Moses, Pastors and Calvary Chapel

The 1960's were a tumultuous decade in the United States. What was especially tumultuous for many middle-aged, middle-class couples in those days was the rejection of traditional American values by the sons and daughters of these couples. Among the values that were rejected were the materialism that expressed itself as a constant striving for a higher standard of living and the status that went with it, as well as traditional American patriotism and affiliation with traditional churches.

The outward signs of such a rejection included long hair on male teens and young adult men; burning draft cards and running to Canada to escape the draft; antiwar demonstrations and protest marches; alternative living arrangements such as communes and unmarried men and women “living together”; the invention by young people of a new lingo that their parents did not understand; getting “stoned” on illegal substances rather than getting drunk in the traditional way practiced by many of their parents; and the rejection of the music of their parents – Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, etc. – and an embracing of the new music of artists like the Rolling Stones, the Who, Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix. Whereas the parents of this time used to go to church simply because “that's what we do on Sunday,” the youth demanded a faith that was “relevant” to them. They searched freely for such a faith, traveling whatever path seemed best to them, even if that path was not Christian.

Most church pastors of the time were seen by these youth as “squares” who didn't understand the youth, and who were too quick to condemn or to preach at them. However, there were some pastors and evangelists in the late 60's who sought to preach the Gospel to these youth by relating to them on their own level. Some of these pastors were very successful in their efforts to minister to the youth, many of whom were simply rebelling against materialist parents who had not taken the time or effort to truly listen to their children. Those pastors who provided a sympathetic listening adult ear found a wide-open door for ministry. Among these pastors were men who re-structured church services with the aim of making the church environment as comfortable and non-threatening as possible for young men and women. Thus the “Jesus Movement” was born.

One of the pastors who ministered thus to young people was Chuck Smith, founder of the Calvary Chapel chain of churches. According to a Christianity Today article, Chuck Smith was hired in 1965 by the original Calvary Chapel, to teach a Bible study in a trailer park in Costa Mesa, California. As a result of his teaching, the Bible study grew phenomenally, as did the church. Shortly afterward, Smith began ministering to hippies, inventing cutting-edge (at the time) methods such as “contemporary worship,” “seeker-sensitive” church services, and “contemporary” folk-rock praise songs. He also invited young hippies to live in his home, where he discipled them. The original Calvary Chapel grew explosively as a result of Smith's efforts, and has since expanded into over 1,300 affiliated churches and a radio network of 400 stations. Influential figures who have arisen from the Calvary Chapel churches include Greg Laurie (who hosts yearly “Harvest Crusades” in Anaheim), Raul Ries, Mike Macintosh and Chuck Missler. The Calvary Chapel chain even has its own Bible college in Costa Mesa, with 90 extension campuses throughout the world. (Source: “Day of Reckoning: Chuck Smith and Calvary Chapel Face An Uncertain Future,” Christianity Today, 16 February 2007, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/march/7.53.html?start=5)

The Calvary Chapels have done much good in the world, to be sure. Through the ministry of these churches many people have been brought to Christ, and many of these converts have been solidly taught the Scriptures. Many members of these churches are dear, committed Christians, healthy and happy, nourished by a strong social network of fellow believers. But there have been reports of problems within the Calvary Chapel movement over the last several years – problems related to the abuse of power.

Of course, there was always a risk of this sort of abuse, given the dynamics of the groups to which Chuck Smith originally ministered. The fact is that Smith, now 80 years old, was around 37 or 38 when he began ministering to young people, many of whom were young enough to be his children. In that setting, a sympathetic adult can have a lot of power, even assuming the role of a surrogate parent in the minds of the youth to whom he ministers. Strong and good is the man who does not yield to the temptation to misuse the trust placed in him in such a situation. But Smith set up a method of church government that is inherently unsafe, rather like the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, which was unstable by design.

As a start, the Calvary Chapels teach that there are four forms of church government found in Scripture: congregationalist, presbyterian, episcopal, and Theocratic. Congregational government is simply democratic rule of a church by the congregation of the church. But Calvary Chapels reject this form of government as unbiblical, because they believe that the Old Testament shows that congregations always made poor choices. Instead, the Calvary Chapels teach that the preferred form of government is “Theocratic”, that is, that God directly rules each congregation, using a chosen man to express His will in the congregation. That man, that pastor is to have the same authority over the congregation that Moses had over the Israelites during the Exodus to the Promised Land.

That pastor is also to have a support team of elders who help him in his ministry in the same way that the 70 elders of Israel helped Moses (Numbers 11:16). Yet these elders are to be accountable to the pastor, and are not allowed to contradict him. Ultimate authority for the governing of the church is to reside in the pastor alone. Chuck Smith even teaches that if an elder board fails to support its pastor, the pastor has the authority to dismiss the entire board and appoint new elders. According to the Calvary Chapels, the pastor is accountable to God alone, and that this is to keep the pastor from becoming a mere “hireling”, restricted or prevented by his church from doing what God has called him to do. Anyone who questions the pastor is “speaking against the Lord's anointed”, according to these churches. (Source: “The Philosophy of Ministry of Calvary Chapel,” http://www3.calvarychapel.com/library/smith-chuck/books/tpomocc.htm)

Saying that the church should be governed by God sounds nice on paper – “Amen!”; who could disagree with that? But the problem arises when a pastor teaches that the way God governs is by a specially chosen man who answers to God alone, who alone has the authority to direct a church, and that the congregation is not allowed to question the actions of this man. This is not taught in the New Testament; yet it is exactly what cults like the Geftakys assemblies taught, with the predictable result that men placed in such positions of absolute authority abused that authority. In the case of the Calvary Chapels, there have been recent articles about such abuse in the Los Angeles Times as well as Christianity Today. The Calvary Chapels have also been the subject of a number of websites and blogs documenting power abuse at the hands of Calvary pastors, and have even attained a place in the rogue's gallery of abusive churches listed on the Rick Ross website.

Ostensibly, the Calvary Chapels are simply a loose association of churches, each independently governed. Chuck Smith would deny that the Calvary Chapels are a denomination, and has refused, at least in public, to organize them into a denomination. But a look behind the scenes reveals the fact that in order for a church to be affiliated with the Calvary Chapel name, it must be certified by the Calvary Chapel Outreach Fellowship (CCOF), which imposes the following requirements: 1. The pastor must embrace the “Calvary Chapel Distinctives” (which teach, among other things, the Moses model for church government). 2. The church must be an officially incorporated church as opposed to a mere home fellowship. 3. The church leader must be willing to spend time in fellowship with other Calvary Chapels via regularly-scheduled pastors' conferences. In addition to certification, churches in a region are accountable to regional lead pastors selected by CCOF. CCOF is, in turn, headed by Paul Smith, Chuck Smith's brother.

In the early days of the Calvary Chapels, associate and assistant pastors were hand-picked by Chuck Smith himself, and were directly accountable to Chuck Smith. Today, those who want to become pastors must enroll in the Calvary Chapel Bible College, and must complete a two-year or four-year program to earn a Certificate of Completion, Associate in Theology degree or Bachelor of Biblical Studies degree. Chuck Smith is the President of this Bible college, which has chosen to remain unaccredited in order “...not to compromise the integrity of the vision or direction the Lord has given to CCBC. We believe that the credibility of CCBC is not in accreditation, but in the fruitfulness and surrendered lives of the students who have attended.” (Source: Calvary Chapel Bible College, http://www.calvarychapelbiblecollege.com/wb/pages/main-campus/general-information/accreditation.php and http://www.calvarychapelbiblecollege.com/wb/pages/main-campus/faculty-and-staff.php) Chuck Smith says that the Calvary Chapels are not a denomination, but rather an affiliation of independent churches. Yet it can be argued that through his Bible college and through the CCOF, Mr. Smith actually exerts a fairly high degree of control over the Calvary Chapel franchise.

This is seen in the pastors who have been accused by church members of sexual sin or financial impropriety, yet who were not removed from their positions because of their affiliation with Chuck Smith. In some cases, such pastors were retained on staff even after being arrested by the police. Many sources have stated that if a member has a disagreement with a pastor, his only options are to appeal to Chuck Smith or be run out of the church. This reality of the Calvary Chapels as a religious empire is now coming into sharp focus with news of recent lawsuits for control of various Calvary Chapel churches, as well as the courtroom fight between Chuck Smith and a former Calvary Chapel pastor over control of the Calvary radio station network. Chuck Smith's statements about how Calvary Chapel is not a denomination seem to me to be as disingenuous as the statements George Geftakys used to make about how his own “empire” of Assemblies was just a collection of independent fellowships. Yet the same issues of control and abuse of power that existed in the Geftakys Assemblies seem to exist also in the Calvary Chapels. The Calvary Chapel franchise is yet another example of what happens when one man or a select group of men assume absolute, unchecked power over a church.

I will close by providing additional links, some of which contain personal stories of people who suffered the abuse of pastoral power in the Calvary Chapel franchise. I also want to mention that I ran into a friend a year or so ago who was going to a Calvary Chapel in Orange County, and who told me about a friend of his who came to believe that God was calling him to join the U.S. Navy as a chaplain in order to minister to sailors. Yet when he went to the pastor of his Calvary Chapel to talk about his plans, the pastor turned out to be something of a control freak, and told him that if he joined the Navy, the pastor would remove his blessing from him.

As for me, I have just one thing to say to anyone who comes up to me blathering about how he has been called by God to be my pastor, and that I am to obey him unquestioningly just as Israel was commanded to obey Moses. That person had better be able to part oceans, or even rivers. He had better be able to do the miracles of Moses. Otherwise, I'll tell him to hit the bricks. In fact, I'll probably tell him to get lost no matter what he is able to do. "Moses ain't around anymore."

Additional links:

• http://calvarychapel.pbwiki.com/

• “What I did for...love?”, Intellectuelle, http://www.evangelicaloutpost.com/intellectuelle/archives/003482.html

• “Unaccountable at Calvary Chapel,” Christianity Today, 8 May 2006, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/mayweb-only/119-12.0.html

• http://www.rickross.com/groups/calvary.html

• http://www.factnet.org/discus/messages/3/17729.html?1180762736

• http://www.rickross.com/reference/calvary/calvaryvisitor.html

• http://www.christianrecovery.com/vb/showthread.php?t=3666&page=3