On the corner of Taylor Drive and Saemann Avenue in Sheboygan, a low-slung brick church sits on land that was once a nine-acre field on the edge of town. That is Ebenezer United Church of Christ, a congregation that has been gathering for worship in Sheboygan since 1912 and that names itself, in the words of I Samuel 7:12, after the Hebrew word for "thus far, God has helped us." More than a hundred years after its first meeting in an empty butcher shop on Calumet Plank Road, Ebenezer describes its purpose the same way: "We reach forward in faith on the growing edge of our community."
Open and Affirming, WISE, and Still Listening
Ebenezer carries two distinct designations that shape its identity. In 2013, after a season of discernment and congregational conversation, members voted to become an Open and Affirming church within the United Church of Christ, publicly welcoming people of every race, culture, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, ability, economic status, and family structure into the full life and ministry of the church. Ebenezer has since joined First Congregational UCC of Sheboygan and First Congregational UCC of Plymouth in a Sheboygan County coalition of Open and Affirming congregations.
Several years later, the congregation adopted a second covenant, becoming a WISE congregation, a designation that stands for Welcoming, Inclusive, Supportive, and Engaged in the mental health of one another and the wider community. The WISE framework grew out of a 2015 General Synod resolution of the United Church of Christ and a certification process developed by the UCC Mental Health Network. Monthly karaoke afternoons in Fellowship Hall, hosted by Tom and Dar Ott, are one expression of that WISE ministry.
Both covenants fit into a broader theological posture the church calls "God Is Still Speaking." Borrowing a line often attributed to Gracie Allen, the congregation places a comma where others might place a period, treating Scripture as a living conversation. The church is comfortable saying, "Our faith is 2,000 years old. Our thinking is not." That posture is visible in the airy Comma Café that opens each Sunday morning with coffee, cookies, and conversation.
From a Butcher Shop to a Growing Edge
Ebenezer's history is told in the rhythm of Sheboygan's own growth. The congregation organized in 1912 and, within its first two years, built a chapel across from Jefferson School to serve both the members and the wider neighborhood. By Christmas 1914, the first service was held in that new building. Worship was held in German well into the 1930s, with an English service added in 1920 for the younger generation. The Ladies' Aid Society funded the church's Moeller pipe organ when the larger sanctuary was added in 1926; that organ is still in use.
In 1953, Ebenezer helped start a daughter congregation, Faith Church, in the Erdman area, which is now Our Shepherd UCC in Howards Grove. A long and productive pastorate under Rev. Ruben Grosshuesch began in 1957, with a strong emphasis on Christian education and stewardship. By 1970, the original building was full, and the congregation stepped out in faith, buying a nine-acre field on the still-rural edge of Sheboygan where no through-streets yet ran and building the present facility. The decision positioned Ebenezer along what is now one of the city's main thoroughfares, with plenty of parking and room to grow.
The 2010s brought a second wave of building. In 2011, an expanded gathering area and offices were added, along with infrastructure updates and solar electric panels to prepare for a second century of ministry. The sanctuary's Moeller organ anchors a worship life that still depends heavily on traditional and progressive choral and instrumental music.
Sunday Mornings, Two Seasons a Year
Ebenezer follows two distinct Sunday rhythms. From Labor Day weekend through Memorial Day weekend, the church gathers at 9:00 am for Sunday School and the youth class, with the Comma Café open at the same time for coffee and conversation. Worship begins at 10:00 am.
During the summer, between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend, the schedule shifts to 9:00 am Sunday worship, with the Comma Café following at 10:00 am, and a second worship service added on Thursday evenings at 6:00 pm.
Services are described as a blend of traditional and contemporary elements, with casual dress and a welcome for children of every age. Kidz Bagz, activity bags for young worshipers, sit in baskets just outside the sanctuary. The Children's Table near the back of the sanctuary offers quiet activities, coloring sheets, and a snack for older children. For parents who prefer it, child care is available during Sunday services for infants and young children in a room off the Sunday School hallway.
Holy Communion is observed on the first Sunday of each month and on several church holidays. Ebenezer practices open communion, inviting all who believe in Jesus Christ and seek to follow his ways, including children, to share the bread and cup. The communion bread is gluten-free so that everyone can take part.
Worship on YouTube and on Sheboygan Cable
Each Sunday's service is recorded and shared widely. Videos appear on the church's YouTube channel (Ebenezer United Church of Christ Sheboygan), on its Facebook page, and in a long-running partnership with local public-access television. The service is broadcast on WSCS, channel 990 on Spectrum in Sheboygan, on Wednesdays at 12:30 pm and Sundays at 7 am. It also airs on Spectrum Channel 14 in Plymouth on Wednesdays at 7 am and 3 pm, and on Sundays at 7 am. A weekly emailed Update newsletter carries the latest links to each Sunday's service.
Children, Youth, and the Narrative Lectionary
Ebenezer's education ministries follow the same Narrative Lectionary that shapes Sunday worship, weaving classroom and sanctuary around a shared set of Bible readings. Children from Pre-K through sixth grade meet each Sunday at 9:00 am in the "Living the Word: Teaching Kids God's Story" curriculum. A teacher and a shepherd walk each class through the week's story with activities and a snack, dismissing at 9:50 so children can join families in the sanctuary for 10:00 worship. Each year the Sunday School chooses a mission to support with the children's weekly offerings, with past partners including Sheboygan's Peace Park and the Shaw Family Playground.
Each summer, Vacation Bible School takes over the church for five evenings of high-energy learning, generally scheduled for the last week in July. Children ages 3 through 12 begin with singing in the sanctuary, then rotate through a series of themed workshops. The week opens with a family meal at 5:15 pm, and registration begins in May.
Middle school students step into a two-year Confirmation program, generally begun in seventh grade. Classes meet on Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 8:00 pm, running from Labor Day through Easter. Action Nights pair students with mentors and instructors as they think through who God is and what it means to be a disciple.
Junior and senior high students also gather on Sunday mornings from 9:00 to 9:50 am, between the Sunday after Labor Day and Memorial Day weekend, to talk theologically about the presence of God in everyday life and to learn through service. Annual Mission Trips take senior youth and adults to places such as Boston, South Dakota, Atlanta, Denver, Washington, D.C., Rocky Mountain National Park, the Navajo Nation in Arizona, North Carolina, and Baton Rouge, where they spend a week immersed in the community.
Zoom Bible Study and a Library in the Chapel
Adults gather on Wednesday mornings from 9:00 to 10:00 am for a Zoom Bible Study led in conversation with Pastor Rev. Lorri Steward. The group uses a two-page Small Group Guide from Spirit and Truth Publishing that lines up with the Narrative Lectionary Steward preaches from each Sunday. Participants receive the upcoming Sunday's scriptures by email on Sunday evening, with the Zoom link arriving on Tuesday evening. New participants can join by emailing the church office.
Periodically, the adults' ministry offers book studies, intergenerational workshops, current-event discussions, and movie nights, all announced through the weekly Update. A small library of fiction and nonfiction sits in the church's chapel/library, available to readers between services.
Six Ministries Under One Roof
Ebenezer organizes almost all of its congregational life around six ministry areas, each led by a volunteer coordinator: Invite, Involve, Inspire, Educate, Equip, and Embrace. Members fill out an annual Opportunities To Serve form to indicate where they would like to spend their time, and the coordinators help connect people to ministries, activities, and organizations that interest them. The framework is also designed to catch and support new visions for ministry that members bring forward.
Invite focuses on welcome and hospitality, with greeters, welcomers, nametag organizers, and the people who stock the Kidz Bagz. Involve is the matching engine that helps new people find a place. Inspire centers on the worship experience, drawing in the Simple Song Singers, Handbell Choir, and Pop-Up Choir, along with the Altar Guild, Audio/Visual Team, liturgists, worship deacons, communion servers, and the many volunteers who care for the children in worship. Educate gathers Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, Confirmation, youth Sunday classes, mission trips, and the adult Bible study. Equip covers the behind-the-scenes work of building, grounds, finance, and stewardship, from lawn mowing and snow shoveling to counting the offering. Embrace reaches out in friendship and service through fellowship activities and mission projects.
Reaching Out Across Sheboygan County
Outreach is woven into nearly everything at Ebenezer. The Sonshine Stitchers, a long-running sewing and craft ministry, create quilts, prayer shawls, fidget mats, baptismal quilts, and other fabric gifts that go to members, friends, and people across Greater Sheboygan County. Each child baptized at Ebenezer receives a handmade quilt from the ECJ Circle, a group that has been meeting for 75 years; the same group makes twin-size patchwork quilts for residents of Bridgeway and Safe Harbor, who keep them when they leave.
Laundry Love, now in its 15th year, sends a team of volunteers to a local laundromat one night a month to wash, dry, fold, and offer coffee, snacks, and toiletries to people experiencing homelessness or financial hardship. The team works alongside referral partners including Health and Human Services, the Salvation Army, the Sheboygan Area School District, the Hmong Association, and Safe Harbor. Other faith communities have joined the rotation, so laundry nights are available every week of the month.
Refugee Support Community Sheboygan is an Ebenezer-led partnership in which the church works alongside other congregations and volunteers to welcome newly arrived families. Recent groups assisted have included Syrian, Somali, and Rohingya families, with help ranging from housing and English tutoring to medical visits, job searches, transportation, and Green Card applications.
Each Friday, a team delivers meals to elderly, homebound, and disabled Sheboygan residents through Fresh Meals on Wheels. On several Saturdays a year, Ebenezer cooks and serves a Community Café meal for fifty to seventy-five guests at St. Luke's Methodist Church in downtown Sheboygan, in partnership with the Sheboygan County Food Bank. Non-perishable food and toiletries collected on a Food Pantry shelf are distributed monthly to northside food pantries. Each Thanksgiving, working with Sheboygan County Health and Human Services, the church provides grocery gift cards to an average of 30 individuals and families in need.
The Jefferson/Ebenezer Partnership (JEP) keeps the congregation connected to its original neighborhood near Jefferson Elementary School, where it once stood. JEP funds a Birthday Book for every student, supplies headphones, markers, crayons, and other classroom needs, and sends volunteers into classrooms to read. The Caring for the Caregivers ministry delivers a monthly themed treat to a nursing unit at Aurora Medical Center in Sheboygan. Handmade greeting cards are available in the Gathering Area, made by a cardmaking and scrapbooking group that welcomes friends and neighbors from beyond the church. Ebenezer is also a host site for Rainbow Kids, the Senior Foot-Care Clinic, and AA.
Annual collections support the Salvation Army, Safe Harbor, Bridgeway, and Coats for Kids, and the youth participate in Habitat for Humanity's Shantytown and Christmas caroling at nursing homes.
Singing, Bells, and a Moeller Organ
Music has been part of Ebenezer since 1926, when the Ladies' Aid Society raised the money for a Moeller pipe organ that still anchors the sanctuary. The music ministry now includes the Simple Song Singers, a Pop-Up Choir, and a Handbell Choir directed by Mary Voigt, with Charlie Tiede serving as Music Director. The Bellchoir rehearses weekly except during the summer; other ensembles rehearse by project. Children learn and rehearse songs during Sunday School and sing at services throughout the year, and soloists and small ensembles regularly offer special music. Karaoke with Tom and Dar Ott has been part of the church's WISE mental-health outreach for more than eight years.
The Building on the Corner
Ebenezer's 1970 building is all on one level, with no steps at the entrance. A later expansion added an enlarged gathering area with easy-to-open doors, handicap-accessible restrooms with wave-to-open doors, and ramps up to the music area and pulpit. All-gender restrooms are designated in the north hallway beyond the kitchen. Solar electric panels installed during the 2011 expansion help power the campus, and a large parcel of land allows plenty of parking and room to grow. The building hosts weddings, funerals, and other community events.
Becoming a Member
Ebenezer welcomes new members several times a year through a two-hour New Member Orientation, where prospective members meet with Pastor Lorri Steward and other leaders to learn about Ebenezer's mission, ministries, and its connection to the wider United Church of Christ. The orientation explores the church's vision for the future and helps each person find a place to share their gifts. Reception of Members takes place during a regular worship service, with new members stepping forward to affirm their baptism and promise to be Christ's disciple and a faithful member of the church.
Supporting the Work
Ebenezer is funded through the generosity of its members and friends, with a General Fund covering ongoing ministry and a Building Fund reserved for capital expenses. Contributions can be made in the offering plate on Sunday morning, dropped in the secure dropbox at the church entrance, mailed to the church office, or given online through the Vanco+ app or the church's online giving link. Scrip gift cards from many retailers are also available, with a percentage of each purchase going to support Ebenezer's missions and ministry. The office is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to noon, and Pastor Lorri Steward can be reached through the church office at 920-452-9766 or by email at ebucc@ebenezerucc.org.
Leadership at Ebenezer
Rev. Lorri Steward serves as pastor, with Rev. Dr. Roger Mealiff honored as Pastor Emeritus. Ron Rindfleisch is the Church Administrator and Cassie Kuhfuss is the Church Secretary. Music is led by Music Director Charlie Tiede and Handbell Choir Director Mary Voigt. The Consistory, the congregation's governing body, is led by President Todd Kinney, with Darryl Gumm as Chair of the Pastoral and Parish Relations Committee. Six volunteer Ministry Area Coordinators - Grace Rindfleisch (Invite), Steve Shircel (Involve), Scott Mealiff and Tom Ott (Inspire), Dar Ott and Dawn Rousse (Educate), Chuck Adamavich (Equip), and Dawn Race and Lisa Stewart (Embrace) - help connect members to the work.