ABOUT US
Believers - Those who have by faith trusted Jesus Christ as personal Savior and by faith are seeking to live lives pleasing to Him as Lord.
A Body - That’s how the Bible describes the church. It’s a beautiful metaphor. The body has only one head—the head of the church is Jesus Christ. The body has many parts. When each part works together with every other part the result is harmonious obedience to the head. When each member of the Lord’s body is obedient to Him, the church functions as He intends. Our desire at Eastgate is that each member of the body would function “just as He desires” (1 Corinthians 12:12-27).
Affiliation - Our roots are in the Plymouth Brethren movement. One of the distinctives of that movement is the self-rule of each local church. While we have no headquarters or hierarchy, we do enjoy fellowship with other assemblies of believers’ who meet in a similar way. There are other such fellowships in the Portland area and many hundreds across the nation and around the world. Our fellowship with these local churches is not exclusive. We enjoy fellowship with Christians who hold the teaching of God’s word central to their faith and practice.
Leadership - While we recognize Christ as the only head of the church, the New Testament describes human leadership as a plurality of elders. These men, raised up by the Holy Spirit, and recognized by the body, are to oversee, shepherd and lead the flock both by example and instruction. While we do not recognize any person as “the pastor”, we do recognize the possibility of one or more people being free to serve the body on a full-time basis as the need requires (Acts 6:1-7; 20:17-30; 1 Timothy 3:1-13). Click Here to Meet Our Elders
Ordinances - We believe the Scriptures teach that there are two ordinances for the church to observe. One is baptism. Baptism is an outward demonstration of what has taken place spiritually. When a person trusts Christ as Savior, they enter into the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Baptism by immersion is a symbol of the spiritual renewal which takes place at salvation (Matthew 28:19; Romans 6:1-6).
The second ordinance is The Lord's Supper. Each week as part of our Worship and Remembrance Service we take time to obey the Lord’s command to remember Him by breaking of the bread and drinking of the cup (Matthew 14:22-25; 1 Corinthians 11:23-34).
Membership - We believe the Scriptures teach that when a person accepts Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, they become a member of the body of Christ. The church is not a human organization that you join, but a gathering of believers that you associate yourself with for a common goal. This association does provide many privileges such as fellowship, care and support, but also carries responsibilities.
Those who choose to fellowship in a particular local church place themselves under the care and discipline of the elders, as well as sharing the responsibility financially for the maintenance of the ministries that are part of that local church. Anyone desiring to be recognized as part of our fellowship should contact one of the elders (1 Corinthians 9:1-14; 2 Corinthians 8-9; Hebrews 10:19-25).