EASTMONT DISTINCTIVES

We believe that baptism is both symbolic and confessional.  Baptism is to be a first act of obedience following a confession of faith in Christ.  It symbolizes death to sin, and the new life found in Christ.  We believe that immersion in water is the mode set forward in the New Testament for baptism to be administered. 

We believe that communion, like baptism, is one of the two ordinances given to the church.  Communion is a sacred time for the church to remember the atoning work of Christ to save us from our sin.  The bread and the wine remind our hearts and minds of what Christ has done for us.  The bread is a picture of Jesus’ body that took our place on the cross.  The wine reminds us of Jesus’ blood that covers our sin and redeems us.  Because of the meaning of communion, it is reserved for those who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We believe that the New Testament teaches that each local church should be led, both in doctrine and practice, by biblically qualified men who hold the office of Elder.  The office of Elder, Pastor, Overseer are all one office described with different words.  As such, the Bible clearly teaches that this office is reserved for men and not women.  The Elders of the church are responsible for the spiritual direction, doctrine and needs of the Church.

We believe that certain spiritual gifts in the New Testament were given for the authentication and validation of the church during the apostolic age.  These gifts include prophecy, healing, and speaking in tongues.  While this is a historically contested topic in the church, we believe that the clear teaching of the Bible is validated by the experience of the church today.  We believe that the first and most important part of this discussion is tied to the Biblical definitions of each gift, and ensuring that when we talk about these gifts, we are using the same definitions as the New Testament.

We believe in expositional preaching.  Most simply this means that the text of Scripture drives the sermon.  Because of this conviction, we primarily work through books of the Bible, verse by verse, chapter by chapter, and book by book.  On occasion a sermon will be dedicated to a topic that we believe needs to be addressed from the Scriptures. 

We believe that membership is a vital part of the life and ministry of a local church.  While membership is not mentioned in the New Testament by name, many principles of belonging to and serving within a local church are.  By God’s grace, there are often many churches in a city today.  As a result of that, it is easy to attend, but not belong to a local church.  Membership is a practical and intentional way for individuals to commit themselves to Eastmont as their local church.

We believe that the Bible is the final authority for life and godliness.  We also believe that the best methodology for interpreting the Bible is the literal, historical, grammatical approach.  This does not mean that literary genres (Narrative, Wisdom, Epistle, Prophecy, Law, and History) and literary methods (Metaphors, Similes, Allegory, Imagery, Symbolism, etc.) are not understood, but that even those literary devices point to an intended meaning and literal interpretation.  We want to know what the original author meant when he wrote to his original audience.  After getting the interpretation correct, we can have many different applications.