Our Favorite Topics
God
We believe that there is only one God. We believe that while God is one in essence, He is three persons eternally existing in equal natures, referred to in Scripture as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is the Creator and Ruler of the universe. He has eternally existed in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are coequal and are one God. (Genesis 1:1,26,27, 3:22; Psalm 90:2; Matthew 28:19; 1 Peter 1:2; 2 Corinthians 13:14). Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is coequal with the Father and Holy Spirit. Jesus lived a sinless human life and offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all people by dying on a cross. He arose from the dead after three days to demonstrate His power over sin and death. He ascended to Heaven and will return again someday to earth to reign as King. (Matthew 1:22, 23; Isaiah 9:6; John 1:1-5, 14:10-30; Hebrews 4:14-15; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; Romans 1:3-4; Acts 1:9-11; 1 Timothy 6:14-15; Titus 2:13). The Holy Spirit is coequal with the Father and the Son of God. He is present in the world to make men aware of their need for Jesus Christ. He also lives in every Christian from the moment of salvation. He provides the Christian with power for living, understanding of spiritual truth, and guidance in doing what is right. He gives every believer spiritual gifts when they are saved. As Christians we seek to live under His control daily. (Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 3:17; John 16:7-13, 14:16-17; Galatians 5:25; 1 Corinthians 2:12, 3:16; Ephesians 1:13, 5:18).
The Bible
The Bible is God’s Word to us. It was written by human authors, under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is the supreme source of truth for Christian beliefs about living. Because it is inspired by God, it is truth without error. (2 Timothy 3:16, 1:13; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Psalm 119:105, 160, 12:6; Proverbs 30:5). This does not mean that other sources of wisdom (such as church history and tradition) are necessarily wrong or unimportant, but that the Scriptures are the only infallible source of truth that God has left His church. Therefore all other sources of wisdom must be measured against the standard of Scripture.
The Church
We believe that the church is the body of Christ, of which Jesus Christ is the head. The members of the church are those who are called by God and have trusted by faith the finished work of Christ. The purpose of the church is to glorify God by loving him and by making him known to the lost world. We believe God created us for community, and we were not designed to live life alone. Community brings support (Gal. 6:2), allows for confession (James 5:16), comfort (Prov. 17:17), correction (Prov 27:17), deeper communion with Christ (Matt. 18:20), encouragement (Rom. 1:11-12), and evangelism (Rom. 12:3-13).
Sin
People are made in the spiritual image of God, to be like Him in character. People are the supreme object of God’s creation. Although every person has tremendous potential for good, all of us are marred by an attitude of disobedience toward God called “sin”. Sin separates us from God and causes many problems in our life. (Genesis 1:27; Psalm 8:3-6; Isaiah 53:6a; Romans 3:23; Isaiah 59:1-2).
Salvation
Salvation is God’s free gift to us. We can never make up for our sin by self- improvement or good works. Only by trusting in Jesus Christ as God’s offer of forgiveness can anyone be saved from sin’s penalty. When we turn from our self-ruled life and turn to Jesus in faith we are saved. Eternal life begins the moment one receives Jesus Christ into his life by faith. (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9; John 14:6, 1:2; Titus 3:5; Galatians 3:26; Romans 5:1, 10:9-10).
Eternity
People were created to exist forever. We will either exist eternally separated from God by sin or eternally with God through forgiveness and salvation. To be eternally separated from God is hell. To be eternally in union with Him is eternal life in Heaven. Heaven and hell are real places of eternal existence. (John 3:16, 14:17; Romans 6:23, 8:17-18; Revelation 20:15; 1 Corinthians 2:7-9).
Baptism
Baptism is a representative act of faith towards God and symbolizes the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Once we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, baptism is a way for us to publicly declare our new life in Christ. It is also a step of obedience based on God’s commands and allows us to follow the example of Jesus, who submitted himself to baptism to “fulfill all righteousness.” (Matthew 3:16-17, 28:18-20; Acts 2:41, 8:12).
Communion
Communion is a representative act of faith for followers of Jesus, where they eat the bread, representing Jesus’ body, and drink from the vine, representing Jesus’ blood. This act helps followers to meditate on the sacrifice of Jesus, the life we have through Him, and the future promised to us of being united to Him eternally in resurrection. Jesus encouraged us, “Do this in remembrance of me”. (Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:18-20; 1 Corinthians 10:17, 11:23-25).
Values
- Selfless Living. We will do anything, short of sin, to reach those who don’t know Christ and our lives will reflect this everyday
- Engaging Culture. We will study the culture, be in tune with our church, and engage where we are as a church
- Authentic Community. We will laugh often, cry together, and live life out as a loving community
- Service. We will use our God given gifts to minister to one another, our community, and the world Excellence. We will dream big, take risks, and always do our best
- Changed People. We will be continually changed by the Word of God, the life of Jesus present within us, and the fellowship of other believers. Because of this we will live with integrity, grow spiritually, pray boldly, and give generously
Uncomfortable Topics (we’re not afraid to address)
Gender and Sexuality
We believe that gender is a gift from God that allows man to glorify a unique aspect of our triune God. In 1 Corinthians 11:3 the apostle Paul states that “the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.” This statement teaches us that men and women are the only valid gender categories for human beings and that they were intentionally created with complimentary differences in order to reflect the complementary roles and responsibilities revealed to us in the trinity. The Father and Son are coequal in essence and glory, but also have distinctive roles within the Godhead in which the Son submits Himself to the Father and the Father acts as the head of Son and Holy Spirit. In the same way, men and women are equal in essence and dignity, but have unique qualities and roles that glorify God in specific ways. We also believe that our bodies are a fundamental part of our nature as human beings. We do not believe that we have a dualistic nature in which our bodies and our souls are completely separate. In order to become a man in the incarnation the Son had to take on flesh and He retains that body in His resurrection.
Our Story Continued
From this, and other passages, we conclude that our bodies and our souls are intertwined and participate with one another to make up human nature as a whole. Therefore, we believe that someone’s gender can only be determined through someone’s biology, but that gender is acted out and represented through the roles that someone takes on in order to glorify God in their given gender. These roles will be most manifest in the institutions of marriage and the church.
However, due to our fallen nature and the fact that we live in a fallen world that has rejected God, some are born with defects that make categorizing their gender through their biology more difficult. Other will wrestle psychologically with their given gender and sexuality. This neither changes the dictates of Scripture nor invalidates the respect and dignity due to all people as image bearers of God.
Therefore, we believe the only compassionate response to those who struggle in such ways is to lovingly encourage them to live according to their biological gender, and not to encourage them to reject their given gender and the roles that go with it.
Marriage
We believe that because God our Creator established marriage as a sacred institution between one man and one woman, the idea that marriage is a covenant only between one man and one woman has been the traditional definition of marriage for all of human history. Because of the longstanding importance of the Traditional Definition of Marriage to humans and their relationships and communities, and, most importantly, the fact that God has ordained that marriage be between one man and one woman, as clearly conveyed in God’s inerrant Scriptures, including for example in Matthew 19:4-6 where in speaking about marriage Jesus referred to the fact that “he which made them at the beginning made them male and female.”
Calvary Marana will therefore not ordain same-sex marriages, nor encourage same-sex relationships. Those in leadership and living under the authority of the church (church members, in fellowship) are called to refrain from same-sex relationships and any sinful sexual relationship.
Our Story Continued
We believe that there are people who struggle with same-sex attraction, and while we do not believe this gives those with that struggle the right to act on the temptation, we encourage believers to engage in loving conservations and relationships with those who are struggling, with the ultimate goal of winning them to Jesus. This is our long way of saying we are all fallen and broken in our own ways. We all struggle with temptation and fall into sin. And while same-sex attraction does not preclude an individual receiving the gift of Salvation, acting on those urges continually will inevitably lead an individual away from fullness of life and joy in Christ.
“But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” – James 1:14-15
The Gospel:
For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. Romans 1:16 The good news is life transforming news. Therefore we seek in our groups to understand Jesus better and what this Gospel is. We do not focus on brain studies or how you can do more for Christ. The book of Colossians warns us not to believe in basic counsel like, “do not taste or touch.” Instead we are to abide in Christ by dying to our old man, so that the new man which is renewed in Christ shines through. We are to fix our eyes on Jesus. We believe it is the grace of God that brings salvation that teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts (Titus 2:11-13)…looking unto Jesus. The Gospel is the answer to our problems. Jesus said, “Abide in me.”
