About
EastLake is a non-denominational, inter-generational, multi-locational (is that a word?) somewhat disorganized church started by nine friends in 2005. We want to be a safe place for regular people to explore faith in community - no perfect people allowed. It’s a place to be yourself, grow spiritually, build friendships, and make a difference locally and globally. Everyone is welcome here, whatever your story, your questions, doubts or struggles. We don’t pretend to have all the answers, but we believe in a God who does.
What to expect on a Sunday:
- Friendly people will help you find your way around
- Don't stress, we'll have gallons of great coffee waiting for you
- If you have kids, they will enjoy fun, age appropriate classes while you are in the adult service
- There is a live band that will lead us in 3 songs (you can either sing along or just listen to the music)
- Someone will pray and say "hi"
- A pastor will give a message that is relevant to your life
- ...and the whole thing will be over in about 70 minutes
How the whole "1 church in 2 locations" thing works:
We don't have a main campus. Instead, each week we randomly choose one location to be the host site and then stream the live video feed to the other location. Sometimes the teaching pastor will be at your site, other times, you’ll just see him on screen via live feed. Honestly, the whole thing seems a little jumbo-tron-techno-dork to us, but it sure beats building a kajillion dollar facility to hold everyone. All services are identical in format and content with their own live music and full children's programming.
How we live it:
EastLake Church is all about, all because of, and all for, Jesus. It’s not about buildings with baristas, bowling alleys or bookstores. We want to embody the church Jesus had in mind and he never saw church as a place to go, but as a people striving to encounter God daily. Not a religious institution but a movement of love and hope. We’re all about doing life together in community, taking our first steps and our next steps, sharing our possessions, praying for and serving one another and our broader community. Like the first century church, we gather together for large group celebration on the weekend, and then meet in smaller groups during the week to connect in relationship and grow spiritually.
We believe the Church is at its best when it serves, sacrifices, and loves… caring about the things God cares about. Like Jesus, we will stand for those who cannot stand up for themselves. This is why we continue to raise up new leaders who take teams from EastLake on local and global mission work; both bringing good news and being good news. We were created to live for something larger than ourselves, and God invites everyone everywhere into this way of life. We believe it is the best possible way to live.
EastLake Church Plants:
We believe in planting healthy, missional churches that reproduce. Because of this, we've given hundreds of thousands of dollars to plant new churches. We are committed to the continual funding, coaching and equipping of new churches and leaders, all as a part of our mission to Dispense Hope to the Pacific Northwest and into the whole world.
-Westbridge Church, St. Michael, MN
-Renovate Church, Parker, CO
-Canyon Community Church, Nampa, ID
-GreatLakes Church, Kenosha, WI
-EastLake Lawrence, Lawrence, KS
-EastLake Crowley, Crowley, LA
-EastLake Salt Lake, Salt Lake City, UT
Statement of Beliefs:
We believe God inspired the authors of Scripture by his Spirit to speak to all generations of believers, including us today. In the original writings they are without error. We believe the Scriptures speak with the authority of God while reflecting the backgrounds, styles, and vocabularies of the human authors. By God's Spirit, we seek to interpret, contextualize, and live out this story even today.
We believe in one God, creator of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit. God created humans in his image to live in loving fellowship with him. But the enemy tempted the first humans and because we choose to sin and go our own way, we are alienated from God and suffer the corruption of our nature because of our sin. Because of this, death, disease, darkness, and evil have entered the world and all of creation is in desperate need of redemption.
This perfect and holy God did not abandon us to our own destruction but instead promised to provide a way to restoration and redemption. That way took on flesh in the person and work of Jesus Christ. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He died a substitutionary death on the cross as payment for our sins. His suffering, death, burial, and resurrection bring hope for all humankind. Sin and death have been defeated and the promise of forgiveness and eternal communion with God are available through Jesus. No amount of good works or human effort can restore us from our state of eternal alienation from God. It is only by God's free grace that we are saved from this state of alienation. This grace is appropriated by a change of heart toward God's leadership in our lives, and by faith in Jesus to forgive our sins.
God's Holy Spirit works in us to bring conviction of a person's need for the forgiveness of sin through Christ. He regenerates their heart and then permanently indwells them, affirming as children of God all those who trust Jesus. The Holy Spirit empowers us with gifts, convicts, guides, comforts, counsels, and leads us into truth through a communal life of worship and a missional expression of our faith. This expression is called the church.
EastLake church is rooted and grounded in Christ, practicing spiritual disciplines and celebrating baptism and the Lord's Supper. The church is a global and local expression of living out the way of Jesus through love, peace, sacrifice, and healing as we embody the resurrected Christ, who lives in and through us to a broken and hurting world.