About Calvary Chapel Southside  –  December 20,  2024

We are worshipping the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are having fun! We invite you to come and fellowship with us!
We’re studying the Bible and getting blessed immensely! God is good. Jesus loves you! Calvary Chapel Southside has been formed as a fellowship of believers in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. (presently studying the Books of Ruth & Philippians)
We study the Word of God (the Bible) and worship Him as family. We are from Honeoye Falls, Rush, Henrietta, Lima, Livonia, Avon,
Hemlock, Wayland, Mendon, Bloomfield, Springwater, you name it. We’re 20 minutes from Rochester.

Our Pastors
Senior Pastor Jim Lagnese   –   Assistant Pastor Warren Gumaer   –   Associate Pastor Justin Bowser   –   Worship Pastor Kevin Dennis

Doctrinal Beliefs – God does not call His people to accept falsehood ever! Spiritually or nationally!
We are not called to submit to the demonic or deceptive actions of others!
Our supreme desire is to know Christ and to be conformed into His image by the power of the Holy Spirit. Also to be transformed by the Scriptures! We are not a denominational church, nor are we opposed to denominations as such, only their overemphasis of the doctrinal differences that have led to the division of the Body of Christ. We believe that the only true basis of Christian fellowship is His (Agape) love, which is greater than any differences we possess and without which we have no right to claim ourselves Christians. In order to identify Calvary Church as conservative in theology and evangelical, we set forth this general statement of fundamental beliefs: We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God and inerrant in the original writings. We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection from the dead and in His personal return in power and glory. We believe that lost, sinful man must be saved, and that man’s only hope of redemption is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the unsaved; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are unsaved unto the resurrection of damnation.  We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by His indwelling, the Christian is enabled to live a Godly life. We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Statement of Distinctives

We hold to:  The inerrancy of Scripture!
The continuance today of the diversities of spiritual gifts as found in I Corinthians 12:4-11.
Simplicity in church government, rather than a complex bureaucracy.
A dependence upon the Holy Spirit to lead rather than fleshly promotion.
The pre-millennial, pre-tribulation return of Christ for His waiting Church.
The teaching of the Word of God in such a way that it can be applied to life as beneficial towards a growing maturity.
At times, certain issues become controversial in the church. The Calvary Chapel Church feels it necessary to take a stand in the following areas:

We Reject:

The teaching of the “prosperity gospel.”
The belief that true-Christians can be possessed by demons.
“Dominion Theology” or “Kingdom Theology”.
A fatalistic Calvinistic view, which allows no room for free will.
Prophecy that supersedes biblical scripture ‘Charismania’ (the overemphasis upon spiritual gifts, experiential signs and wonders, etc.).
And replacement theology or theistic evolution.

Positive confession is the practice of saying out loud what you want to happen with the expectation that God will make it a reality. It’s popular among prosperity gospel teachers who claim that words have spiritual power & that, if we speak out loud the right words with the right faith, we can gain riches and health, bind Satan, and accomplish anything we want. To confess positively is to speak words that we believe or want to believe, & make them reality. This is opposed to negative confession, which is to acknowledge hardships, poverty, and illness & thus (supposedly) accept them and refuse the ease, wealth, and health God has planned for us.

The belief that true-Christians can be possessed by demons is incorrect because after we have been born again we are literally
indwelt by the Holy Spirit so there is literally no room for demons

“Dominion Theology” or “Kingdom Theology” – refers to a line of theological interpretation and thought with regard to the role of the church in contemporary society. Dominion theology is also known as Christian reconstructionism theonomy. Dominion theology states that biblical Christianity will rule all areas of society, personal and corporate. Christian reconstructionism reasons that society will be reconstructed by the Law of God as preached in the gospel & the Great Commission. Theonomy is a post-millennial view believing that all of the moral laws contained in the Old Testament are still binding today. Even though these might sound totally different, they have all been closely linked together to the point that people often use the terms interchangeably. Only Jesus’ establishment of the kingdom will  bring peace & justice & righteousness.

A fatalistic Calvinistic view, allows no room for free will. A simple definition of this; or (hyper-Calvinism) is the belief that God saves the elect through His sovereign will with little or no use of the methods of bringing about salvation (such as evangelism, preaching, and prayer for the lost). To an unbiblical fault, the hyper-Calvinist over-emphasizes God’s sovereignty and under-emphasizes man’s responsibility in the work of salvation. An obvious ramification of hyper-Calvinism is that it suppresses any desire to evangelize the lost. Most churches or denominations that hold to hyper-Calvinistic theology are marked by fatalism, coldness, and a lack of assurance of faith. There is little emphasis upon God’s love for the lost and His own people but rather an unbiblical preoccupation with God’s sovereignty, His election of the saved, and His wrath for the lost. The gospel of the hyper-Calvinist is a declaration of God’s salvation of the elect and His damnation of the lost. No free will! I once had a little girl tell me that she believed: “Choose to be chosen!” Awesome! We believe that Hyper-Calvinism takes a biblical doctrine, God’s sovereignty, and pushes it to an unbiblical extreme. In doing so, the hyper-Calvinist downplays the love of God & the necessity of evangelism. A great quote by Donald Grey Barnhouse says: “People are all standing in a room with several doors. Above one door is a sign which reads: “All who will, may enter.” (DOOR TO HEAVEN) Those who choose to enter the door find on the back side of the door a sign which reads, “Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.” 😊

Prophecy that supersedes biblical scripture or ‘Charismania’ is a term usually applied to the extremists in the Christian Charismatic movement. It was specifically coined to describe the perceivable chaos and mood swings (hence mania) that sometimes occur during Charismatic revival meetings. Such disorderly occurrences as being “slain in the Spirit“, excessive laughing/crying, screaming, wild dancing, violent shaking, and interruptive speaking in tongues and prophesying (Toronto movement/80’s-90’s) led many fundamentalists to believe that the Devil was involved while Charismatic Christians insist that these were manifestations of the Holy Spirit. The term has also been applied to televangelists and other prosperity gospel preachers who use boisterous charismatic preaching styles, melodramatic appeals, and posh surroundings to get money and/or respect from their followers. If you have a ‘Holy Spirit meeting‘  Jesus doesn’t show up. But if you have a ‘Jesus meeting’ the Holy Spirit is there!

The overemphasis on spiritual gifts, experiential signs and wonders, etc. Is mainly in regard to some more of the more Pentecostal type believers who think that evidence of having the Holy Spirit is the gift of tongues. Throughout the book of Acts, thousands of people believe in Jesus and nothing is said about them speaking in tongues (Acts 2:41, 8:5-25, 16:31-34, 21:20). Nowhere in the New Testament is it taught that speaking in tongues is the only evidence a person has received the Holy Spirit. In fact, the New Testament teaches the opposite. We’re told that every believer in Christ has the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9; 1 Cor.12:13; Eph.1:13-14), but not every believer speaks in tongues (1 Cor. 12:29-31).

Remember as far as signs and wonders are concerned: 2 Thessalonians 2:9 says: “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,” It’s important to note that not all miracles are of God. The devil & his agents can perform miracles. The man of lawlessness will also perform them (Revelation 13:13-15). A miracle indicates supernatural power but not necessarily divine power. The miracles of our Lord proved Him to be the promised Messiah, not simply because they were supernatural, but because they fulfilled prophecy & were of such a moral nature that Satan could not have done them without harming his own cause.

Replacement theology (also known as supersessionism) essentially teaches that the church has replaced Israel in God’s plan. Believers of replacement theology believe the Jews are no longer God’s chosen people, & God doesn’t have specific future plans for the nation of Israel. Among the different views of the relationship between the church and Israel are the church has replaced Israel (replacement theology), the church is an expansion of Israel (covenant theology), or the church is completely different and distinct from Israel (dispensationalism/premillennialism). Romans 11:11-12 says: that as a result of Israel’s rejection of the gospel, the nation was set aside and the gospel went out to the Gentiles. In this sense the fall of the Jews has meant riches for the world, and Israel’s loss has been the Gentiles’ gain.

But if that is true, how much more will Israel’s restoration result in rich blessing for all the world! When Israel turns to the Lord at the close of the Great Tribulation, she will become the channel of blessing to the nations.

Description of Services

In our services, we focus on a “personal relationship” with God through song, worship and prayer, and the teaching of the Word of God. We teach both expository and topical studies. We do not allow speaking loudly in tongues or the interruption of our services with prophesy if there is a Bible study in progress. It is not that we do not hold to the using of these gifts, but we believe that everything should be done decently and in order. We believe that God will not interrupt Himself. We have specific “believers’ meetings” that do allow the exercise of spiritual gifts.

The Bible is the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God and inerrant in the original writings.
A complete and final written revelation of God.

There is one personal, transcendent, and Holy God, the Creator of all, Who is eternal and Who manifests Himself in three separate persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, though fully God, became a man for the suffering of death, that He is the promised Messiah, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, provided for the atonement of our sins by His vicarious death on the cross, was bodily resurrected by the power of the Holy Spirit, ascended back to the right hand of God, and ever lives to make intercession for us.

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 sin and accepts Jesus Christ as personal Savior and Lord, trusting Him to save, that person is immediately born again and sealed by the Holy Spirit, all his/her sins are forgiven, and they become a child of God.

The Holy Spirit ministers today. He indwells, seals, and empowers every believer, baptizing them into the Body of Christ. We further believe that the Holy Spirit will come upon any believer who asks in faith, enabling him/her to preach the Gospel in power. We also believe all of the gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in the Scriptures are valid for today if they are exercised within the scriptural guidelines. We believe that love is more important than all the gifts, and without this love all exercise of spiritual gifts is worthless.

That God wants our little ones to come to Him, therefore we provide a children’s ministry broken down according to age and grade level. Because of this, the children are taught on a level that they will better understand the Word of God.

Evangelism

We participate and support evangelistic outreach ministries in communities all over the world. We collectively work together every year hosting evangelistic “crusades” throughout the U. S. Thousands  have received Christ at these yearly events. But, our main belief concerning evangelism is that “sheep beget sheep.” As we continue to feed the flock of God by teaching them the Word of God, they will “naturally” lead others to Christ.