DOCTRINE: We believe in all the fundamental doctrines of orthodox, evangelical Christianity.

THE BIBLE: We believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, that the Bible, Old and New Testaments are the inspired, infallible Word of God.

GOD: We believe that God is the personal, transcendent, and sovereign Creator of all that exists, both visible and invisible, and is therefore worthy of all glory and praise.  He is eternally the existing God who has three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God is perfect in love, power, holiness, goodness, knowledge, wisdom,  justice, and mercy. He is unchangeable and therefore is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

THE TRINITY: We believe that God is eternally existent in three distinct persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

JESUS CHRIST: We believe that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human, that He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, provided for the atonement of our sins by His substitutionary death on the cross, was bodily raised from the dead, ascended to the right hand of the Father, and ever lives to make intercession for us.

SIN & SALVATION: We believe that all people are, by nature, separated from God and are responsible for their own sin, but that salvation, redemption, and forgiveness are freely offered to all by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. When a person repents of his or her sin and accepts Jesus Christ as personal Savior and Lord, trusting Him to save, that person is immediately born again and sealed by the Holy Spirit, all his/her sins are forgiven, and that person becomes a child of God, destined to spend eternity with the Lord.

HOLY SPIRIT: We believe after Jesus ascended to Heaven, He poured out His Holy Spirit on the believers in Jerusalem, enabling them to fulfill His command to preach the Gospel to the entire world, an obligation shared by all believers today.

SPIRITUAL GIFTS: We believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in the Scriptures, and that they are valid for today if they are exercised within the Scriptural guidelines. We as believers are to covet the best gifts, seeking to exercise them in love that the whole Body of Christ might be edified. We believe that love is more important than the most spectacular gifts, and without this love all exercise of spiritual gifts are worthless.

END TIMES & SECOND COMING:
We await the pre-tribulation rapture of the church. We believe in the personal, visible and pre-millennial second coming of Jesus Christ to the earth. He will return with His saints and set up a kingdom of which there will be no end. This motivates us to holy living, heartfelt worship, committed service, diligent study of God’s Word, regular fellowship, and participation in adult baptism by immersion and Holy Communion.

INSPIRATION, INTELLIGENT, AND SPIRITUAL WORSHIP:
We believe worship of God should be spiritual. Therefore, we remain flexible and yielded to the leading of the Holy Spirit to direct our worship. It should also be inspirational. Therefore, we give a great place to music in our worship. Third, we believe that worship should be intelligent. Our services are designed with great emphasis upon teaching the Word of God that He might instruct us. Last, we believe the worship of God should be fruitful. We look for His love in our lives as the supreme manifestation that we have truly been worshipping Him.

FELLOWSHIP: We believe that the only true basis of Christian fellowship is Christ’s Agape love, which is greater than any differences we possess and without which we have no right to claim ourselves Christians.

TEACHING & GROWTH: We seek to teach the Word of God in such a way that its message can be applied to an individual’s life, leading that person to greater maturity in Christ.

LEADERSHIP & THE CHURCH: We believe that church government should be simplistic rather than a complex bureaucracy, and we depend on the Holy Spirit to lead, rather than on fleshly promotion.

MARRIAGE: We believe God, not man, created marriage.  We believe marriage was the first institution designed by God.  We believe the Bible teaches that the covenant of marriage is sacred and lifelong.  The Bible makes it clear that marriage is a legally binding public declaration of commitment and a private consummation between one man and one woman, never between the same sex. Therefore, we believe God gives a wife to a husband and a husband to a wife, and they care to receive one another as God’s unique and personal provision to help meet their mutual needs.

DEMON POSSESSION OF A CHRISTIAN: The belief that true Christians can be demon possessed is not scriptural! We reject the belief held by some Pentecostals and Charismatics that Christians can be demon possessed. The Scripture says “greater is He that is in you than he who is in the world”. It makes no sense if both the Holy Spirit and evil spirits can simultaneously indwell a believer. Christians can be attacked by demons, but they cannot be possessed or controlled by them.

5-POINT CALVINISM: For a deeper understanding of what Calvinism is, see the book “CALVINISM VS. ARMINIANISM” by Chuck Smith, but for our purposes here, suffice it to say that Calvary Chapel Venice rejects two of the five points of “5-point Calvinism”. First, Calvinism teaches that Jesus’ atonement on the cross was limited, that is, that He died only for a chosen group, His “elect”, not for the sins of the entire world. We believe that Jesus died on the cross for all the sins of all people, and that anyone who wants to can accept Him as Lord and Savior and be born again. Strict five point Calvinists’ believe that only the elect can be saved and that God has elected others to spend eternity in hell. Secondly, we reject the Calvinistic teaching called “irresistible grace”, which is the belief that man cannot, even if he wants to, resist the wooing and calling of God to salvation. Instead, we believe that man has a free will and he can resist the call of God if he chooses to do so.

POSITIVE CONFESSION: (The faith movement belief that God can be commanded to heal or work miracles according to man’s will).
At Calvary Chapel Venice, we also reject the teaching of “Positive Confession”. This doctrine was put forth by the faith movement teachers. They say that we as human beings can have unlimited health and wealth because we, like God, have the ability to create our own reality by the confession of our lips. These people teach that if a person will confess health and wealth consistently, then that is what they will have. Conversely, the Christian living in sickness or poverty is settling for less than his full inheritance in Christ. We believe that many believers both in the Bible and in daily life are often afflicted not because their confession is wrong, but simply because we live in a foreign world. We believe that the health and prosperity doctrine is a perversion of Scripture and is often used to fleece the flock of God. We do not believe that God can be commanded by man to heal or provide, but that we must always submit to His perfect will even in affliction.

HUMAN PROPHECY THAT SUPERSEDES THE SCRIPTURE: We reject any teaching that uses human prophecy to supersede the Word of God. There are some Christian groups around which claim to have prophets and apostles of equal validity with those who wrote the Bible. Moreover, they claim that the prophetic utterances from these people take precedence over the Word of God. We believe that the Bible is the final authority and the complete Word of God for His church today, and that no prophecy or teaching can supersede it.

THE INCORPORATION OF HUMANISTIC AND SECULAR PSYCHOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY INTO BIBLICAL TEACHING:
Some churches have incorporated human secular psychology and philosophy into their teaching programs, creating sermons that are more based on secular humanistic theory than on the Word of God. While we respect our fellow believers who work in mental health related fields, we believe that the central mission of the church is to proclaim God’s Word to a lost and hurting world. Moreover, it has been our experience that humanistic psychology and philosophy often do more harm than good, and people respond best when God’s Word is proclaimed in the power and love of the Holy Spirit. It is God’s Word that changes lives for the better. At Calvary Chapel Venice, our services remain centered on the teaching of the Bible.

                         

If you have any questions about our position, you can contact us via email
Contact Us or call the church office during normal business hours.

God Bless!