WHY ARE WE A THING?

EASTGATE IS HERE TO HONESTLY LEARN TO LOVE GOD AND LEARN TO LOVE OUR FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS.

This is the church's mission worldwide, and we take our place in that movement.  The church's place in the world is to be a community where we learn how to connect with God and align with his plan.  The church is a place where we corporately express our love, faith, and hope in God through liturgies of song, confession, and prayer.  (Matthew 22:36-40, Romans 15:7) 

WE ARE HERE TO UNDERSTAND AND EXPRESS THE RADICAL GRACE OF GOD.

We try to be a welcoming place - a safe place of spirit-led freedom and acceptance.  Our goal is not to "fix" people but to declare God's amazing love for humanity.  We do our best to provide the space for each individual to seek to understand God's will for his or her life through His word.  (1 John 4:10)

WE ARE HERE TO ADVANCE GOD'S HEALING RULE: THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

Our hope is that this will happen as we embrace the overarching mission of reckless love.  We want to extend God's loving offer of life to all who will receive it.  We believe this will happen as we learn to follow Jesus and teach others to follow him as well.  (Matthew 28:16-20)

WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT TO US?

THESE ARE THE VALUES THAT HOLD THE MOST IMPORTANCE FOR US AS WE APPROACH OUR MISSION:

• God’s word – We place a substantial emphasis on reading the word honestly and contextually, seeking God’s direction and will from what it reveals.

• Authenticity – We accept the reality of who we are and all the flaws it contains. We want a real relationship with God and each other, experienced in real life.

• Grace – We believe that God loves humanity as we are, not as we should be, and He paid a great price to redeem our lives. We believe that God loves us as a first source, and all other changes in life are the result of our acceptance of that revelation.

• Freedom - The statement attributed to the Moravians: In essentials - unity, in non-essentials - liberty, and in all things - love. We believe the power of the Holy Spirit will lead and mold his people, and we intentionally leave room for His work in people’s lives.

• People - We intentionally seek to model a family dynamic as a basis for church community and organization.

WHAT DO WE BELIEVE?

The following is a list of what we believe to be essential truths that unite us with historic AND BIBLICAL christianity.

• We believe the bible is a true message to the human race from God who created all things. We believe that scripture is relevant and life-changing for all who will embrace and live out its truths. It is the central source for developing a proper worldview.

• We believe that God is revealed in the bible as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  These three unified, equal, yet distinct personalities make up the one triune God.  (Don’t understand that?  Neither do we...that's what makes God so fun!)

• We believe that mankind is separated from God because of sin. We believe we need salvation which is found by having faith in Jesus Christ and trusting in his sacrificial death.

• We believe that Jesus is the Christ (the hero who rescues us); fully God and fully man; who was crucified and killed; who rose again after the third day; who has ascended into heaven; who rules his church; and whom we anticipate to return bodily to restore all things.

• We believe in the liberty of every believer to be personally led by the Holy Spirit in following God's plan for his or her life.

We believe a lot of other stuff too, but what we've listed here are the "essentials" we think are most important.  They are the issues we seek to have unity on.  We don't, however, have a litmus test we deliver at the door.  Above all, we believe the church is a hang-out where we learn to love Jesus and learn to love each other, and from our gathering, we go out and make a difference in the world where we've been placed. Ultimately, we follow Paul’s example to “know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified;” all else should lead to this truth.

Below you will find three teaching videos that explore the Elemental Beliefs and core values we hold at Eastgate: