Welcome to the family of faith! Jesus says, “there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10b, NIV). I hope the EAC faith community will be a great blessing to your life as you take your first steps following Jesus. We love seeing people come to faith and we also love seeing people grow in their faith in Jesus. This is where you are now; the start of a grand adventure of learning to trust Jesus in every area of your life.
We believe Jesus is both Savior and Lord. He is the one who saves and the one we are to follow, through the power of the Holy Spirit. We believe that God created and called you with purpose and has plans for your life. Plans to take you to places you never thought possible and plans to use you as an instrument of His grace to bless others (Hebrews 13:20-21).
When you said “yes” to Jesus, you said “yes” to an invitation to receive forgiveness of your sins and receive eternal life in Him. This, however, is only the beginning. For the rest of our lives, you and I have the privilege of saying “yes” to the leading of Jesus every single day in how we live our lives. Sometimes saying “yes” to Jesus will feel exciting, sometimes it will feel confusing or even scary, but remember you can always trust Jesus (Proverbs 3:5).
As you begin this exciting new life in Jesus there are a few basic things I recommend you do:
- Regularly attend our Sunday morning gathering. This is a good foundational step for growth. You can worship the Lord with other believers, grow in your understanding of God’s word, and meet some folks who are on the same journey as you (Hebrews 10:25)!
- Being in God’s Word is one of the most important and fulfilling things a Christian can do, and it is something that we can experience for a lifetime and never grow weary of or find the end point. Here’s a great reading plan to get you started. Having your own Bible is important, too. Here’s a few Bibles we recommend to get you started as well: NLT Life Application Study Bible, Premium Value Slimline Bible Large Print NLT, Holy Bible: New Living Translation. We also have Bibles available for free at the church.
- Learn from someone who has walked with Jesus for a while. This is very important. In church culture we call this “discipleship” but really it is just mentoring. We have people in our faith community who have walked with Jesus for a while who are also willing to walk with you to help you begin your faith journey on the right foot (Matthew 28:20)! Let us know you’re interested in a mentoring connection, please click here.
- Make your faith public through Baptism. In the Bible when people came to faith they got baptized and since you have decided to follow Jesus so should you (Colossians 2:12)! Sign up here.
- The ministries of Edgewater Alliance Church are the ways that we grow individually, serve each other collectively, and prepare ourselves to serve others outside of our gathering. Information about all of the current Ministries of EAC can be found on the church website or by contacting the staff at the church office.
Once again, welcome to the family. It is a blessing to be on this journey with you!
In Christ,
Connor Neigenfind