Why do you say, “Come As You Are”?
For two reasons. Firstly, if you feel comfortable wearing a three-piece suit, sporting a bouffant, then come as you are. But if you feel comfortable in shorts and a mohican then come as you are. We don’t expect people attending our church to conform to a particular sub-culture. Just don’t come in your Speedo. In fact you shouldn’t even own one, they went out with the 80’s!
Secondly, the other reason that we say, “Come as you are” is because that is the only way that people can come to God. Your best attempts at being respectable do not impress God. He wants you to come as you are and to freely accept forgiveness in Jesus. In the Bible we read that God sent Jesus to die and be punished in our place while we were still His guilty enemies! He did this so that we could be given a fresh start and escape His anger at our rebellious hearts (see Romans 5v6-11 in the Bible). But the only way to receive this fresh start is to come as you are before God and to ask for it.
Why do you bother with church in this day and age?
We meet together because we’re persuaded from the Bible that God has an unstoppable plan for the world (Ephesians 1v1-10). The climax of this plan is that everything will be united under the rule of His son, Jesus. We meet to remind each other of this plan and to explore its far-reaching implications for our lives (Hebrews 10v24-25). We encourage each other to put aside our self-centred ambitions and to increasingly submit to Jesus’ authority. We also hope to introduce more people to the Creator’s master plan.
How and why was Church on the Ridge born?
Church on the Ridge was conceived in January 2003. Three couples came together to plan for a church that would reach out to both the community and the students of Scottsville in Pietermritzburg. As a church, we aim to be distinctive in two areas. Firstly, we want to be faithful to the Bible. So in our meetings we try to explain its message clearly and we also want it to direct all of our activities as a church. Secondly, we want to be accessible to contemporary society, so we work hard at illustrating and applying the Bible’s message in a way that anyone can understand.
Next: What We Believe
