Prayer takes place one hour before each service. A Prayer and Praise night is held each month by the Worship Pastor in conjunction with various

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2 transforming lives Church is a dynamic HumeRidge Christian community which longs to see lives Transformed to Christ. When Jesus walked the earth things started changing! Hearts were changed. Lives were turned around. People found hope. Families were blessed. Communities were impacted. Our world was never the same as Jesus earliest followers took on His mantle and like Jesus turned the world upside down (Acts 17.6). Like Jesus and his followers, we believe God desires us to play an active role in transforming the world. Our mission statement, TRANSFORMING LIVES TO CHRIST by experiencing and reflecting God s love together, helps us to communicate our belief that we are transformed to Christ by experiencing and reflecting God s love together, as individuals and as a community of believers. Our services are contemporary and include modern worship, prayer, communion, and a message. The pastoral team share the workload of preaching. Our membership is passionate about reaching the community outside the walls of our building and is actively involved in mission to the local community and to the world around us. We recognise that everyone is on a spiritual journey and we are actively involved in creating and maintaining pathways of discipleship to help people along this journey. As of June 2018, HumeRidge church typically has an average attendance of 950 across our two services each Sunday. Our youth programs see over 300 youth participate each week and our children s programs over 200. We have 55 plus home groups that meet each week with a combined membership of over 500 people. Our membership is multi-cultural and multiethnic, reflecting Toowoomba s growing migrant and refugee population. Our Senior Pastor leads a team of nine full and parttime pastors whose major areas of responsibility include pastoral care, outreach, youth, counselling, worship, women, families, children, and pathways. HumeRidge Church is administrated by a Business Manager who leads a team of six full and part-time staff. HumeRidge Church is an independent church which has always been affiliated with Churches of Christ in Queensland. Characteristics of Churches of Christ can be found on the Australian Churches of Christ website. ( HumeRidge Church is governed by a Board comprising of the Senior Pastor and ten elected Elders of the church. The Board is responsible for all aspects of church governance which is guided by the church s Functional Guidelines. This document and confirmation of the registration as a charity and basic religious institution can be searched on

3 HumeRidge Sunday Services Services are held at 9 am and 5 pm each Sunday. Sunday morning services are intergenerational and intentionally contemporary times of worship and teaching. Each Sunday we share together in Communion, and regularly celebrate baptisms and the dedication of children. The pastoral team share the responsibilities of preaching, along with occasional guest speakers. We believe our children and youth are an integral part of the HumeRidge community. Our children and youth join with the whole congregation to sing songs of praise, share in communion and special events before heading to age-appropriate programs run during the sermon throughout school terms. Our programs cater for children 12 months to Grade 12 youth and focus on Jesus and the Bible. Sunday night services offer a variety of expressions of worship as well as varying styles of presentation of the message under the leadership of Pastor Ross Savill. Youth are encouraged to stay in the whole service, however, children s programs are run during the sermon to cater for children 12 months to Grade 6 throughout the school term. Prayer takes place one hour before each service. A Prayer and Praise night is held each month by the Worship Pastor in conjunction with various musicians. These nights focus on prayer, worship, and sharing of personal testimony. Ministries HumeRidge runs a wide variety of programs each week for the benefit of members and the surrounding community. Children, Youth and Young Adults Three playgroups meet during the week as an outreach to the community, and there is a children s playground located beside the church building. A program for grades 4 to 6 operates Wednesday evenings. Three youth programs are run each week during school term for grades 4-6, 7-8, and The Youth Pastor and his team oversee these programs, and some youth and young adult orientated homegroups. These also serve to help school leavers maintain a connection after their graduation. The Young Adults L10 state conference ( com.au/l10) has been organised primarily by our Pathways Pastor for the last few years. Women KYB (Women s Bible Study) meets twice per week and includes child minding services. Girls Night Out offers a fun and relaxed opportunity for ladies to gather together in a social setting and runs four times during the year. Chat@ Chats, a women s social coffee and discussion group meets monthly. A craft group, Piecemakers, operates monthly and provides another connection point for women. Men Man Up is an evening held a couple of times a term in a local café with guest speakers around issues affecting men. The senior men meet monthly for excursions, projects and meals together.

4 HUMERIDGE Seniors Seniors share in a self-hosted morning tea after each morning service. They organise regular activities and excursions and have home-based groups like the hymn singing group. Each year they share in a Christmas luncheon together. HomeGroups Under the guidance of our Home Groups Pastor, more than 55 homegroups meet regularly for bible study and fellowship throughout the year. Considerable effort is made to provide support, guidance, and resources to each group with the aim of providing church members with more intimate fellowship than can otherwise be found in a church with such a large membership. Programs HumeRidge values the ongoing transformation of people s lives and as such provides various courses to the membership and surrounding community. Program include Christianity Explained, Exploring Christianity, The Alpha Course, The Marriage Course, and various Careforce LifeKey s programs. Mosaic Ministries We provide space in our building and prayer covering for Mosaic Ministries to operate. They exist to see broken people loved and healed in Jesus. By broken people we mean men, women and children who are suffering from spiritual, emotional, physical or relational pain and distress. Whatever the cause of their suffering we humbly seek to care for, counsel, and support them pastorally. Pastoral care includes Biblical counselling for anyone including couples and families, and many other support services such as providing respite recovery accommodation for those in severe distress, advocating on behalf of distressed people, and by professionals attending various appointments with clients as requested (e.g., medical appointments accompanied by our volunteer medical scientist). Other professional services include oneto-one counselling, couple and family counselling, group therapy, support for pastors, leaders and their families. Christian leaders and financially distressed people are provided with the support they desperately need. This includes professional supervision for Chaplains who are at the coal face in schools. Regardless of background or religion, we seek to share Jesus and His amazing gospel with everyone. (www. mosaictwba.com) CAP Centre We are a Christians Against Poverty (CAP) centre. CAP is a national debt management charity that offers a face-to-face, comprehensive solution to those struggling under the burden of debt. Through our unique combination of budgeting advice, creditor liaison, provision of a CAP Account and personal support, CAP empowers people to work themselves out of debt and transform their finances. CAP Money CAP Money is designed to help prevent people spiralling into debt and learn how to manage money well no matter what their circumstances. CAP Money is lead by trained staff ready to help people gain and maintain financial freedom. Mission We believe God has called each HumeRidge member, wherever they find themselves through the week, to be an influence for Jesus to others. We call these individual mission fields our frontline. As a church community we also organise corporate frontline or mission initiatives.

5 HUMERIDGE On occasional Saturday mornings throughout the year, HumeRidge Workplace Breakfasts designed for specific groups are held to help facilitate the building of relationships for those in similar fields. Support and encouragement by peers help each grow in their vocation as well as in relationship with God. The Youth Pastor organises a Schoolyard Blitz at a local high school each year where more than 150 church members help prepare the school grounds for the new year. The Outreach Pastor is responsible for running accredited English Classes for the local migrant and refugee community. The Outreach and Youth Pastors run a homework help program for school children where volunteers assist students in need of extra help. HumeRidge members are involved in various local missions. These include School Chaplains, RI Teachers, Student Life, the God Squad motorcycle club, and Rahab - a mission to local women in the sex industry. Many members have participated in privately organised overseas mission trips in addition to larger, more organised, trips to the Philippines, Uganda and Cambodia. Members have served as Pastors on Christmas Island and in Syria. HumeRidge is currently undertaking significant infrastructure projects with Bible Colleges at ICCM in the Philippines and Churches of Christ colleges in PNG. Administration Administration of HumeRidge is overseen by the Business Manager and undertaken by a team of 6 full and part time staff. The administration team is responsible for all aspects of the practical running of the church and maintenance of the building and surrounding land. As much work is done by volunteer labour as possible. At HumeRidge we value the commitment and input of our Volunteers who contribute to the life of our church and community. Activities undertaken by our volunteers include the maintenance of the Church gardens, church cleaning, bus driving and chaperoning, hospital chaplaincy, pastoral care, the worship team and tech team for services, children s ministry, communion and home communion, homework help, and qualified TESOL teachers and class assistants.

6 HumeRidge For further information about HumeRidge Church of Christ please visit our website at Basketball Court and Youth Centre Disabled Crèche Red Room Female Male Parents Children and Youth Office Visitor s Lounge Commercial Kitchen Video Suite 300 Seat Chapel Light Activities Hall 1500 Seat Auditorium Chats Cafe Northern Foyer Entry Info Counter Loading Dock Stage Toilets and Dressing Room Parents Entry Wet weather drop-off roundabout Office Complex 250+ Car Parking

7 HumeRidge October 1882, 18 people gathered On 22 at the Temperance Hall for the first breaking of bread communion service with FW Troy presiding over the Lord s Table and evangelist Stephen Cheek preaching. This group of faithful believers had a vision of a New Testament church unencumbered by creeds or denominationalism, and united in Christ alone. They met each Sunday and by 1886 there were 52 members, 70 Bible School pupils and six teachers. By 1904, after a few ups and downs, the church acquired a meeting place in Little Russell Street. Then, in 1929, an evangelistic crusade was held with renowned evangelist EC Hinrichson. There were 156 confessions of faith during the mission and the church prospered. Soon after this, the building at 133 Margaret Street was purchased. be an evangelistic church, faithfully seeking to help others discover the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ. It has also been a training and sending church, with many leaving Toowoomba to serve as ministers and missionaries in other parts of the world. A period of church growth under Bruce Armstrong s leadership during the 1980 s led to the relocation to our current site in HumeStreet. The new modern, spacious worship centre provided room to grow and develop. This was not without its price, but proved to be an inspirational and helpful step. The new facilities were opened in October 1994, with the gymnasium completed in 1995, and a new auditorium and office area added in Since relocating, the church has met many community needs and has experienced considerable growth in worship attendance and membership. Margaret Street became the church s worship and activity centre for nearly 65 years, such that locally they were known as the Margaret Street Church of Christ. In the post-war period, as Toowoomba s population grew, Chruch of Christ churches expanded into other suburbs and surrounding regions. Harlaxton, now Toowoomba North Church of Christ, became an autonomous congregation in 1965 and Crown Street in There were church plants at Withcott in 1982, Kingsthorpe in 1988 and Highfields in Over the years, the Church of Christ had sought to

8 toowoomba Porjo at English Wikipedia [GFDL ( or CC BY-SA 3.0 ( via Wikimedia Commons Toowoomba (nicknamed The Garden City ) is a city in the Darling Downs region in the Australian state of Queensland. It is 125 km west of Queensland s capital city Brisbane by road. The estimated urban population of Toowoomba as of June 2017 was 135,631. A university and cathedral city, it hosts the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers each September and national championship events for the sports of mountain biking and motocross. There are more than 150 public parks and gardens in Toowoomba. It has developed into a regional centre for business and government services. It is also referred to as the capital of the Darling Downs. It is the 16th-largest city in Australia and the sixth-largest in Queensland after Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Townsville and Cairns. Toowoomba is the second most populous inland city in the country after the national capital of Canberra. In the last five years, it has also become one of the fastest growing towns in the country, with low unemployment and an increase in infrastructure leading to employment generation. This information is an excert from: More information can be found on the following links: destinations/toowoomba By Snapcha - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,

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