Many people are under the impression that a particular style of worship is insisted upon at Calvary Chapel, that style being the soft contemporary Sound made popular by Maranatha! Music and by Asaph Records (which both originated at Calvary Chapel). Although most Calvary Chapels do utilize a form of contemporary worship, there is actually a great variety of styles of music found In our churches. Some are very traditional and conservative, with organs or pianos and hymns, while others prefer electric guitars and drums. There is no set style of worship makes a Calvary Chapel unique; instead there is wide latitude in expression. All of us desire, of course, that whatever the style of worship, it come from our hearts.

Similarly, some of the worship services at Calvary Chapels are quite traditional, while others are more contemporary. Some of our churches are filled with elderly people in suits and ties, some are filled with young people in jeans and tee shirts, and many are a combination of all different ages, styles, and races of folks who come together with one common focus: love for Jesus Christ and the desire to know Him more intimately. I recently spoke at one of the larger Calvary Chapel affiliates where seven different ethnic groups of people who range in age from teens to quite elderly gather every week filled with the love of Jesus. That is typical of a Calvary Chapel church. Most are places where anybody with any style of dress or musical taste or culture feels welcome.

When a person decides to follow Jesus Christ, baptism by full immersion in water is the next step in their Christian walk.

Baptism is a sign of a faith already possessed. It is not so much a matter of the water, but a matter of the will - an outward expression of an inward change. It is the opportunity to publicly identify ourselves with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Baptism also shows an attitude of repentance toward God and displays our admission that we desperately need a Savior. Paul, in his letter to the Romans, helps us to fully comprehend the purpose of this fundamental rite:

“Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:4

By regularly exhorting new believers to symbolically bury their old, sinful nature in a watery grave, our heart at Calvary Chapel is to help them start their new life off with a bang!