Calvary Chapel of Chestertown was formed as a fellowship of believers in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Our supreme desire is to know Christ and be conformed to His image by the power of the Holy Spirit. Calvary Chapel is a nondenominational church. We are not opposed to denominations as such, only to their over-emphasis of the doctrinal differences that have led to division in the Body of Christ. 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.
In our services, we focus on a personal relationship with God through worship, prayer, and the teaching of the Word of God. We believe in all the fundamental doctrines of orthodox evangelical Christianity.
We believe that all people are by nature separated from God and 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 their sin, accepts, and trusts Jesus Christ to be their personal Savior and Lord, 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 now destined to spend eternity with the Lord.
We believe worship of God should be intelligent. Therefore, our services are designed with great emphasis upon the teaching of the Word of God that He might instruct us how He should be worshipped. 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. We teach both expository and topically.
We believe worship of God should be inspirational. Therefore, we give great place to music in our worship.
We believe worship of God should be fruitful. Therefore, we look for His love in our lives as the supreme manifestation that we are truly worshiping Him.
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. We believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in the Scriptures. Spiritual gifts are valid for today when they are exercised within the Scriptural guidelines. We seek to exercise the gifts of the Spirit in love so that the whole Body of Christ might be edified. We believe love is the most important of all gifts and without love all exercise of spiritual gifts is worthless. We do not allow speaking in tongues loudly during services, nor prophecy while a Bible study is in progress because we do not believe that the Holy Spirit would interrupt Himself.
We believe marriage is a God ordained institution between one man and one woman.(Genesis 2:21-24 Matthew 19:4-6)
We believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, that the Bible, Old and New Testaments is the inspired, infallible Word of God.
We believe that God is eternally existent in three separate persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We believe that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human. Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, and provided for the atonement of our sins by His vicarious death on the Cross. Jesus Christ was bodily resurrected by the power of the Holy Spirit, ascended back to the right hand of God the Father, and ever lives to make intercession for us. 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.
We await the pre-tribulation rapture of the church, and we believe that the second coming of Christ with His saints to rule on the earth will be personal, pre-millennial, and visible. 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.