About Us

Calvary Chapel of Arcata is a Ministry in fellowship with Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, California.

Calvary Chapel is a fellowship of believers in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Our greatest desire is to know Christ and be conformed to His image by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are not a denominational church, nor are we opposed to denominations, as such. 

We are opposed only to the emphasis of non-biblical teachings that divide the Body of Christ. We believe the true basis of Christian fellowship is God's love, which is greater than our differences. Without His love, we have no right to say that we are Christians.

How It All Started

In July of 1994, Pastor Dino and his family, led by the Holy Spirit, were invited by Pastor Craig Hall of Calvary Chapel Fortuna to visit with people who had been praying for a Calvary Chapel in Arcata. During this visit, the Lord confirmed to Pastor Dino and his wife, Nancy, that He was calling them to start and Pastor the Calvary Chapel of Arcata.

Upon their return to Calvary Chapel Lake Arrowhead, the calling was confirmed and Calvary Chapel of Arcata was established in September, 1994.

After graduating Calvary Chapel Bible College, and finishing ministry responsibilities at Calvary Chapel Lake Arrowhead, on Sunday

December 18th, 1994, Pastor Tim Hamilton and the Calvary Chapel Lake Arrowhead Board of Elders ordained Pastor Dino Cardelli, sending him out to plant and pastor Calvary Chapel of Arcata.

Calvary Chapel of Arcata's first Sunday service was January 8, 1995.

Our Mission

The 4 "E's" of Ministry

Evangelism: Our first focus toward our community is evangelism; we look to fulfill the great commission through taking opportunities to share the Gospel.

Matthew 28:19-20

Encouragement: We want to encourage people. Many times those that come into our fellowship have been discouraged by the world. 

Colossians 2:2

Equipping: It is necessary to equip the saints through the teaching of the Word of God so they can know who their Lord and Savior is and how to live a life that pleases Him.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

Exhorting: After Evangelism, Encouragement, and Equipping, we urge our fellow believers to go and use the gifts that God has given to them for His Glory.

1 Thessalonians 4:1

We Believe

We Believe worship of God should be spiritual! Therefore we remain flexible so the Holy Spirit may direct our worship.

We Believe worship of God should be inspirational! Therefore we give a great place to music in our worship.

We Believe worship of God should be intelligent! Therefore, in our services, we emphasize Bible teaching so God my instruct us how He would be worshiped.

We Believe worship of God is fruitful! Therefore we look for His love in our lives as the greatest evidence that we are truly worshiping Him.

Statement of Faith

Calvary Chapel has been formed as a fellowship of believers in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Our supreme desire is to know Christ and be conformed to His image by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are not a denominational church, nor are we opposed to denominations as such, only to their over-emphasis of the doctrinal differences that have led to the division of the Body of Christ.

•    We believe the only true basis of Christian fellowship is Christ’s Agape love, which is greater than any differences we possess and without which we have no right to claim ourselves Christians.

•    We believe worship of God should be spiritual. Therefore, we remain flexible and yielded to the leading of the Holy Spirit to direct our worship.

•    We believe worship of God should be inspirational. Therefore we give great place to music in our worship.

•    We believe worship of God should be intelligent. Therefore, our services are designed with great emphasis upon the teaching of the Word of God that He might instruct us how He should be worshipped.

•    We believe worship of God should be fruitful. Therefore, we look for His love in our lives as the supreme manifestation that we have truly been worshipping Him.

•    We believe in all the basic doctrines of historic Christianity.

•    We believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, that the Bible, Old and New Testaments are the inspired, infallible Word of God.

•    We believe that God is eternally existent in three distinct persons; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

•    We believe that God is the personal, transcendent, and sovereign Creator of all things.

•    We believe that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human, that He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, provided for the atonement of our sins by His substitutionary death on the cross, was bodily raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit, ascended back to the right hand of the Father, and ever lives to make intercession for us. 

•    After Jesus ascended to Heaven, He poured out His Holy Spirit on the believers in Jerusalem, enabling them to fulfill His command to preach the Gospel to the entire world, an obligation shared by all believers today.

•    We believe that 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 that person becomes a child of God, destined to spend eternity with the Lord.

•    We believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in the Scriptures, and that they are valid for today if they are exercised within the scriptural guidelines. We as believers are to covet the best gifts, seeking to exercise them in love that the whole Body of Christ might be edified. We believe that love is more important than the most spectacular gifts, and without this love all exercise of spiritual gifts is worthless.

•    We believe that the church government should be simplistic rather than a complex bureaucracy, and that we depend on the Holy Spirit to lead, rather than on fleshly promotion.

•    We await the pre-tribulation rapture of the church, and we believe that the Second Coming of Christ with His saints to rule the earth will be personal, pre-millennial, and visible. This motivates us to holy living, heartfelt worship, committed service, diligent study of God’s Word, regular fellowship, participation in adult baptism by immersion and Holy Communion. 

•    We seek to teach the Word of God in such a way that its message can be applied to the individual’s life, leading that person to a greater maturity in Christ.

•    We do not embrace (1) The belief that true Christians can be demon possessed, (2) “5-point Calvinism” (i.e. a fatalistic Calvinistic view that leaves no room for free will specifically, we reject the belief that Christ’s atonement was limited; instead, we believe that He died for all people, and we reject the assertion that God’s wooing grace cannot be resisted or that He has elected some people to go to hell; instead, we believe that anyone who wills to come to Christ may do so),(3) “positive confession” (the faith movement belief that God can be commanded to heal or work miracles according to man’s will), (4) human prophecy that supercedes the Scriptures, (5) in incorporation of humanistic and secular psychology and philosophy into Biblical teaching, and (6) the over-emphasis of the spiritual gifts, experiential signs and wonders to the exclusion of Biblical teaching.