Our Beliefs

Calvary Baptist Church is an evangelical, conservative, Baptist church.

By evangelical, we mean that the gospel of Jesus Christ is central to our lives and teaching. Paul summarizes the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8. The center of the gospel message is that Jesus Christ died for our sins and was raised on the third day. These historical facts have immense theological implications. We believe that we are sinners who have merited condemnation from God. We believe that God, to satisfy his justice while showing mercy, punished his Son with the wrath that we deserved. We believe that the Father raised the Son back from the dead, declaring him to be Lord. And we believe that salvation from sin is thereby offered to all who come to Christ by faith, trusting him alone for forgiveness and confessing that he is rightful Lord of all.

By conservative, we mean that we have no desire to be doctrinally innovative. The Christian faith has “one for all been delivered to the saints.” Christians, then, are not to reinvent Christianity, but to conserve the faith from one generation to the next. For this reason, traditional orthodox Christian beliefs characterize our doctrine. We confess our belief in the Triune God of the creeds: God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth; Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who died and rose again for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who continues to work in the building of the church until our Lord returns in judgment to establish his kingdom. And we believe that those who depart from such teachings introduce serious error into the church.

By Baptist, we mean that our doctrine is shaped by the distinctive beliefs of Baptists. Foremost among these is the conviction that baptism is rightly administered only to those making public profession of faith in Jesus Christ.

The Statement of Faith of Calvary Baptist Church is a fuller expression of our beliefs.