One of the local church's primary callings is to encourage believers to mature in their personal relationship to Jesus Christ. We see a pattern used by the early church in the New Testament that employed four key ingredients to accomplish this goal. These essentials are stated in Acts 2:42. It says, "They devoted themselves to the APOSTLES' TEACHING and to the FELLOWSHIP, to the BREAKING OF BREAD and to PRAYER." The importance of each of these activities is reinforced throughout scripture.

The elders of Westside have designed three primary weekly meetings in an effort to provide a balance of these four vital ingredients. They are the Breaking of Bread (also referred to as the Lord's Supper, Communion, or Remembrance meeting), Family Bible Hour/Sunday School and our weekly Care Groups. Click the links on the left for a brief explanation of the purpose of each meeting.

The practice of the Breaking of Bread as a means to the consistent "remembrance" of Christ and his loving sacrifice for our sins is clearly commanded by Jesus Himself (Luke 22:19-20, 1 Corinthians 11:23-29). It is clear that the early church took it seriously and did it often (Acts 2:46). Their pattern seems to be that they came together to do it on "the first day of the week." So our practice is also to do it each Sunday (Acts 20:7). The Lord Jesus knew that we are a frail and forgetful people. He knew that the idols of this world could easily distract us away from a life that is daily devoted to Him. It's essential that we constantly remind each other of the precious and inexhaustible truth of who our Lord and Savior is and what He has done (Ephesians 5:19-20, Hebrews 13:15).

This public expression of obedience, worship and thanksgiving to Jesus Christ through the Breaking of Bread brings Him great glory and honor. As we remember Him together, the knowledge and appreciation for Christ and His work becomes a catalyst that can help us experience the daily power and victory over sin that is available to us through His death, and resurrection.

God's Word teaches that only a true believer who is not harboring unconfessed sin can appropriately participate in the Lord's Supper. We strongly encourage those who attend to take seriously the command of scripture for each person to "examine himself before he eats" to avoid eating and drinking judgment upon himself (1 Corinthians 11:27-32).

The content of our Breaking of Bread meeting is not planned in advance. It is rather orchestrated by the Holy Spirit as He prompts various men from the body to contribute a hymn, scripture reading, comment or prayer that will help us all focus on and exalt Jesus Christ.

Each Sunday morning we also have what we call the Family Bible Hour. The first portion of this meeting provides more opportunity for worship through congregational singing, special music, drama, scripture reading, personal testimony, etc. We are committed to using a wide variety of styles of music and other creative forms of worship. The remainder of this meeting is devoted to the teaching of God's Word. We believe consistent exposure to good Bible teaching is critical to spiritual growth because it is scripture that makes the man or women of God "thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

We do not use any one man to do all the preaching and teaching. This responsibility is shared by men whom the elders believe have been specially gifted by Christ through the Holy Spirit to bring members of the church to maturity through teaching (Ephesians 4:11-13). A combination of topical and systematic book studies create variety and balance. Those who teach take seriously their responsibility to correctly interpret and apply the Word of God (2 Timothy 2:15). Our goal is to provide consistently accurate, challenging and practical expository Bible teaching. We are also committed to a consistent presentation of the gospel during the Family Bible Hour through a variety of creative methods.

Simultaneous to the adult Family Bible Hour is our vitally important Sunday School program. Children are provided an opportunity for worship through song, drama and creatively-presented Bible lessons all presented at age-appropriate levels from two years old through high school. A Sunday School committee carefully chooses curriculum and then seeks out and trains caring and capable teachers, music leaders, etc. In addition to teaching Christian children how to grow in their faith, the gospel is clearly and consistently presented to many unsaved children.

A well-staffed nursery for babies and toddlers is provided during both the Breaking of Bread and Family Bible Hour. This allows parents to focus wholeheartedly on worship and their own personal spiritual growth.

We make every effort to provide a safe and secure environment for children. Because of the widespread problem of child abuse in our society, we have implemented a Child Abuse Risk Reduction (CARR) policy in all of our children's programs.

In addition to the three core meetings of the church just discussed, Westside has a wide variety of additional ministries that are aimed at meeting the unique needs of specific sub groups within the body. These include specialized ministries to groups like junior and senior high youth, women, men and families.

Certain ministries come and go as needs are recognized and God raises up capable people to meet them. The Holy Spirit may make our people sensitive to a need and give them an interest in starting a new ministry or service within the body. The elders welcome and encourage input and a willingness to serve.