We explain our mission, vision, and core values here. What you can’t find on our website is the people who make up Westside and our roots.
Our roots are in the Plymouth Brethren movement - a movement characterized by gospel centrality, a love for the Scriptures, warm hospitality, and a firm commitment to the priesthood of all believers - that is, every member ministry. Unfortunately, that movement has also been too often characterized by division and a strong commitment to tradition no matter the cost. What characterizes us as a church is the former, not the latter.
Westside has been through a difficult season as we struggled to define exactly who we are. After much prayer, we have come to realize that our central, uniting factor must be who Jesus has called us to be and to rally around the commission given us to make disciples for Jesus. Over the past few years, we have begun to shift our focus from who we are trying to keep to who we are trying to reach. As a result, all activities of the church are now valued by their effectiveness in that central call to make disciples.
Our people come from diverse backgrounds, but love the same Jesus. Our church body is growing in eagerness to join Jesus on mission and seek to be used by him to make disciples in all the world, starting in our own back yard and neighborhoods and also impacting the nations of the world. We have realized the need to lean toward our ministry to children, youth, and young families. We have a growing Sunday school that is attracting families, and we're seeing people come to saving faith in Jesus as we commit ourselves to keep the gospel of Jesus our lead story.
It's our goal to make the gospel of Jesus clear, to baptize those who have believed, and to train people to obey all that Jesus has commanded us. We’re moving away from an educational-only model (information-heavy) to a more life-transformation-through-the-gospel model while remaining strongly committed to the authority and teaching of Scripture.