Explanation of No Formal Membership at Lighthouse Ministries

Lighthouse Ministries was founded as a children’s outreach and continues to welcome believers from diverse church backgrounds without requiring formal membership. Instead, belonging is defined by a shared faith in Jesus Christ, commitment to His Word and Spirit, and participation in ministry. Those who consider Lighthouse their church home are encouraged to identify with the body and serve after a season of involvement and understanding of its mission

Lighthouse Ministries does not have a formal membership process like many churches do. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, as you may already know, Lighthouse was originally a Children’s Ministry Outreach. That is to say, we were literally a church born out of a ministry, not a ministry born out of a church. The founding families, who made up the Children’s Ministry, came from several different Mennonite churches that had different requirements for membership. Each one of these families would worship and serve at their home churches, and would then meet together to minister the Gospel to the unreached children of Abbeville. 

After some time, it became evident that God was wanting, as He often does, to do a much greater work than was originally thought. Thus, these families felt the need to form a church body to more greatly reach the lost and to worship the Lord together. They felt that coming from various different backgrounds may be intimidating to those who the Lord would lead to potentially worship and serve at Lighthouse. This was particularly important to them as it pertained to the children’s ministry and their families. Many of these children and families were coming from no Christian or “church” background at all. Although extremely grateful for their Christian homes and heritages, the founding families didn’t want this to be a stumbling block for those seeking a place to worship the Lord. As such, the requirement from the beginning, to “call” Lighthouse home is to know Jesus as Lord, to follow His Spirit and His word as the supreme guides for our lives, and to use our gifts and talents to fulfill the Great Commission and build up the Body of Believers. 

Second, while we don’t have formal membership, we do believe as members of the Body of Christ, that it is biblical to identify with fellow believers. Therefore, we encourage families and individuals who feel led to make Lighthouse Ministries their church home, to share this with the group. We welcome you to share with the church family how God has led you here and how you can use your gifts to glorify Christ. This can be done by sharing with the Pastor and/or Elder body. We’d love even more to give you a chance to share with the church family during a worship service. 

While we don’t have formal membership we do have two requirements for serving or nominating those to serve on ministry teams. You must attend Lighthouse for one year before you may be nominated or nominate someone to serve, if selected by church, in a ministry position. This is simply to give you time to understand the heart of God’s unique calling and working in the body of Lighthouse Ministries. 

If you have any questions about any of this, feel free to reach out to any of the leadership team or church family. May God Bless you as you serve Him! 

-Pastor Tripp