A Lutheran Congregation on Fillmore Avenue
Peace Lutheran Church sits on East Fillmore Avenue in Eau Claire's Putnam Heights neighborhood, a single location where the congregation has built a wide front porch for the Chippewa Valley. It is a member congregation of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and describes its calling in a single line: "Peace Church guides people to fully live as followers of Jesus." Around that mission, the church has organized a full week of ministries for children, students, college-age young adults, parents, and adults in every stage of life, together with a deep bench of local and international mission partnerships.
What a first-time visitor notices most is the variety. Worship is offered four times a weekend in two distinct spaces, midweek programming runs Tuesday through Wednesday, and the building hosts a podcast studio, a children's wing, a refuge for youth, and a shared dining room that fills with neighbors for Wednesday supper. Lead Pastor Ethan Luhman settled into the role in July 2026 after an 18-month transition, joining Associate Pastor David Forke on a staff that also includes ministry directors for children, youth, worship, communications, and nursery.
Four Services, Two Venues
Peace holds worship four times a weekend across two spaces in the same building. The Saturday 5:30 PM service in the Sanctuary is a blended service that mixes contemporary music with liturgy; it is paused during the summer months. On Sunday, three services run back to back:
- 8:00 AM, Traditional, in the Sanctuary - classic Lutheran liturgy and hymns.
- 9:15 AM, Modern, in the Auditorium - a more casual environment with current music, creative elements, and Sunday School for kids during the school year. This service is livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook. Lent services are not livestreamed.
- 10:30 AM, Blended, in the Sanctuary - contemporary and traditional elements woven together.
The descriptions matter because the building has two different atmospheres. The Sanctuary at 8 AM tends to draw worshippers who dress up and sing from the hymnal. The Auditorium at 9:15 AM tends to draw families and younger adults who are comfortable in casual clothing. The blended 10:30 AM service sits in between. Communion is open to anyone who comes trusting in Jesus as Savior and believing that Christ gives Himself in the Lord's Supper - membership is not required.
Children are always welcome in worship. Childcare is provided for children under four during the 9:15 and 10:30 AM services in a nursery room located across from the Auditorium and next to the Peace Library. During the school year, children preschool through fifth grade are dismissed from the 9:15 service for Sunday School; during the summer, families stay together and a children's message is built into the service.
Wednesday Nights Around the Table
If one moment captures the rhythm of Peace Church, it is the Wednesday night supper. From 4:45 to 6:00 PM the church's Gathering Place fills with the smell of a home-cooked meal and the noise of friends and strangers finding seats together. The menu rotates through comfort food - walking tacos, meatballs and pasta, brats, chicken and wild rice soup, sloppy joes, pizza, lasagna, a Thanksgiving dinner in November, and a Christmas break pause in late December. College students eat free with a student ID.
After supper, the building stays open for the rest of the evening:
- Discovery Club for ages 3 through fifth grade, 6:00 to 7:15 PM, with large-group time in the Rec Zone and small-group time by age.
- Middle School Confirmation in the Auditorium, 6:00 to 7:30 PM, working through the Bible and Luther's Small Catechism with adult guides in small groups.
- Adult Bible study in the Adult Study Room, 6:00 to 7:00 PM, with topics and teachers that change throughout the year.
- Wednesday nursery from 5:45 to 7:30 PM.
Parent Connect, a monthly topical discussion series for parents, meets during this same Wednesday window from 6:00 to 7:10 PM in the Gathering Place with refreshments. Topics range from children's friendships and bedtime routines to single parenting and kids' online presence.
Kids and Students: A Chronological Walk Through the Bible
Peace runs a layered set of programs for children and students, with shared staff and a shared curriculum philosophy. The Children's and Family Ministry is led by Caleb Haack and includes Marlee Forke for mid-week children's ministry, with Tonya Ida overseeing the nursery.
Sunday School meets at 9:15 AM from September through May for children three years old through fifth grade. The format moves kids chronologically through the entire Bible, showing God's power, God's people, and God's promises centered in Jesus Christ. Preschoolers begin and end in Room 10; kindergarten through fifth graders start together in the Rec Zone for large-group time with interactive worship, games, and skits, then move into age-appropriate small-group rooms where the Bible story is reinforced through questions, crafts, and other activities.
Discovery Club carries the same approach into Wednesday nights from 6:00 to 7:15 PM during the school year. The format is identical: opening large-group time in the Rec Zone for K-5, separate preschool classroom time, and age-appropriate small groups to close.
Vacation Bible School is a separate summer highlight. The most recent program, VBS Rainforest Falls, drew over 150 children and more than 50 volunteers. The Fam Jam Podcast, hosted by Caleb Haack and Anna Reineke, extends that family-equipping work beyond the building. New episodes release every two weeks and explore what it looks like to follow Jesus as a family; both hosts are certified Directors of Christian Education with nearly fifteen years of combined ministry experience.
Confirmation meets Wednesdays from 6:00 to 7:30 PM in the Auditorium for middle school students during the school year. The evening begins with worship, then moves to large-group teaching, then to small groups divided by age and gender with one or two adult guides. Students work through the Bible and Luther's Small Catechism to learn the core teachings of the Church.
High School Youth Group meets Sundays from 6:30 to 8:00 PM in the Refuge during the school year. The night starts with hangout time and snacks, moves to a group game, then a Bible study that focuses on a specific topic or book of the Bible. The goal is a Christ-centered community and a judgment-free space for questions. Peace also hires one or more youth interns each program year, with college-age students as the ideal candidates.
College, Young Adults, and Small Groups
Eau Claire is a college town, and Peace treats that as part of its mission. College-aged young adults are invited to a Tuesday evening Bible study at 7:00 PM in the Refuge during the school year - no current-student status required, snacks included. The format works through how the Bible applied to its original audience, how it applies today, and how it leads to a full life in Christ. Anna Reineke, the youth director, also serves as the contact for college ministry.
Parent Connect sits beside two small groups for young parents. Caleb Haack leads a Bible study and discussion the first and third Saturdays of the month from 10:00 to 11:30 AM, with optional nursery care. Abbi Meyer leads a separate small group on select Wednesdays from 6:00 to 7:00 PM in the Refuge, working through the book of Ephesians with shared prayer and conversation, also with optional nursery care.
Stephen Ministry and Life Moments
Pastoral care at Peace is supported by a Stephen Ministry team - a lay-care ministry coordinated with the national Stephen Ministries organization. Trained laypeople provide one-on-one Christian care to people in the congregation and community who are working through loss, hospitalization, divorce or separation, spiritual crisis, terminal illness, incarceration, or other significant life challenges. The ministry is confidential; the identity of those receiving care and the content of conversations stays private. Pastor David Forke oversees Stephen Ministry and serves as the first point of contact.
Peace also walks with members through the standard milestones of congregational life. A New Member Form is the first step toward membership, followed by attendance at a Discover class. Infant baptism is the church's practice, with adult baptism available for anyone who desires it; a separate request form exists for each. Weddings take place in two spaces at Peace with a coordinating staff, and only one wedding is scheduled per day. Funerals are framed as a service of victory in Christ that marks the passage of one of God's children to His everlasting kingdom, beginning with a remembrance of baptism. A Crisis Assistance program serves members and regular attenders who are working through a temporary financial emergency.
Love Eau Claire and the Local Mission Network
Peace channels much of its local outreach through Love Eau Claire, a network that began around 2009 as a back-to-school event at partner school Longfellow Elementary. What started as free backpacks, clothes, haircuts, food, and resources for one school's families became a city-wide 501(c) nonprofit in 2019 called We Care Eau Claire, now in its seventh year. Peace continues to support Love Eau Claire and the broader ecosystem of Chippewa Valley ministries.
The list of partners supported through Love Eau Claire is long and tells a story about what Peace considers its neighbors:
- CollECtive Arts
- Eau Claire Treehouse (formerly Tandem)
- Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) - Northwest
- Good News Jail and Prison Ministry
- Hope Gospel Mission
- InterVarsity Campus Ministry at UW-Eau Claire
- Cru Campus Ministry
- We Care Eau Claire
- Abby Vans (Door 2 Door Rides)
- Bolton Refuge House
- Feed My People Food Bank
- Salvation Army - Carelink on South Hastings Way
- Longfellow and Manz Elementary Schools
- Beacon House (Family Promise of the Chippewa Valley)
- Putnam Heights Neighborhood Association
- The Hub (homeless ministries)
- The Community Table
The Wednesday night supper itself doubles as a local ministry: college students eat free, and the weekly bulletin board and announcements keep the broader congregation plugged into volunteer slots, food drives, and one-off service projects across the city.
Casas por Cristo and Feed My Starving Children: Going Farther
Peace has a long history of sending teams beyond Eau Claire. The church has partnered with Casas por Cristo for more than ten years and has built over fifty homes for families in Juarez, Mexico; the Dominican Republic; and Nicaragua. After COVID, the congregation settled into two trips a year - one to Juarez in late January and one to the Dominican Republic in late February. The cost is typically $400 plus travel, and registration opens for each trip through the church's connection card. Recent builds have included homes for the Mendoza family in Juarez and the Minaya family in the Dominican Republic.
Closer to home but with global reach, Peace hosts its eighth annual Feed My Starving Children MobilePack each fall. The two-day event packs nutritionally complete meals for children around the world. Through seven previous packs, the congregation has contributed enough meals to feed 2,291 children for a full year, with the 950,000th meal expected at the upcoming event. Sessions run Friday afternoon and evening and Saturday morning and afternoon, with Friday morning setup and Saturday afternoon take-down sessions that are adults- or teens-only. A $106 donation feeds a child for a year. Pack volunteers are also encouraged to bring a donation for Eau Claire's Feed My People food bank.
Mission, Beliefs, and the Discover, Grow, Go Rhythm
Peace describes its mission in one sentence: to guide people to fully live as followers of Jesus. Its vision is a five-year spiritual journey toward Jesus as True North, the way into a relationship with God and into the full life God intended.
Six values frame the congregation's life: Pursuing God (growing deeper in a personal relationship with Christ); Encouraging Relationships (affirming one another); Empowering Service (using God-given resources generously); Practicing Compassion (active care for those who suffer); Developing and Promoting Intergenerational Ministry (supporting families and people of all ages together); and Risk Taking (willingness to be uncomfortable to advance the kingdom).
The congregation's pathway for spiritual growth is a simple three-part rhythm called Discover, Grow, Go. Discover is an ongoing experience of God's love as His redeemed child, with habits of Bible reading, reflection, and prayer, and an embrace of Lutheran teaching on the Trinity, God's saving work through Jesus, Word and Sacraments, and the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. Grow is Christian community - belonging, mutual care, encouragement, and accountability, with opportunities to identify and use personal spiritual gifts. Go is putting faith into action: sharing the love of Christ in a broken world through words, service, and witness.
Five "Life Marks" describe what Peace hopes to see in the life of a maturing follower: believing in Jesus as Savior, pursuing Jesus through spiritual disciplines, living like Jesus as His Spirit shapes attitudes and actions, loving like Jesus by sharing His love with a hurting world, and risking like Jesus by stepping beyond comfort for His sake.
Staff and Lay Leadership
Peace is led by a pastoral team and supported by ministry directors and a board of deacons. Lead Pastor Ethan Luhman became the congregation's lead pastor in July 2026 after an 18-month transition. He and his wife Sherry met in college on a Casas por Cristo mission trip and have four children - Abram, Owain, Roman, and Leighton. Before Peace, Ethan served in Saratoga Springs, New York; Cedarburg and Saukville, Wisconsin; and San Antonio, Texas.
Associate Pastor David Forke has served in ministry for more than thirty-five years alongside his wife Marlee, who leads mid-week children's ministry at Peace. They have three grown children - Joel, Kaitlin, and Daniel - and a granddaughter named Nova. David oversees Stephen Ministry and works to help people open the Word of God on their own.
The ministry director team includes Caleb Haack (Children and Family Ministry), Anna Reineke (Youth Ministry), Abbi Meyer (Worship), Kristin Brantner (Technology and Communications), Marlee Forke (Mid-Week Children's Ministry), and Tonya Ida (Nursery). Tim Bain serves as lead custodian, and Sue Gumz as office manager. Sue Gumz is also the staff lead for missions and mission trips.
The board of deacons is chaired by Mark Oldenberg, with James Martin as chair-elect and Vicki Doriott as treasurer. Serving deacons are Donna Austad, Denny Denk, Chuck Falch, Aaron Libner, Stan Norman, Riley North, Adam Urberg, and Bill Westerlund.
Practical Notes for a First Visit
Peace Church is located at 501 East Fillmore Avenue, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, 54701, with the office open Monday through Thursday from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM and Friday from 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM. The main phone number is (715) 834-2486 and the general email is connect@mypeacechurch.com. There is no dress code - dress varies from Sunday-best at the 8 AM service to casual at the 9:15 and 10:30 services. A connect card is available online for anyone who wants a follow-up conversation with a pastor or staff member, and online giving is available through the church's giving page. The 9:15 AM Sunday modern service is livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook, and a sermon and teaching archive is kept on the church's main site along with weekly sermon outlines and a Tuesday morning Bible study livestream during the school year.
Peace is a member congregation of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Visitors do not need to be Lutheran to attend, and communion is open to anyone who comes trusting in Jesus as Savior. Anyone is welcome to take part in membership classes, baptism (infant or adult), weddings, funerals, and the full slate of ministries - from Wednesday supper to mission trips in Juarez and the Dominican Republic.