Set on eight acres of rolling lawn just off Route 313 in the Tohickon Valley, Peace Tohickon Lutheran Church looks out across open countryside a few miles west of Perkasie borough. The congregation has worshipped on or near this ground since the colonial era and today extends its reach well beyond it through a livestreamed service, a community garden that feeds a local food pantry, an annual craft show, and a roster of support groups that meet in its Fellowship Hall. The present building, dedicated in 1960, sits on land purchased by the congregation in 1958 and houses one of the largest Roosevelt organs in Bucks County.
Two and a Half Centuries on the Same Ground
German settlers began arriving in the Perkasie area in the 1730s and 1740s and soon formed a group of Lutheran and Reformed neighbors who worshipped together in their homes. Henry Muhlenberg, the patriarch of American Lutheranism, noted the congregation when he surveyed Philadelphia-area churches in 1742. The following year the families purchased land and built a log schoolhouse-church they called St. Peter's.
The arrangement did not sit well with Muhlenberg, who disapproved of some of the lay preachers chosen by the Lutherans. The group divided, and in 1766 the two congregations jointly built a stone church they named Friedens Kirche, the Church of Peace. From 1773 the Lutherans belonged to the Old Goshenhoppen parish, sharing clergy with neighboring congregations. A second stone church replaced the first in 1838, and for the next 119 years the Lutherans and Reformed alternated Sundays in the same building.
By the 1920s the distance from the other Goshenhoppen churches made shared ministry impractical, and Peace left the parish in 1923. Five years later it joined St. Matthew's Keller's Church and St. Paul's Applebachsville to form the Keller's-Tohickon Parish. Postwar growth strained the 1838 building, and in 1957 the Lutheran and Reformed congregations agreed to separate. In October of that year St. Peter's bought Peace's share of the old Tohickon church building, and in 1958 Peace dissolved its joint parish with St. Matthew's. The shared pastor, Rev. Merwyn Shelly, chose to remain with Peace full time.
The newly independent congregation purchased a building site on March 20, 1958. Ground was broken on July 20 of that year, construction began on April 1, 1959, and a cornerstone was laid on July 19. The people of Peace built the church themselves, each contributing what they could. A service of dedication on July 24, 1960 opened the present sanctuary.
Rev. Shelly served until his retirement in 1972. He was followed by Rev. Arthur M. Frieberg (1972 to 1982), Rev. David Schaeffer (1982 to 1990), Rev. W. Dean Bickel (1990 to 2008), Rev. Serena Sellers (2009 to 2016), and the current pastor, Rev. Gary Costa, who joined Peace in 2020 after the congregation extended him a letter of call.
Sunday Mornings: Two Services, One Livestream
Peace offers two Sunday morning worship services. The first, at 8:15 am, is a brief service of Word and Holy Communion held in the sanctuary and is not streamed. At 9:00 am the building opens for Sunday School for young children and a Coffee Social Hour for adults in the Fellowship Hall.
The 10:15 am service is the fuller gathering of the week, a Celebration Worship with Holy Communion and music from the choirs. It is available in person and via livestream, with the recorded video available afterward. Holy Communion is celebrated at both Sunday services.
On the third Sunday of each month the 10:15 am hour takes the form of New Spirit, a contemporary service that gathers at the Pavilion when weather allows. Each year the New Spirit service held at the Pavilion in September includes a Blessing of the Animals, with members and neighbors bringing dogs, cats, and other pets forward to receive a blessing from Pastor Gary.
During the summer, from late June through Labor Day weekend, Peace consolidates to a single 9:00 am service and suspends Sunday School. The regular two-service schedule resumes in mid-September.
The Roosevelt Organ and Three Choirs
The music program is anchored by a Roosevelt pipe organ that is the second largest in Bucks County. It was installed in the years after the church was built and remains a draw for organ enthusiasts and visitors in addition to its role in weekly worship.
Three ensembles carry the music ministry. The Senior Choir sings at the principal services, the New Spirit Ensemble leads the monthly contemporary service, and the Bell Choir rehearses approximately every other Wednesday evening at 7:00 pm and plays for one worship service a month. The Bell Choir is currently recruiting new ringers; basic music-reading skills are required, and substitutes who read music are also welcome. Director Jen BAR coordinates both the New Spirit Ensemble and the Bell Choir.
Midweek Learning and Fellowship
An Adult Bible Study meets on Wednesdays at 7:00 pm via Zoom. Anyone interested in joining can reach Pastor Gary through the church office.
On Sunday mornings at 9:00 am, the Adult Discussion Group gathers in the Fellowship Hall to talk about one of the daily devotionals that has caught a member's interest. No preparation is required, and the conversations are open to anyone who would like to drop in.
The Pavilion at Peace
The Pavilion at Peace is a forty-footed by eighty-footed covered steel structure with concrete floors that sits on the church grounds, framed by lawns and views of the surrounding Tohickon Valley. It seats 240 people facing forward at thirty 8-foot tables (480 seated both ways) and holds up to 550 standing, with a 10-by-16-footed kitchen, two 9-by-11-footed handicapped-accessible restrooms, a serving alcove, and lighting and power throughout.
The Pavilion is available to outside groups for weddings, receptions, anniversaries, baby and bridal showers, banquets, family reunions, company picnics, athletic events, fundraisers, graduations, memorial services, musical presentations, and similar gatherings. A full-day pavilion rental runs $300, with surcharges for weddings and large groups; tables and chairs are included. Alcohol use on the building and grounds is prohibited, and the pavilion has no sides to protect against wind-driven weather. Application materials are available through the church office.
Beyond its rental life, the Pavilion serves as the home for several church events. The monthly New Spirit contemporary service moves outside to the Pavilion in good weather, the annual Peace Craft Show and Marketplace sets up vendor tables under its roof and across the adjacent paved lot, and members gather there for the Blessing of the Animals each fall.
Peace Gardens and the Pennridge FISH Pantry
Peace Gardens is a vegetable and flower garden tended by a group of volunteers from the congregation and tended week through the growing season. The harvest goes to Pennridge FISH, the local food pantry known formally as Fellowship in Serving Humanity.
In 2019 the garden donated more than 375 pounds of produce to FISH, and in recent seasons it has produced hundreds of pounds of string beans, Swiss chard, broccoli, cabbage, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, and peppers. The garden also provides a hands-on setting for the children's Sunday School, where kids plant and learn where food comes from before some of the harvest is shared with the food bank.
Peace Meals on Wheels
Separate from any county meal program, Peace Meals on Wheels is an in-house ministry in which volunteers from the congregation prepare and deliver meals to fellow members who are sick, recovering, or grieving. The meals are a practical gesture of care during times when a household cannot easily cook. Volunteers are always welcome.
Walking Together: Pennridge CROP Walk, Welcome Church, and RamPacks
Peace is an active partner in the Pennridge CROP Hunger Walk, the annual fundraising walk that supports Pennridge FISH locally and Church World Service globally. A team from Peace walks the Golden Mile route and the main walk together each fall, raising awareness and funds to address hunger.
Service Sundays bring the congregation out into the wider community. Members have prepared sandwiches, baked goods, clean socks, and t-shirts to share with people who come to the Welcome Church in Philadelphia for an outdoor worship service and a meal. Closer to home, Peace turns out for the Perkasie Fall Fest and Community Day, hosts Trunk or Treat on the church grounds in October, and takes part in the Christmas Tree Lighting in downtown Perkasie.
The annual Peace Craft Show and Marketplace, held at the Pavilion each September, raises money for Pennridge RamPacks, the nonprofit that provides weekend meals to students experiencing food insecurity in the Pennridge School District.
Women of the ELCA and the Lunch Bunch
Women of the ELCA, known locally as WELCA, is the women's ministry organization of the congregation. All women who are members of Peace are automatically members of WELCA. The group gathers for devotions, service projects locally and around the world, and fellowship, and hosts a Women's Tea and a Spring Dinner in alternating years. WELCA meets on the first Tuesday of each month at 1:00 pm in the Fellowship Hall.
The Lunch Bunch is a social group that meets for monthly outings coordinated by Grace Lloyd. Past activities have included lunches at local restaurants, covered-dish dinners, a tour of the Pearl S. Buck House in Perkasie, a Phillies game by bus, a holiday train ride to a Philadelphia Pops concert at the Kimmel Center, and a screening of It's a Wonderful Life in December.
Three Recovery and Grief Groups Under One Roof
The Fellowship Hall at Peace hosts three ongoing support groups that are open to the wider community. Narcotics Anonymous meets on Sundays at 7:00 pm; those arriving should use the side door. Overeaters Anonymous meets on Saturdays from 8:00 to 10:00 am, currently via Zoom, using the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous as a study text. To Live Again, a grief-support group for widowed men and women, gathers on the third Friday of each month at 1:30 pm in the Fellowship Hall.
Vacation Bible School and the Children
Vacation Bible School runs for four evenings each July and is co-hosted with St. Michael's. Children ages three through twelve gather for a simple dinner, then move into Bible stories, crafts, games, and music, with a closing program on Thursday night that families are invited to attend. The offering collected at VBS goes to support Upper Bucks Code Blue, the emergency winter shelter program that serves people experiencing homelessness in Upper Bucks County.
What Peace Believes
Peace describes itself in its Principles of Peace as a community grounded in grace, the free gift of love God gives despite human shortcomings, and committed to growing Christ-likeness through worship, learning, and service. All people are welcome, the principles state, regardless of age, gender, orientation, race, marital status, or political persuasion. The congregation reads Scripture and shares the sacraments with all who come, and invites those who believe that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist to commune alongside them. Members and visitors span a full spectrum of faith backgrounds and political views, and the congregation says it cares for one another across those differences with open hearts.
Outreach, in the church's own words, means welcoming the outcast and stranger with love and working to bring justice and restore peace in the surrounding world. The building is opened to groups that provide care and support to the wider community. Worship is offered in a variety of styles and formats, and members are encouraged to engage head, heart, and hands in service, learning, and spiritual development. The Principles of Peace close with a sentence that the congregation takes as its motto of sorts: Faith is not a set of beliefs, it is a way of living.
People at Peace
Pastor Gary Costa leads the congregation and can be reached at pastor@peace-tohickon.org. The church office is staffed by Office Administrator Terry Stewart and is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm and by appointment. Ruth Barndt serves as sexton, Elaine Miller oversees the nursery, and Jen Bara directs the Bell Choir and New Spirit Ensemble. The church council is led by President Heidi Gerth, Vice-President Doug Erney, Secretary Gary Schaeffer, Treasurer Randi Schaeffer, and Financial Secretary Dottie Ritter.