Beliefs | Calvary Baptist Church

Calvary Baptist Church is a local fellowship of believers joined together to encourage faithfulness to the teachings of Jesus Christ by proclaiming the Word of God and worshiping together.

OUR BELIEFS

Calvary Baptist Church is committed to the fundamental doctrines of the faith which are summarized below. A complete statement can be obtained from the church office.

We believe:

1. The Bible is the inspired Word of God – absolute complete, and without error.

2. There is one triune and living God, active in three persons-Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.

3. Jesus Christ is God and equal with God the Father. Jesus was virgin born, risen from the dead and living today.

4. Man is alienated from God and is totally incapable of saving himself.

5. Salvation is only by grace through faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross.

6. The Holy Spirit indwells every believer.

7. The church is the company of all believers, and each believer must become part of a local church and strive to fulfill the Great Commission.

8. Baptism is by immersion, is for believers, and is a symbol of death, burial, and resurrection.

9. The Lord’s supper is a memorial of Christ’s once and for all offering for our sins on the cross.

10. Every child of God must live a life of obedience to God and separation from evil.

11. There is only one way of salvation, but there is a continuing distinction between Israel and the nations in the One true universal Church, and a unique place for Israel in God plan.

12. Jesus will return personally to earth prior to a one thousand year earthy reign of the Lord Jesus Christ in a restored national Israel (the millennium).

13. There will be a bodily resurrection of both the just and the unjust resulting in the everlasting conscious punishment of the lost.

While we believe these are Biblical truths and that they are important, we do not believe these skeletal beliefs are sufficient to guide a person or church in full discipleship. We teach from the conviction that both exposition of specific Biblical texts and a sound doctrinal framework that includes all the teaching of the Bible are both important. We teach and encourage the study and learning of the great historic confessions and catechisms of the Christian faith as important for filling out a definition and practice of Christian faith. These confessions include:

The New Hampshire Baptist Confession

The 1689 London Baptist Confession

The Westminster Confession of Faith and Westminster Shorter Catechism (a great statement, but we disagree in some areas concerning church polity and eschatology)

The Heidelberg Catechism