Who Does Calvary Chapel Bible College Belong To?

It is natural to ask, “Who does Calvary Chapel Bible College belong to” The question touches on trust, purpose, and responsibility. To answer it faithfully, we need to begin in the right place.

Ultimately, CCBC belongs to God.

Christian institutions are not first defined by legal structures, boards, or histories. They exist by God’s calling, for God’s purposes, and under His authority. Any faithful conversation about belonging or ownership must begin there.

Scripture consistently frames God’s work in terms of stewardship rather than possession. What God establishes, He entrusts. What He entrusts, He expects to be stewarded faithfully and passed on wisely.

Calvary Chapel Bible College exists because God was doing something distinctive in a particular moment of history. Through the ministry of Chuck Smith and the Jesus People Movement, God awakened a generation with a deep hunger for His Word, a reliance on the work of the Holy Spirit, and a simple, Christ-centered vision for the church.

Chuck Smith consistently understood his ministry, and the Calvary Chapel movement as a whole, as the work of God rather than the product of human design. He spoke often of simply teaching the Word faithfully and watching God bring fruit in ways no one could have planned or controlled. That same posture shaped the life of the churches and gave rise to the Bible college as a means of serving what God was already doing.

Out of that movement came churches committed to teaching the Bible chapter by chapter, verse by verse, and to raising up disciples grounded in Scripture and equipped to serve. CCBC emerged not as an isolated institution, but as a natural expression of the church’s desire to form men and women deeply rooted in the Word of God.

From its earliest days, the college has been shaped by that calling. It exists because the church needed a place for focused formation in Scripture.

The relationship between CCBC and Calvary Chapel churches has always been lived, not merely stated.

Calvary Chapel churches have sent their students to be formed in the Scriptures. They have staffed classrooms with pastors, missionaries, and teachers shaped by the same convictions and ethos. They have prayed for the school, supported it sacrificially, and entrusted it with their people.

In turn, CCBC alumni have gone out to plant churches, serve on ministry teams, teach the Bible, lead worship, and shepherd congregations in Calvary Chapels across the country and around the world. The life of the college and the life of the churches have been interwoven across generations.

This mutual exchange reflects a shared vision for formation that flows naturally between church and school.

When we speak of belonging, we are not talking about ownership in the corporate or denominational sense.

Calvary Chapel is not a denomination. It is a family of churches bound together by shared convictions, relationships, and a common commitment to the authority of Scripture and the work of the Holy Spirit.

Because of that, Calvary Chapel Bible College is not under denominational control. But just because the college operates as its own institution does not mean it functions independently of its Calvary Chapel family. CCBC was born out of the Calvary Chapel family, has been shaped by it, and exists to serve it.

Calvary Chapel Bible College does have structures of leadership and accountability. The college is led by a president and governed by a board. These roles exist not to claim ownership or exercise control, but to steward the school’s legacy faithfully and to serve the Calvary Chapel family that has entrusted this work to the college.

Belonging, then, takes the shape of shared responsibility and partnership. Calvary Chapel churches are the primary constituency CCBC exists to serve. In that relationship, the college seeks to come alongside churches as they raise up the next generation of disciples and leaders. The school does not replace the local church, nor does it stand above it. Calvary Chapel Bible College offers focused formation in Scripture within a Christ-centered community, in service of the church’s mission.

God’s mission in the world is carried forward primarily through the church. Scripture presents the local church as the central instrument through which God proclaims the gospel, makes disciples, and bears witness to His kingdom.

Bible colleges, like all Christian institutions, exist to support and extend that work, not to supplant it.

Calvary Chapel Bible College exists to serve the church by forming students who are established in Christ, confident in the Scripture, and empowered for witness, wherever God calls them. The college’s work has meaning only insofar as it strengthens the life and witness of the church.

That mission is visible in the students who arrive sent by their congregations and in the alumni who return to serve them. CCBC does not exist for its own sake. It exists for the sake of the church and for the work God continues to do through it.

Calvary Chapel Bible College’s mission is clear: CCBC prepares students for Spirit-filled life and ministry through the study of Scripture in Christ-centered community.

That mission has always been carried out in close partnership with Calvary Chapel churches. They are not an audience the college serves at a distance, but its primary partners and constituents. The school exists because churches entrust students to it, walk alongside them in formation, and receive them back for lives of service and leadership.

Calvary Chapel Bible College belongs to God. Under His care, it has lived in faithful relationship with the Calvary Chapel family of churches, who have shared in its life, its labor, and its fruit.

Our responsibility is not to redefine that belonging, but to steward it well, so that together, church and college may continue to serve the purposes of God for generations to come.