Saving Calvary Chapel

                                    On Reforming a Church Movement I Love


                                                        

                                 "But examine everything cafefully, hold fast to the truth"

                                                                                           1 Thessalonians 5:21

                              by Lee Edward Enochs

If you have been my friend for any length of time, you know well that I came from the Calvary Chapel movement. I became a Christian and was heavily involved in the Calvary Chapel movement for close to twenty years. So, Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, the late Pastor Chuck Smith and the entire association of Calvary Chapel churches will always hold a very special and dear place in my heart. To attempt to put a wedge between me and my love for the Calvary Chapel movement is impossible.

To those of you who do not know what the "Calvary Chapel Movement" is or what a "Calvary Chapel" church is, the movement of churches came into being during the counter cultural days of the 1960's and 1970's, when a Pentecostal Pastor (Graduate of LIFE Bible College, a Four Square Gospel school) named Chuck Smith reached out to the many hippies and other young men and women on the fringes of Southern Californian society. This movement was a part of the larger "Jesus Movement" that saw many hippies and diseffected youth coming to a saving knowledge of Christ all over America. There are now over 1,500 Calvary Chapel assemblies around the world.

This is the movement I was spiritually reared in and is especially dear to my heart. I love Calvary Chapel for its emphais on Jesus Christ and His gospel. I also love the Calvary Chapel movement because of its emphasis on evangelism, Bible study and the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

However, the Calvary Chapel movement is not perfect. Actually, there are many flaws in it and I believe it is time for some systemic and theological changes to occur in the entire Calvary Chapel movement for the glory of God and the benefit of those who attend a church associated with Calvary Chapel.

There are three primary issues I believe that need to be addressed in the entire Calvary Chapel movement,(1) Soteriology (2) Ecclesiology (the nature and governing of the church) and (3) Pastoral Accountability.  My upcoming book, "Saving Calvary Chapel: A Call for Reform in the Calvary Chapel Movement" explains why Calvary Chapel is a great association of Bible believing Evangelical Churches, but also explains why there needs to be some changes in the movement in general.

Stay tuned, I will let you folks know more about this book project that should be finished next Spring.