Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

This morning the Supreme Court of our State ruled that marriage is no longer limited to one man and one woman.  I would like to address that in our by-laws.  Can you provide me a copy of a suggested or possible amendment?

The By-Laws of your church will out of necessity have elements that will be particular to it so we don’t have any “boilerplate” samples to follow.  However, as it relates to your particular concern, please consider the following, especially # 8,9, and 10:

Section 2.

               In order to identify the Church as conservative in theology, and evangelical in spirit, we set forth this general statement of fundamental beliefs.

 1.      We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God and inerrant in the original writings.

2.      We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

3.      We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father and in His personal return in power and glory.

4.      We believe that the lost and sinful man must be saved, and that man’s only hope of redemption is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

5.      We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a Godly life.

6.      We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the unsaved; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are unsaved unto the resurrection of damnation.

7.      We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

8.      We believe that legitimate sexual relations are exercised solely within marriage.  Hence, sexual activities, such as, but not limited to, adultery, fornication, incest, homosexuality, and bestiality are inconsistent with the teachings of the Bible and the Church.  Further, lascivious behavior, the creation and/or distribution and/or viewing of pornography, and efforts to alter one’s gender are incompatible with the biblical witness.

9.      This Church recognizes marriage as exclusively the legal union of one man and one woman.

10.   Every pastor, pastoral assistant, board member, employee, member or volunteer shall be in good standing and affirm his or her unequivocal agreement with the Character, Beliefs, and Ordinances as described in Article III of this document.  A pastor, pastoral assistant, board member, employee, member, or volunteer whose confession of faith, or behavior, is in conflict with the Character, Beliefs, and Ordinances will be subject to removal from his or her position in the church.

What is the position of Calvary Chapel regarding various social issues?

Questions similar to this starting with “what is the position of Calvary Chapel…..” are all responded to in similar 

fashion.  That is to simply state that Calvary Chapel is not a denomination and therefore there is no way 

anyone can speak for over a thousand independent churches on any non-doctrinal issue.  The only thing that 

these churches have in common is their adherence to the “Calvary Distinctives” that were prepared by Pastor 

Chuck Smith.  All the men who become a part of the fellowship of like-minded men simply agree to agree with 

the distinctives.

Can I become a Calvary Chapel if I don’t necessarily agree with the Calvary Distinctives and have 

Biblical proof for my position?

No, because we want the use of the name Calvary Chapel (copyrighted) to imply the doctrinal positions 

expressed in the “Distinctives”.  This is not to say other positions are wrong, they are simply other positions than

those held by Calvary Chapel.  It is no different in the secular world and referred to as “branding”.  When a 

name comes into widespread recognition that describes what one can expect, it needs to be maintained as 

such.

I am not near a Calvary Chapel but would like to start one.  How do I get started?

If you were in fellowship at a Calvary Chapel, it would be best if you contact and speak with the senior pastor 

there about the process of church planting within the Calvary Chapel movement.  There just may be a new work

getting started in your area that is still in the home Bible study stages and as such, is not listed on our website.

I was wondering what your process is there in Costa Mesa to prepare men for ordination and 

ministry.

Since Calvary Chapel is not a denomination, but rather a "movement" of Spirit-led and like-minded men, each 

church is independent and does their own ordination.  Typically this will take place as the result of a man being 

in an assistant pastor role who is called upon to perform marriages (here in California that happens to be the 

only "legal" reason a man needs official ordination).  The church board and senior pastor will lay hands on the 

man and pray for him, then the action is noted in the board minutes for any future legal reference. Sometimes

this will take place as a man is called to go out and start a new church, in which case he receives ordination 

and a "sending out" from the church he attends.

It should be noted that within the Calvary Chapel movement, ordination does not entitle a man to use the 

name "Calvary Chapel".  This is allowed only after a man has gone through a "fellowshipping" process that is 

facilitated through a leadership volunteer.

As to the calling on the men in your church....if they don't feel the Lord is calling them to a specific location, 

then perhaps you can pray with them and suggest that perhaps they have a calling to "get prepared".  If they 

do feel a need for practical skills in ministry, at Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa and at other Calvary Chapel 

churches there are Schools of Ministry.   

If a man is ordained within an existing Calvary Chapel and then goes out and starts a new church, 

can he call it a Calvary Chapel?

Not until he goes through a process we refer to as becoming “fellowshipped” within the movement.  What this 

means is that he will work with a leadership volunteer to establish his work wherever it may be and work 

through a process where he states his own doctrinal positions, describes his church (we don’t fellowship home 

Bible studies), and establishes fellowship with other pastors within the area.  This also plays an important role in 

establishing accountability within the movement without imposing on the independence of each man within it.

Does Calvary Chapel maintain a “blog” site?

No, at least there is none that represents any collective group of Calvary Chapel churches.  There may be some 

that are put up by individual churches but that remains discretionary on the part of each senior pastor within 

the movement.  You see, one of the distinctives we all try to maintain is to “simply teach the Bible simply” and 

to spend time away from God’s word on man’s word seems to be a bit contradictory and can become a 

distraction.

When an existing Calvary Chapel senior pastor leaves his church (for whatever reason) and 

appoints another man to fill the pulpit, is that OK?

Sure, just as long as the new man also goes through the fellowshipping process.  If he fails to establish himself 

with the leadership volunteer and fails to complete the fellowshipping process, we will ask that he no longer 

refer to his church as a Calvary Chapel and we will remove the church from the directory of Calvary Chapel 

churches.

How do I know if the church I attend is a part of the Calvary Chapel movement?

Simply log on to www.calvarychapel.com and use the church locator search to find your church.  If it is there, 

your senior pastor has established himself with the fellowship.  We recognize the “man behind the pulpit” not 

the church facility.

How can we get a Calvary Chapel started in our town?

Requests for new Calvary Chapels (we call them church “plants”) are forwarded to the leadership volunteer in 

whose area the request originated.  He is given a month to see if anyone within the area feels the calling to 

go out.  If so, the new man goes out to establish the new church.

If however there is no man within that area, and after a month passes, we then inform all the other leadership

volunteers to see if any of them have a man who is ready to be sent.  The point here is that we need a man who 

is already “on board” with the distinctives of Calvary Chapel and is equipped for the calling.  

What exactly is CCOF all about?

Sometimes simple explanations evoke tedious and philosophical responses and that seems to be the continuing saga of whom and what Calvary Chapel Outreach Fellowships (CCOF) is, is not, should be, or should not be.  Following is yet another explanation, albeit the one held to be the most accurate.

For starters, “Calvary Chapel” is simply the synonym that has been given to the ministry of Pastor Chuck Smith.  Over 40 years ago he became the pastor of a very small fellowship that had already been incorporated as “Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa” in Southern California, and what followed was a movement of the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Chuck had been through his “wilderness experience”, having been a denominational minister, having been through the hardships providing for his family through secular employment, and having been through the rigors of topical sermon preparations week after week.  It was all these, and many more, that brought him to a place where he felt the Lord calling him to simply teach His word and reach out to a lost and dying world.

That initially brought him to the “hippies” of the early and mid-sixty’s, the “seekers” of their time.  What Pastor Chuck brought them was simply the Bible; and it changed lives forever.  The little church grew, and grew, and grew.  People tried to figure it out, and they still are unless they come to the simple understanding that all the ministry of Pastor Chuck ever did was to simply teach the Bible; nothing more and nothing less.  The Lord even tells us that His word “does not return void”; but some apparently prefer to find some social or economic reasoning behind church growth.  All kinds of devices have been developed to emulate church growth, even to the point of simply wanting to name one’s church “Calvary Chapel”.  This is where CCOF comes in.

If someone wants to become a part of the fellowship of like-minded men within the Calvary Chapel movement, we simply ask that their personal beliefs are the same as those articulated within it, and the only way for us (and them) to know is to ask doctrinal questions.  And not having the same doctrinal positions is not “wrong”; it is simply “different”, and this needs to be understood and communicated.  An oft given analogy is that when you go to McDonalds for a burger, you don’t get a tuna sandwich!  Likewise, when attending a Calvary Chapel you should not end up with reformed theology, mid or post tribulation viewpoints, topical and secular messages, or any of the like.  Those are not necessarily wrong; they simply are not Calvary Chapel.

It is to this end that CCOF exists: To request and validate a man’s doctrine and to ensure that there is consistency of teaching style and content.  And if there is not, it is not to be considered “bad”, or “wrong”; it is simply “different” and needs to be acknowledged as such, period.  The future of the Calvary Chapel movement depends upon it, otherwise the original content becomes the “new and improved” and goes the way of the fracturing denominations.

Another dynamic to the request that a man go through the fellowshipping “process” is to see if he is truly a servant; willing to bend to authority.  No man should be “above” the request to profess his doctrinal beliefs if he wants to a part of the fellowship.  There has never been, nor will there ever be, any sort of numerical growth goals within the movement.  The only stated goal is to reach a lost and dying world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

What materials are suggested to be read, listened to, or viewed to become familiar with

the doctrines and teaching styles of Calvary Chapel?

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