The Church @ The Ridge was planted/founded by the Lord in September 2005. Pastor Steve Whipple felt God's call out of youth ministry after 19+ years to plant this church. He and his family, along with 5 other families and about 3 single adults, started meeting in his house with a God-led vision of starting a new church to help reach the 90% unchurched population of the South Paulding County area. After meeting together on Sunday evenings for 8 months in homes and growing to a core group of over 25 families, The Ridge launched public Sunday morning worship gatherings on Easter Sunday, April 16, 2006. The church gathered at Austin Middle School on Ridge Road for the next 10 years.
In December of 2013, Pastor Steve was approached by the elders of Living Hope Baptist Church to see if The Ridge would consider allowing them to join together with us in a merger. They had property and a building but no pastor or staff. The Ridge had staff but no building. From the outset it became clear that the Lord was leading in this and over the course of the following year, a merger of the two churches into one body was completed. The renovation and expansion of the current campus took longer than anticipated throughout 2015 and into 2016. The church met as one at Austin Middle School until the project could be completed. The people of the church did most of the labor and God provided in some miraculous ways to complete the project. The two churches finally became "One people in One place for One purpose."
In July of 2016 the new campus was dedicated and The Church @ The Ridge finally had a place to call home! God has blessed and grown His church into a healthy body that is making an impact in this community and around the world.
The Church @ the Ridge is an autonomous, New Testament church. We are self-governed and independent from any denominational control. We choose to affiliate and cooperate with the following organizations:
Southern Baptist Convention - Our cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention is for the purpose of supporting worldwide church planting and missions endeavors. Through the SBC “Cooperative Program” (the world’s largest missionary organization,) we help support more than 8,000 missionaries globally. We do affirm the doctrinal statements of the SBC.
We are a member of the Noonday Association Of Churches - A regional network of like-minded churches in the NW Metro Atlanta area.
There are several other missions organizations that we associate with as well. These relationships are re-evaluated every year so that we may be good managers of our ministry focus and finances.
We desire to be a body of disciples of Jesus, who is in the business of making more disciples who in turn make even more disciples...with the mission to "Impact A Generation For The Glory Of God By Changing People's Perspective." (see Matthew 28:18-20; Matthew 22:36-40; Deuteronomy 6:4-7; Psalm 78:1-7). WHAT we are called to do: “Impact a generation…” WHY we do it: “…for the glory of God…” HOW we are to accomplish it: “…by changing perspectives." The Church @ The Ridge’s Strategy is to Change People’s Perspective About: The Church, God, Themselves, and Others. Our Strategy is born out of Jesus’ Sermon On The Mount, found in Matthew 5-7, where Jesus said repeatedly, “You have heard it said, but I say…” He changed everyone’s perspective!