West Side Church of Christ - Clarksburg, WV

piritual; not material or social - Our building is not a lavish multi-purpose facility, but is designed to provide us with a comfortable place to assemble for the specific purposes of worshipping God, studying His word, and exhorting one another (Acts 20:7; Hebrews10:25). While as individual Christians we seek each others' association socially, the church is not a "front" for a social club, so the Lord's treasury is not used to promote social functions. We strive to be the same church described in the New Testament - It is our purpose to be identified with the Christians of the first century. We believe this to be possible to all who will learn, believe and be guided by the plain teaching of God's word. When Jesus declared such to be "the seed of the kingdom" (Luke 8:11), he was emphasizing a known fact of nature that specific kinds of seed, when planted, will always produce after their kind. For example, wheat will produce wheat. In like manner, the word of God, when planted in the hearts of honest people, and obeyed, will produce Christians just as it did in the first century - nothing more or nothing less. We have no human head - There is no man, or group of men, who legislate for the church. We have no man or group of men to whom we answer, but to Jesus Christ, our Lord. He is the head of the church (Colossians 1:18), which leaves no room for any human head. As was true in the first century, so also now there is no inter-congregational organization, but rather independent congregations in different locations with Christ as Lord and Master. According to the authority of Christ, when a congregation matures to the point where men meet the qualifications, overseers (also called bishops, elders or pastors) are appointed to look after the spiritual welfare of the congregation. Such men are appointed only when they meet all the qualifications listed by Paul in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9. They then have the responsibility to "feed the flock" with the spiritual food found in the scriptures, and to be examples for others to see (1 Peter 5:1-3). Our preachers are not "pastors" (unless they meet the qualifications and are so appointed) but are simply teachers of the gospel. The Bible is our only book of rules - Therefore, we have no man-written creed or books to follow. We are governed in faith and conduct by the Bible alone. While recognizing the guiding principles of the Old Testament, we seek to conform to the rules and patterns of the New Testament (Hebrews 1:1-2; 1 Peter 4:11), inspired and infallible in content (2 Peter 1:20-21; 1 Corinthians 2:11-13). Consequently, when the Bible speaks upon any given subject, its pronouncement is accepted as final. By its own testimony, no one may, with impunity, alter a single word of it (Deuteronomy 4:2; Proverbs 30:6; Revelation 22:18-19).