What to Expect

Eastside is a Christian Church

We believe and teach the three historic statements of the Christian faith – the Apostles, Nicene, and Athanasian creeds, which clarify that God is Triune: three equal yet distinct persons that are one God– Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  We believe and teach that Jesus Christ is God the Son from all eternity who took on human nature in his birth at Bethlehem, and that human beings are saved solely by faith in him and his perfect life and atoning death for sin.

Eastside is a Lutheran Church

We emphasize the three great truths of the Reformation. . .

• BY GRACE ALONE.  We are forgiven and saved solely as a result of God’s undeserved love, for the sake of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection for us.  There is nothing human beings can or must do to contribute to their salvation.
• THROUGH FAITH ALONE.  All that Jesus did to restore us to a right relationship with God is ours personally through faith in Jesus.  The Holy Spirit creates and confirms in us this faith or trust in Jesus solely through the Gospel, in Scripture and in the Sacraments.
• ON THE BASIS OF SCRIPTURE ALONE.  Christian truth and life are established solely by the 66 books of the Bible, God’s word-for-word revelation, inspired by the Holy Spirit and without error.

Eastside is an Evangelical Church

That word “evangelical” means that we are all about the Gospel – the “good news” that God’s love, forgiveness, and everlasting life are his free gift to sinners for the sake of Jesus Christ.  The Gospel shapes our message, our mission, and the character of our life together in Christ’s Church.

Eastside is a Confessional Church

Because they are a correct presentation of God’s Word, we consistently and without compromise teach the doctrines set forth in Lutheran Confessions.  Among those doctrines are that. . .

• God created a perfect world in six days.  He created human beings in his image, that is, perfect as he is.
• The first human beings, Adam and Eve, followed Satan in rebellion against God’s will, thereby forfeiting the image of God and the right to enjoy God’s presence forever.  Ever since this fall into sin, human beings are by birth and by nature sinners, who cannot make their own way back to God.  Death is a consequence of sin.  Everlasting separation from God in hell is the greater consequence of sin from which God must rescue us.
• God the Father promised and then sent his Son to live the perfect life required of us in our place, and to suffer the condemnation for sin God’s holy justice required, as our Substitute.  Jesus rose from death to assure the resurrection of those who believe in him when he returns.  Jesus ascended to assume his role as Lord of the universe and Head of the Church.
• The ascended Lord Jesus sent and sends the Holy Spirit to bring people to faith in Jesus, to shape and direct their Christian lives, and to lead the Christian Church with the Holy Scriptures he inspired.
• God’s moral will, summarized in the Ten Commandments, is absolute and unchanging.  Not culture, nor church, nor personal opinion can limit or alter the right and wrong God has revealed in Scripture.  The failure to obey even one commandment of God condemns us as sinners.
• Jesus established two sacraments.  Holy Baptism, the application of water in the name of the Triune God, washes away sin and creates the new life of faith that Jesus described as “born again.”  As has the Christian Church from the beginning, we baptize infants.  The Lord’s Supper is Christ’s true body and blood, given to us with bread and wine, to assure us of forgiveness and salvation.
• The Holy Christian Church is comprised of all those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior.  It is, therefore, “invisible” and cannot be equated with any human organization.  Churches are gatherings of Christians around God’s Word and Sacraments to carry out the Savior’s mission and provide mutual encouragement and correction.  The Church has a distinct purpose (making disciples) and distinct means (the Gospel in Word and Sacrament) that distinguish it from the State, which God established with its purpose (maintaining peace and justice) and means (law and order).
• At death the soul separates from the body.  The souls of those who trust in Jesus experience joy in his presence, while those who do not believe in Jesus experience torment in separation from him.  Jesus will return, at any time, to resurrect the dead, to reunite souls and bodies, to gather believers for eternal life with him, and to restore a perfect creation that the Bible calls “the new heaven and the new earth.”