Share Christ, Serve Community, Grow Disciples
That three-part mission guides the people of Peace Lutheran Church, a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Southern Ohio Synod that has anchored a piece of Beavercreek, Ohio since 1956. The church sits on Dayton-Xenia Road, just minutes from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Wright State University, and the National Museum of the United States Air Force, and it has grown from sixty-nine charter members to a multi-staffed, multi-service parish whose stained glass sanctuary, food packing events, and partnership with the Lesotho Nutrition Initiative have made it a recognizable name in the Dayton region.
Worship on Saturday and Sunday Mornings
Peace holds three weekly services in its sanctuary. A Saturday gathering at 5:15 PM is led by the Praise Team and offers a smaller, contemplative option for those whose week runs long. On Sunday, worship is offered at 8:15 AM and 10:30 AM, with a recording of the 10:30 service published on YouTube at 11:45 AM and shared on Facebook for those who cannot attend in person. A bulletin and projection screens help worshipers follow the liturgy, and responses are bolded in printed materials so newcomers can join in without hesitation.
The congregation includes a wide range of young adults, young families, empty nesters, long-time members, visitors, lifelong Lutherans, and those new to the faith or coming from other traditions. Worshipers dress across the spectrum; some dress up, others wear casual clothes, and all are welcomed as they are. Holy Communion is open to all believers at Peace. Lutherans at Peace understand Christ to be present in, with, and under the bread and wine, and the congregation reflects Jesus' own practice of inviting everyone to the table.
The Lutheran Story at Peace
Peace is rooted in the Lutheran tradition, a Christian movement that traces back to Martin Luther's posting of the Ninety-Five Theses on the church door at Wittenberg on October 31, 1517. The congregation holds to the historic Lutheran principles of Sola Gratia (grace alone), Sola Fide (faith alone), and Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone): people are saved by the grace of God, not by what they say or do; salvation comes through faith in Christ, who died to redeem; and the Bible is the only true norm for doctrine and life. Luther's Small Catechism, written in 1529, still shapes instruction in the faith.
Members of Peace affirm belief in the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They confess that God the Father sent his Son Jesus to be God with us, that Jesus is Lord and Savior who died and rose again to grant forgiveness and eternal life, and that the Holy Spirit gives faith and sustains trust in God's love, mercy, and grace. The congregation's statement of faith also holds that every person is made in the image of God and is therefore valued and welcome at Peace.
Children at Peace
Children are a visible and welcome part of every service. Ushers carry children's bulletins, crayons, busy bags, and sensory fidgets to help younger worshipers stay engaged, and a children's message just before the sermon is designed with them in mind. A staffed nursery is available on Sundays, with caregivers who have all passed a background check and completed a Safe Sanctuary class.
Sunday Faith Formation for children ages three through fifth grade meets at 9:30 AM from the Sunday after Labor Day through the beginning of May in Room 16 on the lower level. The program uses Godly Play to create a sacred space in which the stories of the faith are presented and wondered about together, and children are then given open-ended opportunities to engage with the story on their own terms. Each December, the Sunday School Christmas Program retells the Christmas story of Jesus' birth in a way that connects the written words of the Bible with the senses, with the children performing the program during the 10:30 service the week before Christmas.
First Communion classes are offered each spring for children in second through fifth grade (younger and older children are also welcome), with a Seder experience, bread making, and the creation of a personal Communion Banner. In January, the elementary Faith Formation classes vote on which animals to purchase through the ELCA Good Gifts program: ten chicks, a honeybee hive, a piglet, a goat, or a cow. The animals are a global service project aimed at breaking the cycle of hunger and poverty.
Vacation Bible School is a week-long summer adventure for children from kindergarten through fifth grade, with Bible storytelling, crafts, recreation, science, and snacks. Youth from Peace and the wider community serve as leaders alongside adult volunteers, and the program is as much a discipleship opportunity for adults as it is for children. The congregation also practices a two-adult rule for any activity involving minors, and all adult volunteers are background checked.
Youth Ministry and Confirmation
Youth in grades six through twelve gather for Faith Formation on Sunday mornings at 9:30 AM in the Youth Room, with classes running from the Sunday after Labor Day through early May. Conversations focus on faith, the Bible, and what those mean for daily life. Confirmation, sometimes called the Affirmation of Baptism, is a multi-year journey for youth in grades seven through nine, with classes held on a schedule set with the pastors.
Older youth are encouraged to attend the ELCA Youth Gathering, a triennial event that brings together thousands of high-school-age Lutherans from across the country and overseas for faith formation, worship, fellowship, and service. Deacon Tammy Jones West describes the Gathering as a place to broaden understanding of God's love, to pay attention to and care for all neighbors, and to know that as both saint and sinner, we are loved.
Service and mission are central to the youth program. Young people take part in Adopt-A-Family at Christmas, the church's food packing events for Lesotho, blessing bags and hospital activity bags, hygiene kits for the partner elementary school, and mission trips to other communities where they serve alongside local volunteers.
Music: Praise Team, Chancel Choir, and Peace Ringers
Three ensembles make the music program at Peace what it is. The Praise Team consists of two rotating teams of singers and instrumentalists, typically of high school and adult age, who lead worship at the 5:15 PM Saturday service and the 10:30 AM Sunday service. The Chancel Choir is open to all adults and musically leads worship with special anthems at the 8:15 AM and 10:30 AM services throughout the year, with rehearsals from September through May on Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 7:30 PM in the Music Room.
Peace Ringers is the congregation's adult handbell choir (high school musicians are welcome) that rings monthly in worship and rehearses on Wednesday evenings from 7:30 to 8:30 PM in the Sanctuary. New ringers are welcome, and music reading is not required. The Director of Music and Worship, Linda Hill Lally, programs a wide variety of musical styles to make the music accessible to members and visitors alike. Linda has served at Peace since 2015 and has also assisted the Bishop of the Southern Ohio Synod in preparing ordination services for new ordinands.
The Stained Glass Drama of Salvation
The sanctuary was dedicated on October 25, 1970, and the stained glass windows that fill it were designed as a single theological statement, a Drama of Salvation on the west side and a Drama of Life on the east side. Together with smaller non-narrative windows in the balcony, above the narthex entrance, on the library wall and door, and the rose window of Martin Luther's seal, they form what Pastor Carey Hovland calls an increase in the observer's awareness of God's Salvific History and the place of human beings in God's story.
Walking the sanctuary from front to back on the west side, worshipers encounter nine narrative windows: Creation, with the Hand of God reaching into the world; Noah and the Ark, anchored by the rainbow covenant; Moses and the Ten Commandments, with smoke and fire at Mount Sinai; the Nativity, with the Christmas star and the shepherds; the Ministry of Jesus, where crutches become a symbol of his healing work; the Crucifixion, with the INRI inscription; the Resurrection, in which lilies rise from the ground and the cross radiates with new life; the Ascension, marked by the Chi Rho monogram and the phrase In Hoc Signo Vinces; and Pentecost, where divided tongues of fire rest on the disciples.
The east side opens with Birth, Rebirth in Baptism, Christian Instruction in the Word, Confirmation, Marriage, Family, Our World, Our Work, Our Worship, Holy Communion, and Death and Resurrection. The scallop shell with three drops of water marks the Baptism window, the entwined rings of Marriage, the microscope, compass, computer, and rocket of Our Work, and the loaves, cup, and ichthus fish of Holy Communion. In the non-narrative windows, the dove of the Holy Spirit looks out from the front wall, the Latin cross with a circle shines above the narthex, and the balcony window honors all musicians and vocalists with the words of Psalm 33.
Packing Meals for Lesotho
Twice a year, the Fellowship Hall at Peace fills with assembly lines of about ten people each, packing NutriPlenty meals for the Lesotho Nutrition Initiative. The partnership began with a small group of students and faculty at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, who were concerned about severe stunting and childhood malnutrition in Lesotho, a landlocked country in southern Africa that is able to produce only about ten percent of its own food. Each bag feeds six people, each box holds 36 bags, and Peace has packed as many as 27,000 meals at a single event.
The packing events are open to community groups, and Beavercreek High School Air Force JROTC, the Beavercreek Youth Council, Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops, dance troupes, sororities, and friends of members have all joined the lines. The work is part of following the call of Matthew 25 to feed neighbors around the world.
Local Outreach and Community Partners
Peace hosts a monthly emergency food pantry for individuals and families in surrounding communities, typically running on the third Saturday of the month. Those who need assistance call the office by the third Thursday of the month to sign up for a pickup, and families are eligible to receive food once every three months. Each fall, the church adopts several families for the Christmas holidays, with aid in the form of gift cards for groceries, staples, and gifts for family members, and families in need are referred by the school district and outside agencies.
As summer turns to fall, Peace hosts the annual Back to School Bash, with food, large inflatable bouncy houses, tie-dyeing, local musicians, and other activities, all centered on the giveaway of backpacks full of school supplies to elementary school children. In September, on the weekend following Labor Day, the congregation sets up a booth at the Beavercreek Popcorn Festival and hands out free cups of cold water and lemonade along with silicone bracelets and pens. Volunteers knit and crochet prayer shawls that are given to people at their baptism, as well as to those who are ill, in the hospital, or in nursing homes.
Peace partners with several outside agencies at the local level, including Family Promise, Feed the Creek, and Graceworks, and at the national and global level with Lutheran Disaster Response of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and ELCA World Hunger. The church also supports the ministries of Christ Lutheran Church, an urban congregation in Old North Dayton, and North Riverdale Lutheran Church.
Adult Fellowship, Study, and the Wider Congregation
Adults meet for study on Sunday mornings at 9:30 AM in the Fellowship Hall from September through May, often working through contemporary Christian authors, with more Biblically centered texts at other times. On Thursday mornings throughout the year, an adult study gathers from 9:30 to 11:15 AM in the Holy Grounds lounge on the main floor, with conversation focused on current Christian topics. Peacemakers, a fellowship group for those 50 and older, typically meets on the second Thursday of most months at lunch or dinner, with guest speakers and entertainers. The Quilters meet on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month to make quilts for Lutheran World Relief, having sent 916 quilts since 2016. Walkers gather on Mondays and Wednesdays at 7:00 PM and Saturdays at 9:00 AM in Room 13 to walk along with YouTube videos for fellowship and movement.
Children and youth are also folded into fellowship: pool parties, nerf battles, cookie making, bowling nights, and other activities that bring different ages together around the table. The church follows the ELCA baptismal covenant, which calls the baptized to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, to serve all people following the example of Jesus, and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.
Leadership and the Peace Dove Society
Rev. Carey Hovland has served as pastor of Peace since 2015. A 2007 graduate of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, she was ordained in the Lutheran Church of Tanzania, where she served as pastor of a large congregation and chaplain at Marangu Teachers College and Marangu Hospital. She and her husband Rogers have two boys and a golden-doodle, and she is passionate about sharing the gospel and love of God through wonder and play, meeting people where they are on their faith journey.
Online giving is available through a one-time or recurring electronic gift, and a planned giving program allows members to direct legacy or estate gifts either to the general fund, the endowment, or to a designated ministry. The Peace Dove Society is the name given to the congregation's endowment fund, whose mission is to extend the ministry of Peace beyond its annual operations. Cash, stocks, bonds, real estate, life insurance and retirement account beneficiary designations, qualified charitable distributions, and gifts through wills and trusts can all be part of a planned gift, and the pastors can refer potential donors to an ELCA Regional Gift Planner for assistance.
Sixty-Nine Charter Members and a Sanctuary of Their Own
Peace Lutheran Church was organized on July 1, 1956, when Rev. Eugene Bensch was called to start the congregation. Nearly four acres along Dayton-Xenia Road were purchased, and the first service was held on August 5, 1956, in the Knollwood Civic Building, which is now the Beavercreek Senior Citizen's Center. On September 30, 1956, sixty-nine charter members were received into the congregation, and in November 1957 the first church building was dedicated. An educational unit followed in 1962, and a new sanctuary was dedicated on October 25, 1970, the sanctuary whose stained glass windows still tell the story of salvation and life today.
The congregation celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2006 and, during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, embarked on a Renew Campaign and renovation that was dedicated in April 2021 with guest Bishop Dillahunt. Through the years, Peace has called multiple pastors and added ministry staff including youth directors, deacons, and directors of music. It is now an ELCA congregation in the Southern Ohio Synod, rooted in the Dayton area, with stained glass windows in its sanctuary, three weekly services, a strong music program, a global partnership in Lesotho, and a long-running commitment to the Beavercreek community in which it was founded.