At Westlife, we feel that it's OUR responsibility to "clear the way" for you to come to church. We want you to be able to experience the great music, encouraging messages, friendly people and enjoyable atmosphere that are a part of Westlife. And we know that your first time at a church, any church, brings up some questions.

Are you friendly? - Here at Westlife, we'll make sure the first face you see when you approach the church has a smile on it. Whether you need kids programs or are looking for a place for your teens, a greeter will be nearby to help you get where you need to go.

Are the messages positive and practical? - You'll enjoy upbeat music and practical messages that help you deal with real life issues. We'll even give you a helpful outline with the Bible passages. What you learn on the weekend, you'll be able to use during the week. We want to help you connect with the personal hope and practical help that God can give us.

What will I wear? - We're more concerned with meeting your real life needs than with what you wear. So, dress casually and you'll fit right in.

What about my kids? - We know that as a parent you need be sure that your children are in a SAFE learning environment. And we know that your children are looking for a FUN place to learn. We are going to invest a lot to make sure that both of these goals are reached. You'll see that in the buildings the children meet in, and even more in the volunteers who work with your kids.

If it's been a long time since you've been to church, Westlife has you in mind! There's already enough you have to think about when you're visiting a church for the first time. We hope that getting some of this "stuff" out of the way not only encourages you to join us for church, but also helps you to connect with the hope and encouragement that God has for you.

To view the Introducing Westlife Church brochure, click here.

Andrew and Jillian Staggs
We moved to Springfield Lakes in July 2004 - and we love it!!! Our two children attend a school in the region.

Leading a church that makes a difference to people has been our desire for a long time. We have also been involved in a range of projects that help people to live the life they are meant to live - both in Australia and overseas.

The God we know and love has a very real and passionate interest in us and when we invite him to come into our world, as our Saviour and as our mentor and friend the most unbelievable future will open up before us. We have seen this in our own lives and best of all in the lives of people who have made their home here at Westlife Church.
Andrew & Jillian

Westlife Ministry Team

The ministry of our church happens through our Ministry Team. They are a great bunch of people - and we all "do life" together.
It is our desire to lead, equip and encourage you to become all you can be.

Westlife Church Launch Team
There is a bunch of heroes in the heart of Westlife Church. They are 'the true believers'. They committed themselves to a vision in October 2005 and have worked very hard to get us to where we are today. Their lives represent some of the values of our new church - friendly, hospitable, positive, practical, organized, purposeful, powerful, relevant, convicting...

Over time we will establish more formalized teams. It is a goal to have a ministry team leader and coach for each of our 5 purposes - celebrate, connect, grow, serve and reach.

At the moment we are all enjoying the ride... together!!!

Personally Meet Jesus

A fresh start is through Christ: - Do you need a Fresh Start? The wall that separated us from our Father God has been broken down. A Fresh Start is now possible. If you are not in a family relationship with God as a son to his Father this is your primary need.

If God made me why would I need a Fresh Start? What happened to the original relationship? If I choose to stay the way I am what are the consequences? The following links will answer these and other questions. This invitation is for you whether your background is religious or nonreligious. If you are distanced from God and his acceptance keep reading to learn more about the relationship that's available.

• What We Lost? A Relationship
• What We Need! A Restored Relationship
• How Can This Relationship Be Restored?
• A prayer to reaffirm your acceptance of Christ
• The Expectations Of My Relationship With God
• Steps for follow-through

What We Lost? A Relationship
Adam, the father of the human race, made a terrible choice. We his children live in the aftermath of his failure. It started with an act of disobedience. He willingly joined his wife in doubting their Father's word and ignoring his instructions. Their response was not according to the design of God and resulted in their being expelled from God's presence.

The result? Man's relationship with God was broken. In the process he failed his wife. From then on there were times of contention in their relationship. And as if that wasn't bad enough, the man lost his job and was kicked off the family farm. He found some temporary jobs until he could get back with his Father. But this work was cursed from the start and resulted in pain and difficulty. His family relationships went from bad to worse. One of his sons even killed another! (You can read about this in Genesis chapters 2-4.)

We have inherited a diseased spiritual DNA. It's no wonder we find failure and sin in our lives today. It is by our choices that we continue to exist outside a relationship with God.

This leaves us without the bonds of the relationship with our Father that all of us are meant to have. The ties have been cut. This alienation is described in the New Testament as being "separate from Christ . . . without hope and without God in the world."

"Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world." (Ephesians 2:12)

Most people understand accountability and consequences! If we die still alienated from God we will experience the horrible reality of his judgment that man's rebel spirit has merited -- eternal separation from God!

What We Need! A Restored Relationship
Jesus Christ is the only one able to restore the relationship we lost by giving us life. Because we are dead and God is alive we must be made alive to be able to have a relationship with him.

There is another obstacle to a relationship with God. We tend to be "fix it myself" people. We can admit we're far from perfect. We are in fact sinners! The problem is that our theme song is "I did it my way."

When we do it our way we remain isolated by our own sins. We separate ourselves not only from God but also from right relationships with our families and others. In our relationship with God we can't be do-it-your selfers. We can't fix what's wrong by our own efforts.



How Can This Relationship Be Restored?
Why do we need Jesus? God in human form took our place of judgment for sin to put us in his place as a son of God. On his cross Jesus broke down the walls of isolation that sin had built. Now we know why we can't just do a little better ourselves: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast."

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)

This is what a lot of people miss! A relationship with God is a gift. We don't earn it. We can't buy it. We can't boast or feel a sense of accomplishment about achieving it. It is given out of love.

But a gift must be received: "To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12). Don't be too proud to admit you need God's new life within you. This is God's way -- through Jesus the gift!

"Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God--children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." John 1:12

If you would like to accept this gift (eternal life in relationship with God), Jesus Christ has secured it for you. You can tell God that you want to be saved. You are saved by believing, and the words below might express your thoughts to God. It's not these exact words but the attitude of your heart that really matters.

A prayer to accept or reaffirm your acceptance of Christ - a Fresh Start:

Father, I've come home. Please make me your child. I turn from my sin. I accept your forgiveness made possible through Jesus Christ by his death and resurrection. I place my faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone. I receive him as my Savior and Lord. I want to follow and serve you. Let today be the beginning of my new journey as a member of your family. You have always kept your promises. Help me to keep my promises, too. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

If you believed in your heart and mind in Jesus and His work for you, then welcome to the family of God!

The Expectations Of My Relationship With God
As you begin to live with integrity in God's family the dynamic reality of this new relationship will be known by you

• in your confidence of eternal life: "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life." (1 John 5:13)
• in open communication through prayer: "Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us." (1 John 3:21-23)
• in closeness to God through his Spirit: "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." (Romans 8:16-17)
• in having the Holy Spirit within: "Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)

and by others around you...

• through your changed life: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17)
• through your focus on God and others: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:30-31)

Steps for follow-through:

1. Read your Bible each day
2. Talk to God in prayer each day
3. Go to a church that believes and teaches the Bible and tell the pastor of your commitment to Jesus
4. Share your decision with a close friend or partner
5. Find a small group of Christian people to help you grow in your faith

Tough Questions for explorers or seekers

Jesus is the door to another world, a spiritual world, a world that is the foundation of the physical and psychological worlds of human experience.

Travelling through life unconnected from our Creator is like being a light bulb without electricity, or a fish without water. They are not complete or functioning as their designer intended.

Here are some of the major questions that people ask in relation to Christianity and the existence of God - the sneaking suspicion that there's really something or someone 'out there' -

• Isn't God Simply An Invention?
• Why Can't I See God?
• Doesn't Believing In God Require Blind Faith?
• Don't Science and Religion Conflict?
• Is God a Sadist?
• Why Do I Need God?
• What About Other Religions?

Isn't God simply an invention?
This is the kind of question many have asked themselves at some point in their lives. Is there something or someone beyond the here and now, beyond the world I can feel, touch, taste, see, or hear?

If you were in your mother's womb when someone described the world next door, you may well have said; "I know there is something out there but I can't see it." A bit like living in a swimming pool at night with the lights out! However when you were born you discovered a whole new world existed. It must be said that because something is out of sight, it does not automatically mean that it doesn't exist.

If the idea of God or Jesus was an invention, it must be the greatest invention ever made! Generating book sales that have never been surpassed by any other book, the Bible has consistently been the No. 1 best-selling book throughout history.

The inventor would have had to invent thousands of prophecies revealed in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible fulfilled in the life of Jesus, as well as the prophecies yet to be fulfilled in what the Bible describes as the end times. They would have had to create and organise an incredible paper trail with medical, archaeological, scientific and historical evidence to be discovered centuries later by scientists, mathematicians and scholars in many fields of research.

Why can't I see God?
Seeing the spiritual world involves the opening of another set of eyes known as the 'eyes of the human spirit'. 'Seeing' happens on a number of levels - seeing in a purely physical dimension, seeing with the eyes of the human spirit and imagination, seeing in the world of dreaming, seeing intellectually ("It dawned on me! I see it now!!"), and the seeing of intuition or perception that connects with other personalities

The glasses we see God through can be coloured or can create a distorted view for many different reasons. It may be due to an environment surrounded by sceptics who shut down any idea of searching for God with statements such as "Don't go all religious on us" or "Science has disproved God." It may be a bad experience with a so-called Christian. We can't see clearly because all we can see is the judgmental, condescending, pushy attitude from those who claim to know their Creator. It may be the sheer number of things on your conscience: things that haunt you from the past, people you've hurt, habits formed, and things you know have offended God. These things, like dirt on the windscreen of a car, make it difficult to see the road ahead.

Doesn't believing in God require blind faith?
Blind faith is a part of a rational person's; everyday life. For instance, have you ever checked the brakes or steering column of your car before driving? When you ride in a lift you exercise blind faith in the cables supporting that lift. It could even be said that some of these daily acts of faith are not totally blind, but based on rational thinking concerning the bigger picture. For example; our knowledge of government safety requirements for car manufacturing and regular testing gives us a rational basis for faith in cars.

The same reasoning can also be applied to faith in God - that it is not in fact 'blind. It simply requires the rehabilitation of another set of senses that enable us to see, feel, hear, and walk in things which are of a spiritual nature.

Don't science and religion conflict?
Science and faith are not in conflict. In fact, science has never disproved the existence of God. On the contrary, science is now more and more pointing to the reality that this world must have some kind of designer behind it all.

We can't do without faith in the field of science. Without these prior 'leaps of faith' we call hypotheses, we cannot begin scientific research. The scientist has a spark of imagination, a hunch there could be 'something out there'. They then commit themselves to hypothesis, experimentation, and the discovery of evidence.

Trying to see God through the eyes of science may give you a break-down of the design, chemicals, substance, and forces of a world God has made, but not necessarily the ability to introduce you to God in person.

Is God a sadist?
The same accusation being made against God could also be levelled at the couple who have decided to have a baby: "How can loving people allow an innocent little person to be born into this world of so much pain and suffering? How could you use your power to procreate in such an unloving way?"

Love is more powerful than the fear of suffering. The desire to experience the love and warmth of a child is far greater than the thought of that child or even the parents' potential suffering. When a couple decide to have children, it's mostly out of love and a desire for relationship with little thought of the possibility of suffering.

This idea of love motivation is like God's motivation for giving birth to us in the first place - knowing full well the suffering we and He would experience as a result of making us in His image. Suffering was never a part of God's original design. However, for God to have offspring, suffering could never be avoided. God knew that to create individuals with freedom to make up their own minds and create their own actions would result in suffering.

Without individual freewill we would be robots. Our ability to love and experience love comes from this complex power of choice. The power of love is found in our power to choose. True love simply wouldn't exist without this power to reject. Therefore, because of the existence of love, we have freedom of choice. Then, because of freedom of choice, we have the power to create good and evil resulting in happiness or suffering.

God didn't create evil, but simply presented the possibility which had always existed in the history of the universe.

Why do I need God?
It could be said that being dependent on God is a crutch, or it could be said that it was a part of our original design, to be plugged into the Creator was the way we originally functioned at our best.

You could say that my leg is a crutch but it's more sensible to say it's an important part of my original design. Spiritual life or our need to be plugged into the Creator is as real a need as food and water.

If you're saying "I'm a good person", it implies that you believe that bad is not good, and that your definition of good may be better than the other person. The very question "I'm a good person - why do I need God?" shows an assumption that there must be a standard of good out there somewhere in the universe!

In a world of so many views, values, beliefs, and philosophies sold as 'good' or 'the truth', the real questions are "Who's right? Where do we draw the line and who holds the standard?!" What's the process for determining correct principles? Hitler probably though he was a good person! So who determines goodness and on what basis?

If it's true, and there is a God that created the Universe, then He rightfully owns everything, and has an absolute right to be the law-giver.

When we realise that from the Creator's perspective wrong-doing is defined as anything and everything that violates love, we have the wide-angle view of where healthy and correct principles or laws originate.

What about other religions?
The Creator deals individually with human hearts. It doesn't matter what religion a person is, He responds to the communication of their heart, to the prayer of those who recognise their need to be plugged into their original life source. This is the beginning of a relationship, not a religion.

Christianity and other world religions have a lot in common. This is why people get confused. When it comes to ethics and morality, most of the world's religions teach for the most part, the same things. Therefore people conclude that they are all working to the same end. This is primarily true for the areas of basic character and ethical behaviour.

However not all religions claim to lead to God. Each religion teaches many things completely opposite from the other. All may be wrong, but they cannot all be right, for the claims of the one will exclude the other.

Christians cannot get rid of their founder's claim to be the only door to the world next door. Either we find and accept the evidence that Jesus was the Son of God, or we number Him among the world's power hungry lunatics and liars. None of the founders of the other religions of the world have thought of themselves as Jesus did, nor have they made His claims. None of the other religions claim to have a saviour. These questions are the starting point for the genuine explorer, someone open to the possibility that the universe is more than a closed, one-dimensional material system. It will be the beginning of expanding the boundaries of your world view by asking some serious questions, and being prepared to 'think outside the box'.

The depth of friendship you can find with your Creator will outstrip even the deepest relationship you have experienced on earth. Once you acknowledge the possibility that there may be a world next door, you are stepping down a pathway that will transform your life forever. You have everything to gain by searching further.