What we believe:

Statement of faith

“We believe Jesus is the only Son of God, who came to earth as a man, died for our sins, and came back to life again. We believe all who in faith trust Him as their Lord and Savior to forgive their sins are part of the worldwide body of Christ.”

We welcome all who hold this belief as our brothers and sisters in Christ and invite them to call WestGate Church their church home.
Colossians 1:15-21, Romans 3:21-25, Romans 10:9 -10, Ephesians 2:8-10, John 14:6, John 1:12-14

HISTORIC BELIEFS (CREEDS)

We hold to the historic teachings of Christian orthodoxy as articulated in the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed.

  • The Apostles' Creed is an ancient statement of Christian faith, summarizing core beliefs about God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Rooted in the early church and used for baptismal confessions, it reflects foundational teachings shared across Christian traditions. I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

    Amen.

  • The Nicene Creed, established at the Councils of Nicaea (325 AD) and Constantinople (381 AD), is a definitive statement of Christian faith that affirms the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus Christ. It was created to address heresies and unify the church around core theological truths. I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

    Who, for us men for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

    I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceedeth from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.

    I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

    I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.

    Amen.

KEY THEOLOGICAL BELIEFS

Rooted in the historic teachings of Christian orthodoxy, as expressed in the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed, we affirm the following:

  • God is the creator of everything, maker of all things visible and invisible, who was before all things. God is personal and knowable and has a name, “Yahweh,” revealed in Exodus and throughout Scripture. God is Trinity, three-in-one—God the Father, Jesus the Son, the Holy Spirit—which means that God has always and will always exist in an ongoing relationship of love. As the theologian Micheal Reeves notes, “Loving others is not a strange or novel thing for God; it is at the root of who he is. God is love because God is a Trinity.”

  • In the beginning, a good God made a good world, and “imaged” himself in human beings, creating both man and woman in his likeness, to steward his good world and partner with him in bringing its good potential to bear. Because of this, every human is imbued with intrinsic worth, value, and dignity, a Christian theology of Imago Dei. Sin (rebellion against God) marred that good plan and introduced death into the human story. The Gospel is the good news that God our Father, the Creator, out of His great love for us, has come to rescue us from sin, satan, death, and hell, and to renew all things in and through the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf, and to establish His Kingdom through His people, in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is for God’s great glory and our profound joy.

  • Salvation is the rescuing power, transformative work, and redemptive hope offered through Jesus. We are rescued from sin and death through the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection (what Christians sometimes call “justification”), we are saved into the family of God, as we join brothers and sisters in the ongoing journey of being daily formed by the Holy Spirit into Christlikeness (what Christians sometimes call “sanctification”), and we are saved for the coming day of redemption, when Christ returns to right all wrongs, inaugurate God’s good new world, and invite us into that good new world (what Christians sometimes call “glorification”).

  • The Bible is the living, active word of God, true and without error or falsehood in its original literary intent and design. God divinely inspired its writing through the original human authors. He does not contradict what he has already spoken for us through his word, in belief and practice. Therefore, the Bible serves not only as an inspiration and a guide into ongoing life with God, but also as a guardrail for us to better discover, understand, and live into the providential, moral, and personal will of God for our world and our lives.

  • The New Testament authors use various metaphors and images to describe the church—the body and the bride of Christ, the temple, a royal priesthood, the family of God. Though varied, these metaphors and images affirm several key truths—Christ is the leader of the church, Christ dwells in the church, the church belongs to God, the church is set apart from the world, the church is called out missionally into the world, the church is family. WestGate Church and each of our congregations are localized, contextualized expressions of the global, historic, universal Christian church.

KEY THEOLOGICAL Disctinctives

Our theological beliefs shape specific expressions that may differ from other churches in our city. While these distinctives are important to our way of following Jesus, we do not consider them essential for salvation.

  • The Holy Spirit continues to actively gift God’s people as he chooses and wills, in order to encourage and embolden the church, and to serve and compel the world toward Christ. Because we believe in the present and active gifts of the Holy Spirit, we surrender and yield to the Spirit’s leading in all things and empower all people to use their God-given gifts to build up the body of Christ.

  • The Bible is a library of ancient texts which combine to tell a single redemptive story, pointing to and through Jesus, toward a vision for the world that ends in God’s glory and the flourishing of all who live in Christ. Because we believe in the narratival reading of the Bible, we believe and retell the one true story that forms the foundation of who God is, who we are and the hope we have in Christ.

  • Baptism is an individual’s personal and public declaration of trust in and allegiance to Jesus alone. The immersion into water identifies the participant with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and testifies to the salvific, regenerative, transformative work of the Holy Spirit in their life. Because we believe Believers Water Baptism is an essential part of one’s faith journey, we regularly invite those who have said yes to Jesus to be baptized in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.

  • Communion is the sacred, communal act of remembering the saving work of Jesus—that his body was broken and his blood was shed so that we might have life and life and to the full, here and now, and on into eternity. All who have said yes to Jesus are welcome to receive the bread and the cup together. Because we believe communion is an essential part of our worship, we regularly receive communion to give thanks and remember the grace of God in Christ Jesus.

  • There are some doctrines on which two Christians may agree to disagree, even though they are in the same local church and part of the same leadership team. Examples include: the dating of events in Genesis, order of events associated with the Lord’s return, and degree of separation from worldly practices. When teaching in any such area, it is made clear these beliefs are not essential for salvation or leadership in the church. We may state the case for our position, but will also acknowledge that sincere and intelligent Christians hold different views. We are committed to nurturing the unity we share as the family of God, and to obeying His command to love one another. “In all beliefs, we express love. In essential beliefs, we pursue unity. In non-essential beliefs, we have liberty, extend compassion, and move toward clarity.” Romans 14:1-15:7 | 2 Timothy 2:23-24 | Titus 3:9