Vision
To make Jesus non-ignorable in Springfield and to the ends of the earth.
Mission
To glorify God by making joyful passionate disciples of Jesus Christ.
Core Commitments
TODO Actual Commitments
Incentivize
Organize
Globalize
How We’re Structured
Jesus Ruled
He Is Our Leader of Leaders
In Colossians 1:15-18, the Apostle Paul says this about Jesus:
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.”
Jesus builds the Church, it is his bride. Jesus is the chief shepherd of all the church (1 Pet. 5:4). Therefore, it is absolute that as a church we seek to love Jesus, submit to Jesus, obey Jesus, and imitate him in word and deed, according to the teaching of his Word.
Pastor-Elder Led
They shepherd and care for the flock spiritually.
Pastor-elders are called to give their lives away to help God’s people grow and mature spiritually. They are responsible to lovingly know, feed, lead, and protect God’s people with sound doctrine derived from God’s Word. Pastor-elders are to meet the qualifications described in 1 Timothy 2 and Titus 3.
Deacon Served
They serve the flock in various ways.
Deacons are the lead servants of Calvary. Deacons are to meet the qualifications for a deacon in 1 Timothy 3. Deacons meet regularly with the pastor-elders to share in the leadership, counseling, and benevolence ministries of Calvary.
Congregationally Accountable
We are a body of members pursuing Christ and His purposes together.
Church members make up the core of the Calvary congregation and help lead, serve, and support the church through using their gifts in ministry, giving financially, caring for one another inside the body, and living as missionaries to reach those who don’t know Christ in our city and to the ends of the earth.
Statement of Faith
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The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.
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There is one and only one living and true God. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.
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God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
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Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the cross, He made provision for the redemption of men from sin.
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The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.
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Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God’s creation.
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Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification.
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We hold to the 5 Solas of the Reformation:
Sola scriptura ("by Scripture alone")
Sola fide ("by faith alone")
Sola gratia ("by grace alone")
Solus Christus ("Christ alone")
Soli Deo gloria ("glory to God alone")
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A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel, observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.
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Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus.
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It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations, to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by verbal witness undergirded by a Christian lifestyle, and by other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ.
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It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations, to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by verbal witness undergirded by a Christian lifestyle, and by other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ.
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God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual; all that we have and are we owe to Him. Christians have a spiritual debtorship to the whole world, a holy trusteeship in the gospel, and a binding stewardship in their possessions. They are therefore under obligation to serve Him with their time, talents, and material possessions.
Confessions & Creeds
Here is a list of confessions and creeds that we generally agree with