CHURCH VISION/PURPOSE/VALUES/BELIEFS
The life and ministry of West Ryde Baptist Church will inspire and invite all people to follow God in His plan for people of every culture to worship Him together (Revelation 7:9-10).
We
will inspire and invite
by…
Ø
not just talking
about faith, but partnering with God in ways that show we trust and love Him
more than ourselves
Ø
not just talking
about the importance of the Bible, but studying it diligently, growing in
understanding and seeking to apply it in all our life
and ministry together
Ø
not just talking
about prayer, but doing it individually and together
Ø
not just talking
about mission and evangelism, but nurturing a faith that overflows in a
passionate desire to share the message of Jesus with others
Ø
not just talking
about a global interest, but actively involving ourselves in God’s mission to
the world
Ø
not just talking
about social justice, but acting for justice and the needs of the whole person
Ø
not just talking
about cultural diversity, but paying the price and making the changes necessary
if we are to reflect the cultural diversity around us
Ø
not just talking
about hospitality, but going beyond a warm welcome to follow people up and show
real and practical concern
Ø
not just talking
about the needs of single people as well as families, but recognising and
incorporating the needs of all people in our life
and ministry together
Ø
not just talking
about our unity in Christ, but demonstrating a commitment to each other that is
bigger than our differences,
even when it’s tough to love each other
Ø
not just talking
about serving families as families, but complementing our age-specific
ministries with activities and strategies designed
to bring families together
Ø
not just talking
about the importance of children and young people, but prioritising financial
and pastoral team commitments to reflect this priority
Ø
not just talking
about working together, but actually supporting and encouraging our leadership,
and identifying gifts and empowering people
to serve out of passion and gifting
Our
commitment is to actually live out our values
as we seek to fulfil our purpose.
We
are motivated for this task by the great heavenly vision of people of
every culture worshipping God together…
After
this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count,
from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in
front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches
in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our
God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
(Revelation
7:9-10)
Our
purpose is to be a Christ-centred community growing in faith and presenting the
Gospel to others through words and actions, directed by prayer and God’s word
as the Holy Spirit works among us.
· The Bible
We are committed to giving the Bible authority in life and ministry.
Demonstrated
by:
Ø Clear Biblical preaching in our Sunday Services
Ø
Studying the Bible in small groups and in
personal Bible study
Ø
Giving the Bible final authority in our life,
ministry and decisions together
· Prayer
We are committed to depending upon God in prayer in all aspects of life and ministry
Demonstrated
by:
Ø A commitment to praying corporately, in small groups and personally
Ø
Groups with a special commitment to
intercessory prayer
·
We are committed to reaching out beyond ourselves with the message and love of Jesus.
Demonstrated
by:
Ø Ongoing financial, prayer and other support for local and global mission
Ø
A commitment to being ‘missional’ in all
our life and ministry as a church
Ø
Ongoing training and preaching in evangelism
Ø
Intentionally sharing our faith as individuals
and together
· Cultural Diversity
We are committed to reflecting the cultural diversity around us.
Demonstrated
by:
Ø
Ministries that serve a diversity of cultural
groups, separately and together
Ø
A learning, respectful attitude to those with
different cultural heritages
Ø
A desire to see our cultural diversity
reflected in church life, ministry and leadership
· Hospitality
We are committed to being warm, hospitable and friendly to all people.
Demonstrated
by:
Ø
A warm welcome and inclusive attitude to
visitors
Ø
A genuine interest in serving and leading
others to Christ
· Families
We are committed to including and serving families.
Demonstrated
by:
Ø
Recognising that people and families come in
many different forms
Ø
Seeking to serve families in ways that bring
families together
Ø
Seeking to cater for the needs of all age
groups
· Working together
We are committed to serving as the body of Christ.
Demonstrated
by:
Ø
The fruit of the Spirit in our relationships
with each other as the body of Christ
Ø
Support and encouragement for strong, competent
leadership
Ø Identifying gifts and empowering our people to serve out of passion and gifting
There
is one God who is eternal personal Spirit. He is infinite in power,
wisdom, holiness and love. God is Triune in essential being and revealed
to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Jesus
Christ as the second Person of the Godhead is eternally one with God the
Father of whose person and glory Jesus is the accurate expression. To
become human He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, so
that two whole and perfect natures, the nature of God and human nature were
united in one Person; truly God and truly human.
The
Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity is eternally one with the
Father and the Son yet is sent by Them to achieve the divine purpose in the
world and in the Church.
The
Scriptures, consisting of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments,
are the infallible Word of God. They were written by holy people of God
inspired by the Holy Spirit and have supreme authority in all matters of faith
and conduct.
People
were made in the image of God and for fellowship with God. By
transgression of God’s command humankind fell from fellowship with God and
their nature was corrupted. As a consequence all people are spiritually
dead under Satan’s dominion and control and subject to God’s wrath and
condemnation. Therefore, apart from God’s grace, people are helpless and
hopeless.
In
order to redeem people from the guilt, penalty and power of sin, Jesus Christ
became human and died a sacrificial death as our representative substitute.
By His resurrection, God’s acceptance of His atoning death was demonstrated.
This atonement is sufficient for the whole world, but effective only in those
who received it. The sinner is justified and reconciled to God, not
through any personal merit, but solely on the basis of God’s gracious gift
of salvation in Jesus Christ received through faith.
The
ministry of the Holy Spirit is necessary for the acceptance of God’s
provision of salvation. The Holy Spirit convinces sinners of their
sinfulness, leads them to personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and
so brings them to spiritual birth as God’s children and to fellowship in
Christ. Working within the life of believers the Holy Spirit makes real
the presence of Christ, witnesses to their relationship with God, leads into all
truth, bestows gifts for effective service and produces graces for holy living.
The
Church is the body of people whom God has separated from the world through
faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. All regenerate persons
are members of the universal
Baptism
is an ordinance of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a public declaration
of a person’s faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. In accordance
with New Testament Scripture it should be administered only by total immersion
which symbolises the believer’s identification with Christ in death, burial
and resurrection, the remission of sins and the believer’s dedication to God
to live and walk in newness of life.
The
Lord’s Supper is an ordinance of the Lord Jesus Christ instituted by Him
to be celebrated with the elements of bread and wine by believers in Christ
until the end of the age. It commemorates and declares our thanks for the
Lord’s substitutionary death. The celebration of the ordinance expresses
our fellowship with and in the Lord Jesus Christ as members of the Body of which
He is the Head.
At
the end of this age, according to His promise, Jesus Christ will return
personally and visibly in His glory to the earth. The full consummation of
the
At
the end of the age, there is to be a resurrection both of the righteous
and the unrighteous. After death people’s bodies return to dust, but
their spirits return immediately to God – the righteous to be with Him and the
unrighteous to be reserved for judgment.
God
has appointed a day of final judgment for the world. At that time
Jesus Christ will judge every person and each will receive reward or punishment
according to their deeds. Those judged righteous, in their resurrected and
glorified bodies, will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven
with the Lord. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of
everlasting punishment.