The member churches and Christian ministries of Together For Ryde have developed these share values to guide their collaboration.
Serving the City Together
We are leaders of churches and Christian ministries in Ryde City, united by a heart for honouring the Lord Jesus, a heart for connecting in friendship with each other, and a heart for serving the region. Our purposes are to:
- Appreciate our unity and solidarity as gospel-hearted churches serving the cause of Jesus.
- Cultivate a shared vision and passion for seeing our city transformed by God’s grace.
- Find ways to see our church communities work together to glorify God in Ryde City.
We Share a Heart for Honouring the Lord Jesus
We value our shared identity in Christ and the capacity this gives us to relate to each other including the joy of knowing his saving love, submitting to his rule, and longing for his return.
We value our shared faith, as expressed in the Statement of Faith of the World Evangelical Alliance, and we appreciate the common ground this gives to all our deliberations and prayers.
We value our shared commitment to the centrality of gospel ministry, knowing that God wants people to come to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus and have their lives reshaped in service of Him.
We Share a Heart for Connecting with Each Other
We value our calling to love one another as the preeminent mark of following Jesus.
We value our times together as a team, making sure that our meetings and team gatherings are seen as necessary components of our various ministry roles.
We value our calling to remain united amidst our differences, not allowing those matters over which we might disagree in good conscience to become cause for division.
We value our capacity to speak well of one another, recognising the responsibility we bear to cultivate among our congregations a gracious appreciation of fellow members of the wider Body of Christ.
We Share a Heart for Serving the Region
We value the particular responsibility we share as pastors to know and understand our region with its various people groups, organisations and structures, working together to discern the real spiritual and tangible needs of the area and the opportunities these present for the work of God’s Kingdom.
We value our capacity to work together as church communities, remembering that God’s purposes are bigger than the programs of any one church and that this unity is integral to the faithfulness of our witness.
We value the significance of disciple-making as key to God’s mission, giving urgency to the week-to-week tasks of proclaiming the message of the gospel in ways that are accessible and meaningful, and building up God’s people through faithful Bible teaching and active training in patterns of prayerfulness, holiness, neighbourly love, and humble service.
We value the preeminent need for transformation under God’s Word, believing that real life-change and lasting social transformation require a change of heart that only God can bring about through the work of His Spirit as people respond to God in the message of scripture.
We value united prayer across our churches, interceding as the Lord leads, upholding the needs of one another, and praying for the needs of our city, our nation, and and the world, and for the concerns of the global church.
We value the importance of social action, not as a substitute for proclaiming the good news nor as a device for attracting interest in church, but as a genuine outworking of hearts changed by the gospel, learning the God-taught love and justice that reflects God’s deep concern for the vulnerable and broken.
We pray that God, in His mercy, will bring about a great strengthening of the churches of Ryde. We pray that through the united witness of our churches, the love of God would be clearly made known to the people of Ryde. We pray that God would be greatly honoured as the culture and tone of our city is shaped in lasting ways through the truth, peace and blessing that comes from knowing Him.
