---

Exalting Christ Through the Ministry of the Word

Calvary is a fellowship of believers under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Our pursuit is to exalt and serve Him forever through the equipping and edifying of the saints and the evangelization of the lost. Equipped as individual members of His body we seek to serve one another, provoking one another to love and good works, and to reach others with the good news of Christ. God’s Word is our final authority and the means through which the Lord equips and edifies the church. Our desire is to Exalt Christ through the ministry of the Word.

---

The Holy Scriptures

We believe in the verbal and plenary inspiration of the Scriptures, consisting of 66 books that constitute the Old and New Testaments, the Word of God, the inerrant, complete, and unalterable special revelation of God, and our final authority. We believe in the normal, literal, and consistent interpretation of the Scriptures; and the progressive nature of God’s revelation through both Testaments (Matthew 5:18; John 16:12, 13; 2 Timothy 3:16, 17; 2 Peter 1:20-21). 

This progressive revelation is marked in Scripture by divinely established covenants by which man was to live and through which unfolds God’s redemptive purposes that point to and ultimately culminate in the person and work of Jesus Christ (John 1:17; 1 Corinthians 9:17; 2 Corinthians 3:9-18; Galatians 3:13-25; Ephesians 1:10; 3:2-10; Colossians 1:24-25; Hebrews 7:19; Revelations 20:2-6).

The Godhead

We believe in one Triune God, eternally existing in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections (Deuteronomy 6:4; 2 Corinthians 13:14).

The Person and Work of the Father

As the First Person of the Trinity, we believe the Father orders all things for his glory, according to His purpose and grace. By His Son and through the agency of the Holy Spirit, He created all things so that all things, visible and invisible exist by His will. All things that are seen were not made out of things that are visible. He is the sovereign ruler of all creation (Romans 11:33; Revelation 4:11; Psalm 103:19; Hebrews 11:3; John 1:3; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 1:16-17).

We believe that, in love, the Father sent His Son to provide redemption. He draws men to His Son, through whom He saves, forgives, and adopts as His sons, becoming their Father. Being well-pleased with His Son Jesus Christ, the Father loves those who are in Christ and, if necessary, disciplines them for their good (John 6:37, 44; Ephesians 1:3-6; 1 Peter 1:17; Romans 8:14; Hebrews 12:5-7).

We believe the Father has placed all things under the authority of His Son, and seated Him at his right hand. Through the peace purchased by the cross, the Father reconciles all things to Himself (Philippians 2:9-11, Colossians 1:20, Ephesians 1:20; 1 Peter 3:22).

The Person and Work of Christ

We believe the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, and lived a sinless life. He came that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man (Luke 1:35; John 1:1, 2, 14). 

We believe the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice in providing atonement for the sins of the whole world and our justification is verified by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead (Romans 3:23, 25; Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 2:9; 1 Peter 1:3-5; 2:24; 1 John 2:2). 

We believe the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where, as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate (Acts 1:9-19; Romans 8:34; Hebrews 9:24; 7:25; 1 John 2:1-2). 

The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit

We believe the Holy Spirit is the person of the Godhead who in this present age convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment; who regenerates and baptizes into the body of Christ those who believe; and who indwells and seals them unto the day of redemption (John 16:8-11; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 12:12-14; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Ephesians 1:13-14). 

We believe the Holy Spirit is the Divine Teacher who guides believers into all truth and it is the privilege of believers to be filled with, and their duty to walk in, the Holy Spirit (John 16:13; Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 5:18; 1 John 2:20, 27).  

The Total Depravity of Man

We believe man was created in the image and likeness of God; in Adam’s sin the race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God; and man is totally depraved and unable to remedy his lost condition (Genesis 1:26-27; Romans 3:22-23; 5:12; Ephesians 2:1-3, 12).

Salvation and Security

We believe the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice for all people and all who trust Him are saved by grace through faith on the ground of His shed blood, accepted in the beloved, kept by God’s power, and thus secure in Christ forever (John 1:12; 6:37-40; 10:27-30; Romans 8:1, 38-39; 1 Corinthians 1:4-8; Ephesians 1:7; 2:8-10; 1 Peter 1:5, 18-19). 

We believe that through the ages salvation has always been by grace through faith and that this salvation has always been based upon the penal substitutionary death of our Lord Jesus Christ for our atonement (Romans 3:23-26; Ephesians 2:8-10; Hebrews 11:6; 1 Peter 1:10-12).

The Church

We believe the Church, which began with the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, is the body and bride of Christ. It is the spiritual organism made up of all born-again persons of the present age (Acts 2:1-13; Ephesians 1:22-23; 5:25-27; 1 Corinthians 12:13-14; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Hebrews 9:16-17). 

We believe the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures (Acts 14:27; 20:17, 28-32; 1 Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-11). 

The Ordinances

We believe the Lord Jesus Christ established two ordinances for the Church in this present age. These are believer’s water baptism, practiced by immersion, and the Lord’s supper, observed as a memorial of His death (1 Corinthians 11:23-34; Acts 8:12, 35-39; 10:47-48; 1 Corinthians 1:14).

Missions

We believe that Christ commissioned the Church to make disciples from among all nations, to baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and to teach them to observe all things whatsoever He has commanded (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; 2 Corinthians 5:19-20). There are certain believers from within the church who are set apart by the Holy Spirit for ministry in other regions within his own country or extending beyond its borders. These are sent out, and with these the local church partners in prayer, financial support, and encouragement in the furthering ministry of the gospel (Acts 13:1-3; 14:24-28).

The Ministry of Spiritual Gifts

We believe the Lord Jesus Christ gives the Church evangelists and pastor/teachers. These gifted men are to equip the saints for the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:7-14). 

We believe the Holy Spirit bestows spiritual gifts upon believers for Christian service and the edification of the Church (Romans 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; 1 Peter 4:10-11). 

We believe the church age was initiated through the ministry of the apostles and prophets accompanied by sign gifts to confirm their message. We do not practice these gifts. In the church, the ultimate authority rests in God’s written word rather than new prophecies or revelation, and the primary manifestation of the Spirit is the fruit of the Spirit in believers rather than miraculous signs (1 Corinthians 12:29-31; 14:1-28; 2 Corinthians 12:12; Galatians 5:22-23; Ephesians 2:19-22; 2 Thessalonians 2:15; Hebrews 2:3-4). 

We believe God hears and answers prayer in accord with His own will for healing of the sick and afflicted (John 14:13-14; 15:7; 1 John 5:14-15). 

The Personality of Satan

We believe Satan is a created being, the author of sin, the tempter in the fall, the declared enemy of God and man, and the god of this age. He shall be eternally punished in the lake of fire (Job 1:6-7; Isaiah 14:12-17; Matthew 4:2-11; 25:41; Revelation 20:10).

The Second Advent of Christ

We believe in the personal, imminent, pretribulational, and premillennial coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His redeemed ones. We believe that at the end of the seven-year tribulation, He will return to earth with the saints in power and glory to reign for a thousand years (Zechariah 14:4-11; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 4:13-18; 5:9; Titus 2:13; Revelation 3:10; 19:11-16; 20:1-6). 

Calvary Baptist Church fundamentally holds to a premillennial eschatological position. However, we do not believe that one’s personal eschatological views concerning things like the timing of the rapture or the nature of the millennium should be cause for division in the body of Christ. Members of Calvary Baptist Church hold to different positions in these areas. Yet, because of a common love for Christ and the gospel, we love one another and serve together in the church’s high calling to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ as we wait for His glorious return.

The Eternal State

We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men, the saved to eternal life and the unsaved to judgment, and everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:46; John 5:28-29; 11:25-26; Revelations 20:5-6, 12-13). 

We believe the souls of the unredeemed are, at death, absent from the body and in conscious misery until the second resurrection, when with soul and body reunited they shall appear at the Great White Throne judgment and shall be cast into the lake of fire, not to be annihilated, but to suffer everlasting conscious punishment (Matthew 25:41-46; Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:19-26; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Jude 6-7; Revelation 20:11-15). 

Creation

We believe the triune God, by a free act and for His own glory, without the use of existing materials or secondary causes, brought into being – immediately and instantaneously in six literal days by the word of His mouth – the whole visible and invisible universe (Genesis 1:1-27; Exodus 20:8-11; Nehemiah 9:6; Psalm 104:25-26; Isaiah 40:21-31; John 1:1-5; Colossians 1:16-17).

Members Covenant

When joining Calvary, the members agree to the Membership Covenant with one another and before God. This Covenant will be regularly reaffirmed aloud by the entire church membership, as a reminder of mutually held commitments.