Calvary Chapel
Calvary Chapel is an independent Protestant church started by Chuck Smith in California during the late 1960's. Formed under the Jesus Movement where the first parishioners were hippies, the churches spread under the leadership of Smith so that today there are over 1,000 Calvary Chapel churches in the world. They are known to strike a balance between traditional Protestant theology and the more modern Charismatic movement.
Calvary Chapel professes to be non-denominational, but it does hold strongly to certain controversial beliefs or practices that have historically divided and defined the denominations. One example is its commitment to believer's baptism (not infant baptism), administered by immersion. There is a belief in the Gifts of the Holy Spirit including Glossolalia, i.e. Speaking in Tongues, but the open manifestation of these gifts is usually reserved for smaller groups instead of the larger service. One distinctive of the church is its practice of studying the Bible in a progressive fashion, line by line.
