisfied within himself (Psalm 73:25-26; 1 John 4:7-8; 1 Chronicles 29:11; Psalm 99:9; Psalm 139:1-18; 1 Timothy 2:5; John 14:16-17; 2 Peter 3:9; James 1:17; Psalm 18:30).

Humanity

We believe that God created Adam and Eve in his image so that he might love them and they might love him and glorify him. However, our first parents lost their original righteousness when they fell for Satan’s temptation and rebelled against God’s revealed will. Now every human is born with Adam’s sinful nature so that we are depraved, alienated from God, spiritually dead and physically dying. Our sin has corrupted God’s good creation, bringing discord and disaster to society and nature. The world would immediately perish if not for God’s common grace, which restrains sin and preserves creation so that God’s special grace can save it (Genesis 1:26-31, 3:6, 3:17-19; Psalm 8:4-5, 51:5; Matthew 5:16; John 3:16-21; Romans 3:10, 5:12; Acts 17:27-28).

Jesus Christ

We believe that the Son of God became human to save the world. Our Lord Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man, one person in two natures, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus is the promised Messiah of Israel who obeyed God perfectly; atoned for our sins by shedding his blood in our place and on our behalf; arose bodily and triumphantly over Satan, sin, and death; and ascended to heaven where he reigns over all things at the Father’s right hand, intercedes for his people, and sends his Spirit to gift, fill, and lead his church (Matthew 1:18; Luke 24:50-51; John 1:1; John 1:14; John 3:17; John 10:30-33; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Colossians 2:9; 1 John 2:2; 1 Peter 2:24).

Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a fully divine person who is sent by the Father and the Son. He convicts the world of guilt in regard to sin, righteousness, and judgment; and persuades us through the proclamation of the gospel to confess Jesus as Lord (Matthew 10:20; John 14:16-17; John 15:26; John 16:7-8; Acts 5:3; Romans 8:14; Romans 8:16; 1 Corinthians 12:3; Galatians 4:6; Titus 3:5).

Salvation

We believe all who repent of their sin and trust solely in Christ’s finished work of atonement, salvation, and redemption are united with Christ, justified by his death and resurrection, reborn and adopted into the family of God, forgiven of all their sin, indwelt and illuminated by the Spirit, empowered for Christian service, kept and assured of their salvation, and added to the church (John 3:16; Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 3:21-31; Ezekiel 11:19; John 6:44-45; John 10:27-29; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:37-38; Romans 8:9-11; Romans 8:15-17; Galatians 2:20; Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 1:5; Ephesians 1:18-20; 2 Timothy 1:8-9).

The Church

We believe that the one, holy, and universal church is the body and bride of Christ. The Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost to establish the church. The true church consists of all New Testament believers in heaven and on earth who have been justified by grace through faith in Christ and is manifest in local churches that assemble in the name of the Lord. The local church gathers to worship God and experience his presence through the preaching of the word, prayer, fellowship, testimonies of grace, the public reading of Scripture, the exercise of spiritual gifts, and the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper (Calvary Church practices believer’s baptism). The church proclaims the gospel of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection to a sinful world and is an agent of God’s blessings to the world, which must hear the good news in order to be saved. The church makes disciples of Jesus who embody the kingdom values of loving neighbor, serving those in need, and caring for creation and so anticipate the final redemption of all things after Christ’s return (Matthew 16:16-18, 28:19-20; Matthew 18:20; Acts 2:42-47; Romans 12:4-8; Ephesians 2:14-22, 4:10-13, 5:29; Colossians 1:18).

Angels and Demons

We believe that angels are spiritual beings created by God to serve and worship him. The righteous angels are God’s messengers who promote his rule and protect his children by battling Satan and the fallen angels who joined his rebellion. Satan and his demons are the sworn enemies of God. They gained a foothold in this world when Eve, then Adam fell as a result of Satan’s temptation, but they have been defeated by Christ and will be forever punished in the lake of fire (Isaiah 6:1-7, 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:11-19; Romans 16:20; Hebrews 1:14; 2 Peter 2:11; Revelation 4-5, 20:10).

The Return of Christ

We believe in the personal, bodily and premillennial return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus will gloriously rapture his church at any moment. He will return to bring his kingdom to completion by delivering this world from Satan’s power and handing it to the Father.

He will raise the dead physically for final judgment; send the lost to everlasting, conscious punishment; and live forever with his redeemed people in the joys of the renewed creation (Daniel 7:15-28, 9:24-27; Matthew 24:4-29; Mark 13:32, 9:48; 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, 15:42-49; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; Titus 2:13; Revelation 20:7-10, 21:3-4).