HISTORY

Calvary Chapel Southampton is a part of the Calvary Chapel family, whose roots go back to the 1960’s in Costa Mesa, California. Calvary Chapel began in 1965 as a small non-denominational church of 25 people led by Chuck & Kay Smith but what began as a small church grew into a church that had a weekly attendance of 30,000. From the beginning, Chuck and Kay welcomed all—young and old—without judgement, placing his emphasis on the teaching the Bible.

God graciously used Chuck and Kay to reach a generation of hippies and surfers; generating a movement of the Holy Spirit that spread from the west coast of the USA to England, bringing thousands of young people to Jesus Christ.

The Jesus Movement was recently documented through the story of Greg Laurie in the film “Jesus Revolution”

Our history began in 2003 when the Lord called together a handful of Christians who wanted a church that taught the Bible but was led by the Spirit – a combination of in-depth and relevant Bible teaching but was contemporary in it’s style. In 2004 Calvary Chapel Southampton was born in the Shirley area of Southampton. Soon all the people that the Lord was bringing along outgrew our meeting hall so we moved to Portswood and God continued to increase us. In 2007 we moved to our current location in Bassett.

Our style is relaxed, informal and modern. Our Sunday Morning service usually has around 25 minutes of guitar or piano led worship, singing a blend of modern hymns and songs, this is followed by a 45 minute expository sermon. Most of us wear jeans and t-shirt, bring a Bible and arrive early to pray (you can join us!)