Forestside Church began over 30 years ago by Pastor Sam & Patsy McIlwrath with a passion to reach our community with the love and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The initial meetings were in small house groups and hired halls and then in 1997 God opened to us an amazing building and complex right at the heart of our community. In 2017 the church transitioned to a new leadership team with Pastor Samuel & Zelda McIlwrath taking over as the lead Pastors.
Forestside Church has a heart and call to reach our Community, City and Nation with the message of the unconditional love and unmerited favor of a God is absolutely FOR US because of Jesus Christ! We are a church that accepts and opens our hearts to every race, color, background ,social status knowing that Gods value and worth is our only identity. The amazing news of the Gospel is not that we accept God but that God accepts and values us! This is the transforming power of the Gospel!
Forestside Church is connected and inter connected with all the body of Christ throughout the UK, Ireland and Internationally. God has positioned us to connect and be a connector in the body of Christ to see the church and church leaders strengthened and encouraged as they seek to fulfill Gods calling upon their lives and ministries. We believe passionately we have a mandate to facilitate and connect many streams of the church to flow into the one river of God to impact and touch our nation in this latter day move of God.
We believe that Gods heart is covenantal in his dealings with humanity. All of the unfolding covenants of the Old Testament have their fulfillment and completion in the New Covenant of Grace .The stability and strength of the New Covenant is fixed and eternal with God the Father making an Everlasting Covenant with his Son Jesus Christ and in this covenant all off humanity and the church are brought into the blessing and Favor of our amazing God. Jesus is the Light of the Covenant, the messenger of the Covenant, the mediator of the Covenant and in him we come into right relationship with the Father.
The entry point to come into a right relationship with God begins with Salvation. Salvation is not earned but is received on acceptance of the finished work of the cross and what God has done for us through Jesus Christ.God in Christ has paid the price for sin and removed the law that condemns us in our sin, in this amazing gift of Salvation our state is changed and transformed from being a sinner to becoming the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
Grace is a person not a concept! In all aspects of God dealing with us in Christ Jesus it is out of his abundance of Grace toward us which is received, unconditional and unmerited.
God justifies everyone who believes in him. Justification is not a process but an understanding of our identity in Jesus Christ .The cross not only brings us into right standing with God but declares us cleansed from sin, presents us continually righteous before the Father and lifts us into the Holiness of God.
We believe the church of Jesus Christ is Gods divinely ordained instrument to establish and extend Gods Kingdom throughout the earth. God loves the church and gave himself for the church .The local church is an expression of Gods heart and love in bringing the nations of the earth into his purposes and love.The local church is the body of Christ on earth and through it alone God makes known to the world the manifold wisdom of God.
Finding your place is Gods house is a blessing! When God saves a person He brings them from isolation into the family of God. The purpose of salvation is to connect and bring every believer into fellowship, communion with other believers who have found their placement in the House of God. After salvation finding your place in the local church is the first step to fulfillment in the Christian life. Gods call and the mandate of every Christian is not just to believe in Jesus Christ but find their place, be planted and belong to Gods House. We love what God loves……..God loved the church and he has given us the same heart. The local church is the answer to lack of fulfillment, joy and purpose.
Covenant relationships are developed and cultivated when the purposes of God and his House meet within our hearts.Covenant relationships flourish and grow in an atmosphere where we understand that our connection to each other goes beyond a casual acquaintance or loose fellowship but manifests when we allow the Vision and purpose of the House to come alive in hearts.
The word of God is alive, God breathed and God inspired. Faith rushes out of our hearts when we come alive to the Word of God. The word of God is the foundation to all that we believe and is our check and balance on navigating through lives difficulties and is the very foundation and guide in all that we do as individuals and as a church. The word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword!
The call to pray is a mandate of the church. Jesus calls us to pray, shows us how to pray and declares that a joyful spirit would be alive in any people that understand and pursue the call to become a House of Prayer and Intercession. The will of God is released and unfolds in the place of prayer and Gods Kingdom is established and extended when the heart of prayer intersession is established and raised up.
God inhabits and is enthroned upon the praises of a Worshiping church! The understanding of biblical praise and worship is the bedrock of a House full of Gods Glory. We love the presence of God and have committed our hearts to raising up not a song culture but a worshiping culture that understands the dynamics and beauty of praise. We are committed to raising up a House of Thanksgiving, Praise and Worship.
We value above everything else the presence of God. The mark of any gathering begins with the longing and desire to encounter the presence of God. The Glory of God’s presence is the cry of every believer and the distinctive of every Church that truly seeks God. The revelation of an awesome house is a church filled and overflowing with the presence of God.
God is passionate about speaking to his people! The release of the prophetic voice in our midst is welcomed and pursued. In an atmosphere of God’s presence there is a flow and opening of the voice of the Lord through the spirit to minister and encourage the church.
Gods heart is for the church to connect to each generation, valuing all ages, all backgrounds and all races. God is the God of Abraham,Isaac and Jacob,His call and purposes reach to each generation with clarity and power. God has given us a promise from Isaiah ch 49 v 25 in that he promises that "I will contend with him that contends with You and I will save your children."
What began in the garden of Eden ends in a Heavenly City! God has called us with many other churches to reach and impact our city with the transforming power of the Gospel. The cry of the city must be the cry off our hearts. The city is not overthrown to darkness and wickedness when the righteous are in the City.When the righteous are in the City it will be blessed! God loves Cities! God has called the church to impact ,bless, pray and Intercede for the light and love of God to touch and fill our streets and cities with His amazing Love.
