FOUNDATIONAL DOCTRINE (What We Believe)

Family Dedication at West Side symbolizes an ongoing partnership between parents and West Side Christian Church. To ensure that we are aligned on the essentials, we ask parents to review West Side’s foundational beliefs before completing Family Dedication.

Most believers are unified on the core beliefs of the Christian faith but some may disagree over secondary doctrines or the proper emphasis for certain teachings.

Although we passionately share our understanding of God’s word, we also acknowledge that sincere and intelligent believers hold other views. However, Westsiders agree to fully support and never undermine essential biblical doctrine, as our leaders understand it.

Who God Is:

The Bible reveals one God who coexists as three persons: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. We refer to this Divine Unity as the Trinity.
God the Father sent Jesus into the world to offer forgiveness and eternal life. (John 3:16)
Jesus Christ is fully divine and fully human. He was born to a virgin, lived a sinless life, was crucified, resurrected, and ascended to Heaven where He reigns with God the Father. History will culminate with the return of Jesus, after which all Christ’s followers will eternally live with God. Those who are not forgiven and saved through Christ will be separated from God forever. (Philippians 2:6-11; Matthew 25:31-33; I Thessalonians 4:13-18)
The Holy Spirit is God’s active presence in the world today. (Ephesians 1:13)

Why people need Jesus:

Although the universe and everything in it were intentionally created by God and were perfect at the time of creation, the first humans disobeyed God. As a result, all creation suffers the devastating consequences of sin (Romans 8:22). We now live in a broken, sinful world where life is not as God originally intended.
In addition to the consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin, every person sins and falls short of God’s vision for our lives. (Romans 3:23)
God created us to experience a vibrant relationship with Him, but our sin interferes with both our opportunity and desire to connect with the Creator.
Our sinful choices are real and costly: we deserve eternal separation from God; and, a pure, holy God has no choice but to separate sinful people from himself.
Even our sincerest regret and desire to live better are not enough to reconcile us to God.
Only the death of Jesus Christ can adequately atone for our sins. Only the resurrection of Jesus can empower us to live forever.
Therefore, trusting in Jesus is the only way to be reconciled to our holy God.
We also need Jesus as a lifetime leader who points us to God and to true, eternal life.

What a Christian (or Christ-follower) is:

A Christian is a person who believes in Jesus as the Bible presents him.
A Christian trusts that the death and resurrection of Jesus are the only basis for forgiveness and eternal life, which makes Jesus the only Savior.
A Christian accepts Jesus as Lord (Leader) and follows Jesus in all areas of life.
A person becomes a Christian by believing in the biblical Jesus, confessing that faith, repenting of personal sin, and by being baptized into Christ. (Acts 2:38, 41; Galatians 3:27)

Our source of authority:

Though we value tradition, reason, and experience, we ultimately look to the Bible as our source of authority. We believe the Bible is the completely reliable and authoritative word of God. (2 Timothy 3:16)

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