I started attending Westview in 1991, when they were located across the street from what was then Belleville Township High School West and is now Lindenwood Universities Belleville Campus. I was looking to start attending church on Sundays, deciding that I was attempting to get my life in order and that I felt going to church weekly needed to be a large part of that. I had as so many teens do, gotten frustrated with our families church and how judgmental they seemed many years earlier. I decided to basically start shopping churches to find one I felt at home in. In all honesty, Westview was near our home so I started there first and I've not really looked back. Everyone was friendly and welcoming, encouraging and loving, making sure that my questions were answered and that I felt included. I was baptized by submersion at that location, not long after I started attending and I haven't looked back since.
I grew up a mostly Christmas and Easter Catholic, until High School when I had a life changing experience that drew me very close to God but still felt distanced from him by religion. To now be going to a church where you don't just acknowledge the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit but actually are encouraged to have an ongoing daily relationship with them truly fits what my heart feels is right.
Are we a perfect church group of people, nope. I challenge you to find a church whose membership is. We'll have an occasional technical difficulty that leaves our Pastor preaching by flash light or our singers using sheet music, even moments that sadly don't necessarily reflect the way we'd like God to see us. However that being said, we are a loving group of people, who believe it is our God given challenge to meet people and draw them to Christ, first and foremost through our love and devotion to Christ and our local community.
Our services are a good mix of Traditional and Contemporary blended in music. We have a choir and a praise team, the setting is a relaxed come-as-you-are, although there are some who enjoy dressing up for church, so there's no real standard of dress. We have children's and youth programs as well as life groups for college aged through senior adults where we get together in smaller groups to openly discuss how a relationship with Christ plays into our everyday lives.
Come join us, you won't be sorry that you came. read more