Serving opportunities include:

• Welcome/hospitality team
• Set up/tear down
• Music/video/tech team
• Life Group leader
• Children’s ministry (Greenhouse) and nursery
• Youth ministry
• Local missions

Membership in a local church is easily confused with membership in a country club or a local gym, but they are radically different things. Membership in these other kinds of institutions is usually just a ticket to use the facilities, but church membership is marked by a different word – covenant – this means a sacred promise to play a part in the local body of believers. But there is far more here.

The New Testament calls Christians to local church membership in different ways, most notably in Hebrews 13:17, where Christians are called to submit to their leaders. Membership is formal submission. But more than that, membership in the local church is necessary for decision-making in a church which is ultimately led by the congregation (i.e. Acts 6:3), and from another perspective, membership is necessary for pastors and elders to know whom they will be responsible for when those leaders one day stand before God. Church membership is not necessary for salvation, but it is meant to be helpful toward assurance of salvation. This is because local churches have been entrusted with the keys of the Kingdom (see Matthew 16:19; 18:18). In giving the keys of the Kingdom to local church leaders, the Lord gives them power to govern and to bind and loose; therefore, when church membership is conferred on an individual, the local church is declaring (to the best of their admittedly fallible spiritual understanding) that the person is a true follower of Christ.

In country club or gym membership, it’s up to the individual member to determine whether he or she participates in events or in the life of the organization, but local church membership inherently means commitment and participation. This is because the Apostle Paul says that members of a church are more like members of the human body – so a non-participating member is an oxymoron, like an eye that refuses to open or a nose that refuses to smell.

Members at Edgewood make a sacred covenant or promise to be a part in five ways:

• By coming faithfully to weekly worship services. (Hebrews 10:24, 25)
• By giving generously according to biblical standards (2 Corinthians 9:6 – 8)
• By refraining from gossip and thus confronting sin in a biblical manner (Matthew 18:15)
• By submitting to the elders (Hebrews 13:17)
• By praying for the church faithfully (John 16:24)

Ignite (Edgewood’s youth group) aims to introduce middle and high school students in the Sheboygan area to Jesus Christ and support them in becoming fully devoted followers. Meetings take place on the last Wednesday of each month at Jake’s Café from 7-8:30pm.

We have only two rules…

1. Have a ton of fun.
2. Be serious about our faith.

You may think those don’t go together, but I think our students will tell you they go quite well together. We have gospel-centered teaching from the Bible, strive to create a safe environment for students to ask questions and explore the faith, and eat snacks all in one night. We also believe that faith in action can be one of the biggest ways to learn. Service projects and road trips are scheduled throughout the year.

The heart of the Youth Ministry at Edgewood centers around our weekly gatherings. The day and time is yet to be determined, but a typical night will include games, snacks, building relationships, and a time of teaching. We also break into small groups (broken up by grade and gender) for deeper discussion, encouragement, prayer, study of the Word, and accountability. Through all of it, we have tons of fun!