My view of Calvary Chapel. Your thoughts.

[Unqualified]

I've been attending Calvary Chapel churches since I went up for an altar call led by Pastor Chuck Smith in 1977. Fortunately the Calvary Chapel church I attend now does NOT go along with Broderson's split.

Brodersons split? I hadn’t heard. Could you tell me a little about it? and Greg Laurie is SBC.

 

[crixus]

Brodersons split? I hadn’t heard. Could you tell me a little about it? and Greg Laurie is SBC.

Yes, there was a separation and most Calvary Chapel attendees don't even know it. It happened in 2016, here's the story. Calvary Chapel Splits in Two.

I'm not the one who mentioned Greg Laurie. I know he went out on his own, but I'm not aware of an SBC affiliation. I thought he was non-denominational.

 

[Unqualified]

Sorry I don’t have a link. That is what I heard and read about Greg Laurie.

That is terrible about Broderson and CC. Even CC…. Foreboding in me now.

 

[ISteveB]

I've really been drawn to things I've learned about Calvary Chapel. I grew up in an Assembly of God church and have no issues with most of the doctrine. Calvary Chapel seems to be a Church that falls in the middle between Southern Baptist and the Assembly of God teachings and theology. Calvary Chapel seems to have a strict adherence to the scripture. Curious if any Calvary Chapel members were ever AOG?

For what it's worth, Chuck Smith was a Foursquare ordained pastor.

Chuck Smith (pastor) - Wikipedia

As I understand it, AoG, Pentecostal and Foursquare are all under the same general set of ideas.

 

[justme6272]

Curious if any Calvary Chapel members were ever AOG?

They don't have 'members.' No one votes on ANYTHING. It's a one man vote. The pastor votes and his hand chosen board member friends go along with whatever he wants.

 

[Ninkies]

I was saved in the early 80s at Calvary Costa Mesa, and I still basically consider it my home church. I grew up in a home that was basically not religious. My parents claimed Catholicism, and we went to church maybe twice, but it was a ritual and not life transformative. I went to a Kathryn Kuhlman meeting in the very early 70s because of one of my older sisters, but it seemed weird to me and they came around and asked people if they wanted to receive Jesus. I laughed at them. I was maybe 10.

Anyway, I am super grateful for pastor Chucks verse-by-verse teaching through the Bible, and am also grateful that I learned the Bible being taught through the KJV.

This is just my personal opinion, but I believe that pastor Chuck wanted Jon Courson to be his successor in the ministry. Pastor Jon came down in the early 00’s and took over Tuesday night studies. I went to almost every one and it was like there was a revival taking place. There certainly was personal revival with me.

Anyway, around that time Peter Jon became sick so pastor Jon left. Years later of course most of us know that PJ went to be with the Lord so overall there was a lot going on at the time.

Not naming them Calvary Chapel has had a number of pastors that had issues, but Ive never known CC to not deal with the problems for the most part.

As much as I love Brian and Cheryl, I feel like pastor Jon would have been a better fit to take over. I dont know what the Lord has in mind for Costa Mesa, but it has become smaller and both Brian and Cheryl have become more personally accessible if that makes any sense. I think personal accountability between believers in an environment where there is authentic agape love for each other and trust is super important to every believer. Calvary is the only place where I found anything even remotely close to that.

 

[Ninkies]

They don't have 'members.' No one votes on ANYTHING. It's a one man vote. The pastor votes and his hand chosen board member friends go along with whatever he wants.

The church votes for board members. As a part of the congregation I personally have voted many times.

 

[The Liturgist]

They don't have 'members.' No one votes on ANYTHING. It's a one man vote. The pastor votes and his hand chosen board member friends go along with whatever he wants.

Chuck Smith wrote about this Moses Model of church polity in Calvary Chapel Distinctives, which is an interesting read.

 

[The Liturgist]

I was saved in the early 80s at Calvary Costa Mesa, and I still basically consider it my home church. I grew up in a home that was basically not religious. My parents claimed Catholicism, and we went to church maybe twice, but it was a ritual and not life transformative. I went to a Kathryn Kuhlman meeting in the very early 70s because of one of my older sisters, but it seemed weird to me and they came around and asked people if they wanted to receive Jesus. I laughed at them. I was maybe 10.

Anyway, I am super grateful for pastor Chucks verse-by-verse teaching through the Bible, and am also grateful that I learned the Bible being taught through the KJV.

This is just my personal opinion, but I believe that pastor Chuck wanted Jon Courson to be his successor in the ministry. Pastor Jon came down in the early 00’s and took over Tuesday night studies. I went to almost every one and it was like there was a revival taking place. There certainly was personal revival with me.

Anyway, around that time Peter Jon became sick so pastor Jon left. Years later of course most of us know that PJ went to be with the Lord so overall there was a lot going on at the time.

Not naming them Calvary Chapel has had a number of pastors that had issues, but Ive never known CC to not deal with the problems for the most part.

As much as I love Brian and Cheryl, I feel like pastor Jon would have been a better fit to take over. I dont know what the Lord has in mind for Costa Mesa, but it has become smaller and both Brian and Cheryl have become more personally accessible if that makes any sense. I think personal accountability between believers in an environment where there is authentic agape love for each other and trust is super important to every believer. Calvary is the only place where I found anything even remotely close to that.

That sounds nice actually. These are good attributes in a church.

 

[Tall Timbers]

I've attended several AOG churches. In recent years the ones I've visited have trended towards apostasy, in my opinion. I'm currently a member of a Calvary Chapel and like it very much. I've visited many Calvary Chapels around the country, and I liked the vast majority of them. If I were settling in the town where I visited a Calvary Chapel, I might have become a member of about 75% of them.

 

[RDKirk]

I've attended several AOG churches. In recent years the ones I've visited have trended towards apostasy, in my opinion. I'm currently a member of a Calvary Chapel and like it very much. I've visited many Calvary Chapels around the country, and I liked the vast majority of them. If I were settling in the town where I visited a Calvary Chapel, I might have become a member of about 75% of them.

We were members of Calvary Chapel of Honolulu back in the early 90s. Still one of the two best congregations we were ever members of (as a military family, we moved around a lot). That was the only congregation I've known that kept a widows and single mothers list. The pastor said that when the Lord asked him how he was taking care of widows and fatherless children, he intended to be able to smile at the question.

 

[The Liturgist]

We were members of Calvary Chapel of Honolulu back in the early 90s. Still one of the two best congregations we were ever members of (as a military family, we moved around a lot). That was the only congregation I've known that kept a widows and single mothers list. The pastor said that when the Lord asked him how he was taking care of widows and fatherless children, he intended to be able to smile at the question.

The Ethiopian Tewahedo Orthodox Church is one of several Orthodox churches where the ancient custom of caring for widows is preserved, and indeed I don’t think anyone does it better than the Ethiopians, for the effort they put into ensuring widows are fed and properly taken care of is remarkable.

 

[RileyG]

We were members of Calvary Chapel of Honolulu back in the early 90s. Still one of the two best congregations we were ever members of (as a military family, we moved around a lot). That was the only congregation I've known that kept a widows and single mothers list. The pastor said that when the Lord asked him how he was taking care of widows and fatherless children, he intended to be able to smile at the question.

That sounds lovely!

 

[Jude1:3Contendforthefaith]

Now, I feel like I'm just a generic Christian In General.

Like a mix of various different Trinitarian Christian Groups.

 

[Dan Perez]

Now, I feel like I'm just a generic Christian In General.

Like a mix of various different Trinitarian Christian Groups.

So why be generic in general when 1 Cori 11: 1 says , You be IMITATORS of me just as I also am of Christ as Paul

Paul is APOSTLE to the GENTILES !!

And have you read EPH 3:2 seeing that you have heard of the DISPENSATION of the grace of God having been given

to me for YOU !!

dan p

 

[The Liturgist]

My family attended Calvary Chapel of Honolulu pastored by Bill Stonebraker in the early 90s. We attended a good number of different congregations over many movements during my military career, but we rank that one still as the very best and most "1st century-like" congregations we ever knew. My daughter still brags about the hard-core scriptural education she got there as an elementary-aged child. We still brag about how that church cared for its members in relevant and real ways, not just tongue-service.

Acts 2 and Acts 4? That congregation was there for it.

Edit: The pastor made a couple of statements that spelled out the heart of the congregation: "No member of this congregation need worry about ever being hungry, homeless, or naked." And also, "Every member has a resource, every member has a need."

He encouraged every member to let the Holy Spirit tell them what their resources were and what they should provide to the congregation. It might not be money, it might be a skill, or even just extra time. And he encouraged us to present our needs as well as the resources we were willing to share...and then his staff matched needs with resources.

For instance, one member owned a Chevron service station with three service bays. He volunteered two of his service bays one Saturday a month to do auto maintenance and repairs at his expense. His chief mechanic volunteered his services for that day. There was a Chevrolet dealer mechanic and a Toyota dealer mechanic who also volunteered their services. I was a pretty good Chrysler and Ford shadetree mechanic, so I joined in.

Pastor Stonebraker had already done something I've never seen another pastor do: He kept a congregation widow's and single mother's list...because God is hard-core about caring for widows and fatherless children. Realizing that auto breakdowns are a serious problem for widows and single mothers, he applied that list to the offer of automobile service. So the women on that list were scheduled to bring in their automobiles every three months for service. It was extremely rewarding service to those ladies.

Also, a number of older members were empty-nesters. They made their extra bedrooms available to the pastor for any need to put someone up for a time. The pastor--actually his wife--created the "House of Ruth" which used the offer of those rooms as confidential safe houses for abused wives in the congregation. They were pretty aggressive about sniffing out abuse, too.

If they discovered a situation and a wife needed to escape, a team from the Security Ministry (congregation soldiers, nightclub bouncers, athletes--men whose resource was "I'm big") would go in while the husband was away and move the wife and children out to one of the safehouses.

Then another team of men--police officers, professional counselors, and more Security Ministry guys--would remain in the house and wait for the husband to return. "Where is my wife?" "Our dear sister is safe..and she will remain safe. But we're going to have a serious conversation."

I quite like the sound of that. That sounds like an ideal for many churches to aspire to.

 

[The Liturgist]

Have any Calvary Chapels ever had traditional worship, with traditional hymns, organ music and so on, or is the exclusive use of contemporary music a requirement for affiliation?

I did not see any mention of a requirement for contemporary worship in Chuck Smith’s book Calvary Chapel Distinctives, but I have also never heard of a Calvary Chapel worshipping that way (although perhaps the original parish in Costa Mesa worshipped in that manner in the very early years).

If a Calvary Chapel provided the kind of assurances offered by the church attended by @RDKirk but worshipped using a traditional liturgy such as the Book of Common Prayer, or Devotional Services for Christian Worship, or the Lutheran Service Book, that would be extremely appealing to a great many Christians, since younger Christians have in many cases a more liturgical orientation.

Indeed if a Calvary Chapel wanted to introduce traditional worship I would volunteer to help them implement it.

 

[RDKirk]

Have any Calvary Chapels ever had traditional worship, with traditional hymns, organ music and so on, or is the exclusive use of contemporary music a requirement for affiliation?

I did not see any mention of a requirement for contemporary worship in Chuck Smith’s book Calvary Chapel Distinctives, but I have also never heard of a Calvary Chapel worshipping that way (although perhaps the original parish in Costa Mesa worshipped in that manner in the very early years).

If a Calvary Chapel provided the kind of assurances offered by the church attended by @RDKirk but worshipped using a traditional liturgy such as the Book of Common Prayer, or Devotional Services for Christian Worship, or the Lutheran Service Book, that would be extremely appealing to a great many Christians, since younger Christians have in many cases a more liturgical orientation.

Indeed if a Calvary Chapel wanted to introduce traditional worship I would volunteer to help them implement it.

No, they don't

 

[The Liturgist]

No, they don't

But in theory, could a Calvary Chapel have traditional worship? If I understand Churck Smith’s book correctly, the answer would be yes as long as the worship was Christ-centered and devoid of extraneous elements (he cited a long and pointless organized dance routine by a group of women in costumes at an evangelical church in Switzerland as an egregious example of this, which is a view I strongly agree with).

 

[RDKirk]

But in theory, could a Calvary Chapel have traditional worship? If I understand Churck Smith’s book correctly, the answer would be yes as long as the worship was Christ-centered and devoid of extraneous elements (he cited a long and pointless organized dance routine by a group of women in costumes at an evangelical church in Switzerland as an egregious example of this, which is a view I strongly agree with).

They could have a traditional-ish type of service, but use of specific liturgy like the Book of Common Prayer, or Devotional Services for Christian Worship, or the Lutheran Service Book would probably require close examination.