Statement of Faith

Who We Are:

Calvary Chapel Tri Cities is a fellowship of believers who gather for the purpose of knowing and glorifying Jesus Christ.  Our great desire is to closely follow His direction and purpose for this fellowship.  As Calvary Chapel Tri Cities is expanding, so is our vision. We are a fellowship that is in constant process and development by God.

Why We Exist:

Upreach: Believing that loving God is man’s highest calling, our relationship to Him is our highest priority.  All ministry flows out of this relationship, whether inreach (to God’s people) or outreach (to the lost world).

Inreach:  Being members of a spiritual family, we seek to equip one another for service and to grow to spiritual maturity.  Through large group meetings and small group interaction, we are trained, based on the scriptures, which is God’s handbook of life and means to that maturity.

Outreach:  Our desire is to go out beyond the “Christian camp” into the world to expand the kingdom of God through evangelism.  Jesus told us to “go into all the world” and we believe God has given every Christian a “sphere of influence” in which to make an impact for Christ.

What We Believe:

We believe that there is one living and true God, eternally existing in three persons:  The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, equal in power and glory; this triune God created all, upholds all, and governs all.

We believe that the scriptures of the old and new testaments are the word of God, fully inspired, without error in the original manuscripts, and the infallible rule of faith and practice.

We believe in God the Father, an infinite, personal Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power and love.  He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men.  He hears and answers prayer; and He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through faith in Jesus Christ.

We believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit. We believe in His virgin birth, sinless life, miracles and teaching, His substitutionary atoning death, bodily resurrection, ascension in heaven, perpetual intercession for His people, and personal, visible return to earth.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, who came forth from the Father and Son to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment; and to regenerate, sanctify and empower all who believe in Jesus Christ for ministry.  We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit and in the exercise of all the Biblical gifts of the Holy Spirit.

We believe that all people are sinners by nature and choice and, therefore, are under condemnation; that God regenerates by the Holy Spirit, those who repent of their sins and confess Jesus Christ as Lord.  We believe that Jesus Christ baptizes the seeking believer with the Holy Spirit and empowers the believers for service, often subsequent to regeneration.

We believe in the universal church, the living spiritual body, of which Christ is the head, and all regenerated persons are members.

We believe that Jesus committed two ordinances to the church:

• Baptism
• The Lord’s Supper

We believe in baptism by immersion and communion open to all believers.

We believe also in the laying on of hands for baptism of the Holy Spirit, for ordination of pastors, elders, and deacons, and receiving from the Holy Spirit through the believer the gift of healing.

We believe in the personal, visible return of Christ to the earth and the establishing of His Kingdom, in the resurrection of the body, the final judgment and eternal blessing of the righteous, and endless suffering of the wicked.

We believe in what is termed the Apostles Creed as embodying the fundamental facts of Christian faith.

Statement on Marriage, Gender and Sexuality

We believe in the biblical account of creation and God as the Creator. We believe that God creates each man and woman and that He created them with the immutable and unchangeable nature of male and female to reflect the image and nature of God. Rejection of one’s biological and God given sex is sin and is a rejection of the image of God within that person.

God instituted monogamous marriage between male and female as the foundation of the family and the basic structure of human society. For this reason homosexuality, and all other “sexual preferences” or “orientations” are unnatural, sinful, and unacceptable to God. Accordingly, this ministry will not perform any marriage ceremonies between two individuals of the same sex. It will not condone or recognize such same-sex marriages, civil unions, or domestic partnerships even if laws are passed that provide for recognition of such unions. 

We believe that the term “marriage’ has only one meaning: the uniting of one biological man and one biological woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture (Genesis 2:18-25; Matthew 19:4-6). We believe that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other (1 Corinthians 6:18; 7:2-5; Hebrews 13:4).

We believe that any form of sexual immorality is sinful and offensive to God (Matthew 15:18-20; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10): and that legitimate biblical sexual relations are exercised solely within marriage. Therefore, sexual activities such as, but not limited to, adultery, fornication, pre-marital sex, incest, polygamy, homosexuality, transgenderism, bisexuality, cross-dressing, pedophilia and bestiality are inconsistent with the teachings of the Bible and the Church. Further, lascivious behavior, the creation, viewing and/or distribution of pornography and efforts to alter one’s physical gender or gender related appearance are incompatible with a true biblical witness. (Genesis 2:24; Exodus 20:14, 17, 22:19; Leviticus 18:22-23, 20:13, 15-16; Matthew 19:4-6; John 4:16-18; Romans 1:18-32; I Corinthians 5:11, 6:9-11, 6:18-20, 7:1-3 and 7:8-9; Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:3-7; 1 Timothy 1:9-11). We believe that God created the human race male and female and that all conduct with the intent to adopt a gender other than one’s birth gender is immoral and therefore sin (Gen. 1:27; Deut. 22:5).

We believe that in order to preserve the function and integrity of Calvary Chapel of Tri-Cities as the local Body of Christ, and to provide a biblical role model to our Calvary Chapel of Tri-Cities congregants and community, it is imperative that members of the Board of Directors, all persons employed by Calvary Chapel of Tri-Cities in any capacity, or those who serve as volunteers, agree to and abide by this Statement on Marriage, Gender and Sexuality. (Matt. 5:16; Phil 2:14-16; 1 Thess. 5:22) 

We believe that God offers redemption and restoration to all who confess and forsake their sin, seeking His mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. (Acts 3:19-21; Rom. 10:9-10; 1 Cor. 6:9-11) We believe that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect and dignity. (Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31) Hateful and harassing behavior or attitudes directed toward any individual are to be repudiated and are not in accord with Scripture nor the beliefs and doctrines of Calvary Chapel of Tri-Cities. However, our compassion for a person struggling with sin should not be mistaken for approval of such sin.