What We Believe

The core beliefs of Calvary Chapel Lower Manhattan are 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.

We believe that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God (II Timothy 3:16) that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one in Trinity, eternally existent and yet exists in three separate persons. Jesus is fully God and fully man (Philippians 2:6,7). He was born of a virgin birth (Luke 1:26-35) lived a sinless life and provided for the atonement of our sins by His death on the cross and His bodily resurrection (Matthew 28:5-7a; Matthew 12:40) by the power of the Holy Spirit. After His resurrection, Jesus ascended to the right hand of God the Father and makes intercession for us. Soon after Jesus rose from the dead, He sent the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5; Acts 2:4) to empower the church, the body of Christ, to guide us and to give spiritual gifts (I Corinthians 12:8, 9, 10, 28, 29, 30; Romans 12:6; Ephesians 4:11).

We believe that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We believe that we must repent and turn away from our sin (sin being anything that is against the ordinance or command of God) (I John 1:9). By repentance, we receive forgiveness of sins through the shed blood of Jesus, and we receive life eternal. Salvation is God’s gift to us (we cannot earn it) (Ephesians 2:10; Romans 6:23). It comes to us when we commit our ways / our life to Jesus and accept the sacrifice that He made on the cross as a payment for our sins.

The church is a community of diverse people from different races, cultures, and backgrounds, unified through their faith in Jesus Christ. The church is committed to teaching the Bible, the true, full Word of God in community and throughout the world; it is committed to prayer and the fellowship of the body (Acts 2: 42;  Matthew 28: 19, 20).

Obedience to the Lord and to the Word of God, is an ongoing process of yielding to God’s word and to His Spirit (Galatians 5: 16, 17).  It is through the present ministry of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God that the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.

We believe that God created man and that He created them male and female (Genesis 1: 26-28) As such, God created them different and joined one male and one female in marriage, so as to complement and complete each other (Genesis 2: 20b-24). This union of one natural-born male and one natural-born female (the family unit) is the basic structure of human life and society and is foundational for God’s creation of life on earth.