What we believe
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:23
Our Values
God Centred
To be a community that has a passion for the glory of God.
That loves and continually declares the gospel of Jesus.
That values the Bible as the roadmap for life.
That sees purposeful prayer as absolutely essential for every aspect of life.
To be sacrificial and faithful contributors to God’s work.
Mission Minded
For everyone to be involved in deliberate and strategic mission.
To partner with others in local, national, and global mission initiatives.
Community Connected
Be a welcoming church where people feel loved and safe to seek God.
Be a community that deeply cares for one another.
Be a community that values teamwork and leadership that encourages and equips.
Discipleship Driven
Everyone is growing to their absolute full potential in Christ.
Every new Christian has someone to disciple them and no one is left to stray.
Our Beliefs
The Gospel
The Good News of Jesus Christ is what unites us and what gives us our hope and joy. You can discover more about the hope of the good news of Jesus here.
If you don’t know Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, we encourage you to join our next Explaining Christianity course. We run these courses three times a year over four consecutive Monday nights. At an Explaining Christianity course, we open the Bible to discover who Jesus is, why he had to come and die on the cross, and what it means for us. View our what’s on page to find out when our next EC course is running and to register.
We are Baptist
We are a Baptist church and belong to the family of Queensland Baptist churches. As a Baptist church, Eastside is elder-led (Titus 2:15, Hebrews 13:17) and congregationally governed (Acts 1:23, 15:22, 30, 2 Corinthians 8:19), under the authority of God’s Word (2 Timothy 3:16-17). We practice the two ordinances that God has instituted: Baptism (Matthew 28:19) and the Lord’s Supper (Luke 22:17-20). Since baptism is the public declaration that a person has received God’s grace, we believe God’s Word teaches that baptism is only for people who repent of their sins and trust in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of sins and hope of eternal life (Acts 2:38). You can find out more about the beliefs and practices of Queensland Baptist churches here.
Our Constitution and Membership Covenant (Governing Documents)
At Eastside we are fundamentally governed by God’s Word, the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16-17), and believe it is the supreme standard by which all human conduct and opinions should be tried. While we are fundamentally governed by the Bible, there are other documents that help us in the day-to-day governance of operating a church. We recognise that these documents are not on equal footing with the Bible; that is, they do not hold the same authority in our life as the Bible does, nonetheless, we do think they are important documents that serve important purposes.
Our church constitution helps us fellowship together and make decisions that reflect the will of God and not the interests of individuals. The Bible also teaches us how the church is to be organised and governed, and much of our church constitution addresses the Bible’s teaching on that topic. More specifically, our church constitution outlines some of our church’s necessary and practical operations.
God’s Word expects that all Christians are committed members of a local church where they covenant together in shared bonds of mutual accountability (John 17:22-23, 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, Ephesians 2:19-22, Philippians 2:1-11). Becoming a member of the local church is a living commitment that expresses a love for the Lord Jesus, and a desire to seek the good of the local church over self-interest. Every person who becomes a member of Eastside Community Church makes a commitment to watch over and care for other members, and it is a commitment to be watched over and cared for by other members. Our membership covenant outlines our expectations of one another and how we live together as a church.
Positional Papers on Theological Matters
Below are a series of essays written by our eldership outlining our positions on a number of theological matters that fall under the characteristic doctrinal beliefs that we hold as a church – that is, beliefs that characterise us at Eastside Community Church. This means there are many Jesus-loving, Gospel-centred churches that believe differently in these matters, and that’s ok! If you have any questions about these positional papers or any other questions regarding our beliefs please contact us.