Edge Church is known for its faith, vision and passion, its commitment to the preaching and teaching of God’s word and to reaching out to people. We’re a progressive church that seeks to keep in touch with the trends in society and the needs of the community. We’re an inclusive church, welcoming people of all generations and cultures. And we’re an imperfect church with a lot to learn. 

We strive to be a place for all. We’re not a church where people are likely to feel at home if they think that they have “arrived” and have nothing to discover. They will find themselves among people who recognize their own limitations, make mistakes and seek to help one another rather than judge one another. Most importantly, Edge Church is a church that is utterly convinced that the Lord Jesus Christ is God’s solution to the needs of each and every person and to the problems of the world at large.

As a multi-site church, Edge Church is one church meeting in a number of locations. Presently, we have a congregation at Melkbos and another in Edgemead.  We have one vision and one leadership team with shared gifting and resources.  We believe that over multiple locations we can impact and influence our society more significantly.  We see ourselves as part of God’s universal church that consists of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ from all denominations.

DNA

Churches have personalities, their own unique DNA. For a variety of reasons, churches develop particular features and ought to play to their strengths. The personality of Edge Church can be seen in our vision, mission and values and the way in which these are expressed and lived out.

Values

Values guide our decisions and actions. They define what is or isn’t acceptable behaviour.  The challenge with values is that they are usually vague concepts that mean different things to different people. People usually have a strong sense of what typical values (trust, hard work, etc.) mean, but the definitions different people have for the same value are not always the same.

Instead of just stating abstract value statements, each value has been translated into the behaviours that it would produce, so that everyone is clearer on what they mean.

Our Values are:

Integrity

We are dependable and committed. We live courageously, taking risk and not holding back for fear of change or resistance. We confront sin and breaches of these values honestly and in a way that upholds these values.

Respect

We respect all people, regardless of race, gender, age and financial status, recognizing the dignity, diversity and potential of God in all. Leaders are servant leaders – we don’t lord it over others, instead we consider others more highly than ourselves. We empower others, recognizing that the role of leaders is to equip others and serve.

Accountability

We are transparent and vulnerable in our relationships, holding ourselves accountable for our attitudes and behaviours to all people. We are approachable, humble and teachable, quick to repent and make right when challenged.

Commitment to the Values

The leadership of this church has made the following commitment:  We, the servant-leaders of this church, uncompromisingly commit to living out the core values. We have the courage to challenge and are open to being challenged whenever breaches of these values arise and we commit to making appropriate changes to align with these values. We anticipate that our partners undertake the same commitment to live the values, to challenge and be challenged and to make changes to align to the values.

What we Believe

That The Bible is the inspired and only infallible and authoritative Word of God.

That there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

In the complete deity and humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His conception by the Holy Spirit, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father and in His personal future return in power and glory.

In the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a holy life as they participate in an ongoing process of separating from sin and becoming fully devoted followers of Jesus.

That everyone has sinned and is born a sinner, guilty before God. We are all incapable of pleasing God or saving our souls through our own efforts.

The only means of being cleansed from sin is through repentance and faith in the blood of Christ, who died in our place on the cross.

In the baptism of the Holy Spirit, by whom the believer is empowered for living the Christian life, for worship and for service.

In believer's baptism as a witness to salvation, by total immersion in water, in obedience to the command of Christ. (Mark 16:16).

In the regular observance of Breaking of Bread, as set out in Scripture. (1 Cor 11:23‑34; Matt 26:27-29; Acts 2:42) 

In the resurrection of both the saved and the lost, the one to everlasting life and the other to everlasting damnation.

That there is only one way to heaven, through faith in Jesus Christ.

In the priesthood of all believers, that everyone may have full and equal access to God.

That God continues to perform miracles, including healing the sick.

In the local church as an autonomous association of believers, focused on reaching the lost and the discipleship of believers. It is the visible expression of the universal church, of which Christ is the head.

That mission is close to the heart of God, as we reach out to the lost across different language groups and cultures beyond our local community, making disciples of all nations in obedience to the great commission in Matthew 28:20.

In the power of prayer as a means of communication between us and God and to effect change in line with God’s will, made possible through the work of Jesus on the cross.

In the family as the most basic unit of church community, and in heterosexual marriages.

The Edge Church Story

Edge Church, formerly Edgemead Assembly of God, began in the 1970’s when a small group of Edgemead residents felt the need for a community-focused church. This was just the first of a number of significant steps in our history, where risk, courage and faith have been a significant feature of the church. After meeting in various halls, God provided land to build the first church facility which was opened in 1983.

In 1984 a decision was taken to support Pedro and Barbie Erasmus, the church’s first missionaries. This decision was made in spite of not having the necessary funding. As a body of believers, we saw God blessing the nations as the Erasmus’s faithfully ministered in the Caprivi in Namibia amongst the Mbukushu people. In 1992, Pedro and Barbie were called back to the church to serve as pastors. The church continued to expand and a second morning service was introduced in 1998, which allowed us to minister to more people.

Edgemead Assembly of God continued to grow in numbers. We saw God’s provision and blessing as He continued to give us favour with our community and extend our influence. In 2006, God gave the leadership clear leading from Isaiah 54:

“Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.”

Over the next few years this scripture was lived out as we expanded the existing facilities, increased the number of services and sent out full-time missionaries from the local church. We were involved in regularly sending teams on short-term missionary trips, varying from surfing outreaches on the South African coastline and overseas to discipleship training in India and Nepal and trips to Mozambique and Zambia. We clearly heard God’s call to impact the surrounding communities, as well as those further afield. The sense that God was calling us to love our neighbour and to bring about change in our nation became increasingly evident.

During this time the church underwent a name change, signalling that we were crossing over into what God had for us as a church. After much prayer the leadership decided to change the name from “Edgemead Assembly of God” to “Edge Church”. This was in line with the vision that God had given the leadership to extend the church’s influence beyond Edgemead.

It was during this time of stretching that a partnership was forged between Edge Church and the Assembly of God church in Melkbosstrand. The vision of the Assembly of God regional leadership was for churches to partner together to have a more significant impact in our surrounding communities. Edge Church grew from one to two congregations, extending our influence together.

Looking back we’ve seen how, for almost 30 years, God has been at work in us and through us to fulfill His purpose. Faith, vision and a passion for a relevant cross-generational ministry characterises what we are today. The church leaders and staff have often taken bold, courageous and faith-filled steps which have shaped us as a people and as a church. We never set out to be a large church, but that is what God has made us to be.

Today we are a thriving church family consisting of two congregations. We are grateful to God as we look back at all He has done and excited for all He will do and the future partnerships He will develop. We trust that God will continue to work in us and through us to be a place for all.