CORE BELIEFS
The following are the core beliefs of Calvary Chapel ARISE based on the foundational truths taught in the Bible.
All of our teaching and ministry is rooted in and flows out of these biblical doctrines.
One God
We believe there is only one real God who made the universe and all that is in it. He is one, pure, spiritual being that exists in a tri-unity of: The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit. It is a mysterious concept, but we can somewhat visualize it like a triangle: a triangle has 3 distinct points, yet it is one geometric figure. Each point is inseparable from the whole object but there is no confusion between the points either. God is not three gods, only one God in three persons.
Humans Are Disconnected
From God
The evil things we do and say and think – our sins – are like cancer in our souls. If you had cancer, no matter how many vitamins you might take, it just won’t cure it. It’s the same with sin – just living a good life (like taking vitamins) won’t cure the sin problem. To God, sin is spiritual cancer and just a little bit of sin will keep us separated from truly knowing the real God. People can only be saved from this terrible separation by admitting they have a sin problem, then turning away from a self-directed lifestyle (the Biblical word for this is repentance) and placing all hope and trust in the payment for sin that Jesus made when he died on the cross. This process is called being “born again”.
Jesus Is God
We believe that God loves people, so God took on a human nature, by a miraculous virgin birth – what better way to really communicate with us than to come down to our level? Jesus is the God-man. You can picture it like adding a balloon to one point of a triangle – the triangle never changes, it just adds the balloon. In the same way, God never changes but Jesus took on a human nature (he was born and grew up – just like a balloon can start out small and inflate) – so Jesus is both fully God and fully man at the same time. This means that Jesus was able to live a perfect life because He was God in the flesh. He was also able to give His human life as a payment for our bad choices, our sins, because He was also a perfect man. Since the Bible says, “the wages of sin is death,” but Jesus never sinned, when He gave up His life on the cross it caused a spiritual explosion – in fact, it literally caused death to work backwards and Jesus rose from the dead. His death on the cross and His resurrection paves the way so that anyone who puts their trust in Him can have a real relationship directly with the real God.
Our Life Should Reflect Jesus
Once we become Christians, God’s Spirit begins to change us from the inside out. The Holy Spirit also gives us the power to live lives that reflect God’s goodness. It isn’t our good life that puts us right with God, but our changed lives show that we really have put our trust in Jesus. Just as a bad tree cannot grow good fruit, so we can see by a person’s actions if they have indeed asked God, from their heart, to make Jesus their substitute and the Captain of their life.
Accepting Jesus As Lord Washes Our Sins Away
We believe Christians are those who decide to accept the peace offering made by Jesus. A person accepts this peace offering by a choice (faith) and if your choice is real, from the heart, there will be a change in your everyday actions. In effect, becoming a Christian is making Jesus the Captain of your life. Think of it like joining the Military. In the Military, you have to turn away from a civilian life, swear to follow the orders of your Captain and train to live out the Military lifestyle. In the same way, Christians are people who turn away from living just any way they want (repentance), swear to follow Jesus as their Captain (pray and accept Him as master of all life choices) and begin to train in how to live the Christian life (learning from other Christians and from the Bible, serving others – this is what church should be all about).
The Bible Alone
The 66 books of the Bible are God’s only and complete revelation to people about spiritual truth. The Bible, and the Bible alone, is the final rule and authority over how Christians should live. There are many English translations of the Bible and we believe those translations which most accurately reflect the oldest copies of the originals should be our guides. We often check our scripture references against word for word translations of the oldest Greek and Hebrew Bible versions available. We primarily use the New American Standard Bible and the New King James Version but refer to others on occasion.
The Church Is Every Believer
The Church is not a building or an organization. Instead, the church is made of all people who are born again. Since people make mistakes and the church is full of people, it is necessary that all church teachings and practices be confirmed by the Bible.
Be Baptized
Jesus instructed us to be baptized as a public demonstration of our faith in Him as our Master in life and our savior from sin. We baptize people by dipping them completely in water, in the name of the triune God, after a person declares faith in Jesus.
Taking Communion
The Lord Jesus instructed us to remember his death and resurrection by observing the “Lord’s Supper” on a regular basis. The ceremonies of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper do not save us, it is our trust in God’s mercy alone (our faith alone) that saves us, but these works are public declarations of our faith and important reminders to us of what we believe.
Jesus is coming back
Jesus is coming back – no one knows when, but His return will be seen by the whole planet and mean the end of history. There’s a lot of debate about end-times prophecy but we believe that two things are absolutely 100% certain – either Jesus will come back during your lifetime or you will die before His return – either way, everybody is going to face Him; what truly matters is HOW WE LIVE.
OUR CORE VALUES
Everything we do at Calvary Chapel Arise revolves around our vision statement:
We exist to make disciples (followers) of Jesus.
The Bible follows an outline that can be summarized by 7 key elements.
We echo these elements as our core values.
They are listed in a sequential pattern that is typical of renewal and that starts with God.
1
Regeneration of the
Holy Spirit
The Bible says that God is the author of life, and that the act of following him is fueled by His Holy Spirit. Everything we do that pleases God is a result of being one with him and pursuing the things he loves while avoiding the things that he hates. This continual renewing also known as regeneration is a result of a person giving their life to God and choosing what he desires rather than their own will. God‘s Holy Spirit gives us a new heart and new desires which make us see the world through a completely different lens.
2
Following
God's Word
The Bible is a living and active book that not only records previous historical events but is timeless as it is sustained by the spirit of God which is able to transform our lives today and communicate the teachings and will of Jesus Christ. Church traditions may change over time but the word of God stays the same. We emphasize the importance of scripture being the foundation for what we teach and believe.
3
Making Jesus
Our Lord
The Bible says this is how we know we are in him and he is in us that we live as he did. To make Jesus our Lord is to put his desires above our own and to submit to the teachings he has instructed us to live out. Some of Jesus‘s teachings communicated specific details of what to do and not to do while other teachings illustrated a principle in which we are to apply to our lives today as we follow him.
4
Loving Like Jesus
Jesus summarized what pleases God in three simple statements. He said to love the Lord your God, Love your neighbor as yourself and to even go as far as loving your enemies. Throughout time we all develop a definition of what we think love is but we believe it is important to take a biblical approach to the definition of love found in first (Corinthians chapter 13) and apply it in discernment towards God, our neighbor and our enemies.
5
Making Disciples
Before Jesus left the earth he instructed his followers to go throughout the world and make followers of him and baptize them. In short this means to share his teachings and testimony and encourage others to perform the physical act of baptism symbolizing their faith and decision to follow Jesus. Jesus said that he calls people out of this world, in which he implies he no longer wants them to live for their own selfish ambitions but to live for the will and word of God.
6
Living With Wisdom
The Bible speaks a lot about pursuing a life that seeks wisdom. Knowledge is memorizing and collecting information while wisdom is the ability to discern how and when to use it. Wisdom includes the ability to make good decisions. God has given us free will of choice as we are made in his image and the ability to make good choices is something every believer in Jesus should continually grow in and constantly pursue.
7
Living With Holiness
The Bible calls gods people to live holy as he is holy.This is a fundamental step in pursuing a life that pleases God. To be holy means to be set apart specifically for a purpose of living for God. To pursue holiness is to do the things Jesus said to do and not do the things Jesus said not to do. Having faith in Jesus, respecting his teachings and pursuing his heart is what ultimately fulfills living for him.
Learn more about our Theology below.
