In Princeton Junction, less than two miles from the train station and adjacent to West Windsor Community Park, Prince of Peace Lutheran Church is known for liturgical Word and Sacrament worship, a strong musical life, contemplative grounds, and ministries that extend into food access, refugee support, spiritual direction, and care for families. At 177 Princeton-Hightstown Road, the congregation is an increasingly diverse, open, and faithful community centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ and its motto, Practicing Resurrection with Gratitude and Grace.
Prince of Peace belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and its New Jersey Synod. That identity is visible in a worship tradition built around Scripture, Holy Communion, the Common Lectionary, choral music, and the participation of lay people. It is also visible in the church's commitment to reconciliation, racial and environmental justice, disability-inclusive worship, spiritual formation, and service beyond its own walls.
Sunday at 9:30: Word, Sacrament, and Shared Music
The regular Sunday indoor service begins at 9:30 AM. Worship is liturgical and grounded in the Lutheran tradition of Word and Sacrament. Holy Communion is celebrated at every Sunday service. Those who wish to receive Communion may come to the front rail or use a self-contained kit available just inside the front doors.
Bible readings follow the Common Lectionary, coordinating the Sunday texts used by churches around the world, and lay leaders participate in reading the lessons. Youth and adults serve as communion assistants and acolytes, giving worship a shared character rather than leaving participation solely to clergy. Other volunteers serve as lectors, ushers, greeters, acolytes, communion assistants, and hosts of fellowship.
Prince of Peace also observes the wider church year with services for Epiphany, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. Midweek services are scheduled during Advent and Lent, while occasional healing services and outdoor services are also part of the congregation's worship life.
The 9:30 AM service is livestreamed through the church's Facebook presence, and a Facebook account is not required to watch. Copies of worship videos are also available through the church's YouTube channel, while selected musical offerings appear on SoundCloud.
Joyful Noise on the Third Sunday
Every third Sunday at 1:00 PM, Prince of Peace gathers for a 30-minute Joyful Noise service designed especially for children with autism, ADHD, Down syndrome, other developmental or physical challenges, and families with young children. The gathering brings together children with and without disabilities so that they can learn from one another in an atmosphere of understanding and acceptance.
Joyful Noise is intentionally lively. Music and movement combine with prayer, Bible stories, and Holy Communion. Children and adults participate together, making the service both a distinctive Lutheran worship experience and a place of special-needs ministry within the congregation.
A Musical Heritage with Open Participation
Music is central to Prince of Peace's identity, and the church maintains a substantial choral ministry for high school students and adults. Principal ensembles are active from September through June, while special solos and ensembles provide music for worship during the summer.
- Nightingale Ringers: This bell choir for high school and adult ringers rehearses Thursdays from 7:00 to 7:50 PM and plays in worship monthly.
- Adult Choir: The congregation's flagship ensemble rehearses Thursdays from 8:00 to 9:30 PM. High school students and adults may join without an audition, and the choir provides music at most worship services from September through May.
Church Musician Victoria Chow brings extensive training in piano performance and pedagogy to the role. She is a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music in Piano, an adjunct professor of piano at Westminster Choir College, and an experienced private piano teacher. The worship space itself supports music with a baby grand Yamaha piano and strong acoustics, making it suitable not only for Sunday worship but also for concerts and recitals.
Learning from First Communion Through Adult Forum
Education opportunities are offered for all ages from September through June. The Sunday education hour for children and adults begins at 10:45 AM, following the main worship service. Adults also gather for education at 7:30 PM on Wednesdays. The curriculum can include pastor-led classes, guest speakers, biblical scholarship, Bible study, historical topics, current events, and group discussion.
- First Communion: Pastoral instruction is offered to children in grades 2 through 5. Classes begin in January with children and parents together, and First Communion is celebrated in March.
- Confirmation: Young people in grades 6 through 8 participate in confirmation instruction with pastoral and lay leadership, supported by congregational mentors. Confirmation Sunday occurs on the first Sunday in June.
The congregation's smaller groups make room for discussion and fellowship in several forms. Christian Focus meets on Wednesdays from 11:30 AM until about 1:00 PM, with lunch followed by a lecture, study, and discussion. The Book Group gathers on the second Thursday of each month at 1:30 PM. Joyful Stitchers meets on Mondays at 7:00 PM for knitting, crocheting, other stitching arts, service projects, and skill-building; experienced participants can teach those who are learning. A Prayer Circle meets on Fridays from 1:30 to 2:30 PM for discussion, reflection, and prayer.
From Maurice Hawk School to the Present Sanctuary
1965 to 1968: A Mission Takes Root
The idea for Prince of Peace began in 1965, when a group of Lutherans asked the New Jersey Synod of the Lutheran Church in America to establish a mission in the growing West Windsor community. Mercia Bachmann served as spokesperson when the group made its official request on October 14. Just short of a year later, the first Lutheran worship service in West Windsor was held on October 6, 1966, at Maurice Hawk Elementary School. Pastor John Pfisterer, called by the church's Board of American Missions, officiated and helped develop the congregation.
In 1967, the mission purchased three and a half acres on Princeton-Hightstown Road and placed a sign identifying it as the future home of Prince of Peace. Early activities included a Couples' Club, monthly potluck suppers, a Sunday evening mission school, a women's group, an adult choir led by Pastor Pfisterer, the first confirmation class, and welfare projects. An organizational meeting on April 21, 1968, elected and installed a congregational council, and John Pfisterer became the congregation's first pastor that June.
1976 and 1991: Two Sanctuary Milestones
The cornerstone of the original church building was placed in 1975, and the congregation moved from Maurice Hawk School into it in February 1976. The first sanctuary was small but adequate and is now used as the community room. A tall, slender steeple remains a defining feature of the building. The structure was dedicated on February 29, 1976, with Pastor Fred Schott presiding.
Growth eventually prompted an addition. The congregation first worshiped in the present sanctuary on September 15, 1991. Its dedication followed on November 17, with congregation member Dr. Karlfried Froehlich preaching and New Jersey Synod Bishop E. Roy Riley attending.
The Cherry Tree Club
Prince of Peace also began a significant ministry for young children in 1995. The Cherry Tree Club provided free early childhood education to at-risk children in Mercer County who were not receiving it. In partnership with HomeFront, the program served more than 900 children for more than 21 years before closing in September 2016. This long-running program reflects the church's repeated emphasis on education and support for children and families.
The House Next Door: Rest, Reflection, and Spiritual Direction
At 173 Princeton-Hightstown Road, the early 20th-century house next door to the church serves as The House Next Door. Purchased in 1996 and officially named in 2015, it was renovated as a home-like setting for retreats, classes, spiritual counseling, meetings, and small community functions. Its residential scale creates a distinctive setting for reflection and hospitality.
Pastor Dale Selover is Prince of Peace's Pastor of Spiritual Formation and Director of The House Next Door. She trained as a spiritual director through Oasis Ministries for Spiritual Development, serves on its teaching staff, and has led retreats for congregational groups, councils, families, and Christian education teams for more than twenty years. She is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and also leads retreats at Cross Roads, an ecumenical ministry of the New Jersey Synod and the Episcopal Diocese of Newark.
Through Living in Grace, Selover offers spiritual direction and day and weekend retreats. The ministry is intended for people seeking space to discern, reflect, and recognize the Holy at work in their lives. Selover describes a spiritual direction session as an hour of pure grace. The House Next Door also hosts classes, counseling, clergy respite, meetings, and retreats shaped around the needs of particular groups.
An Eleven-Circuit Labyrinth and the Tree of Life Chapel
The meditation garden between the church and The House Next Door contains an eleven-circuit Chartres-style labyrinth built in 2016 by church and community volunteers. It is open from dawn to dusk for contemplation and walking meditation. Visitors are encouraged to park in the church lot. The wider garden also contains an outdoor worship space, a butterfly garden, a Memorial Garden, and the Tree of Life Chapel.
The Tree of Life Chapel is a memorial garden for pregnancy and infant loss created with the House Next Door and local landscape designer Mark Snyder. Its design follows three principles. It is inclusive, with imagery intended to welcome people of every religion and ethnicity. It is private, with paneling around the garden. It is communal, with features that connect individual grief to a wider community of remembrance.
At the base of the fountain, visitors may take a stone, write the name of a baby, and place it with the others. A display also makes community resources available to those seeking support. An annual remembrance connected with the National Day of Pregnancy and Infant Loss gathers people for prayer, mourning, and reflection at the chapel.
Reconciliation, Racial Justice, and the Lenapehoking Homeland
Prince of Peace is a Reconciled in Christ congregation. Its welcoming commitment affirms the humanity and sacredness of people of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions. It commits to anti-racism, liberation, social justice, and environmental justice, while affirming the inclusion of people affected by race, ability, age, or culture.
The church also welcomes those who wrestle with addiction, physical or mental illness, imprisonment, or difficult socioeconomic circumstances. It rejects the idea that any of these experiences make a person unworthy of seeking God's love and grace. This commitment is expressed through Joyful Noise worship, spiritual direction, parish care, racial justice work, and relationships with refugee and immigrant ministries.
The Racial Justice Team acknowledges that the land on which Prince of Peace gathers is part of Lenapehoking, the traditional territory of the Lenni-Lenape. The acknowledgment recognizes the Lenape as the original people of the land and their continuing relationship with their homeland. It names the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation, Ramapough Lenape Nation, Powhatan Renape Nation, and Delaware communities as continuing historical tribal communities of the region.
The acknowledgment also recalls Chief Tamanend's aspiration for harmony between Indigenous people and descendants of immigrants to this land: as long as the rivers and creeks flow, and the sun, moon, and stars shine. An orange banner near the Racial Justice Library stands in solidarity with Indigenous children and their families who died while in residential schools, often administered by church bodies. The color represents a unified step toward reconciliation and stronger relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.
The Peace Garden and Partnerships That Feed Neighbors
The 1,800-square-foot Peace Garden behind The House Next Door grows organic produce for donation to local food banks. It began in 2013 and participates in the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's Community Gardens program, which supplies seeds, seedlings, and organic gardening materials. Volunteers from the church and surrounding community work under master gardener Nancy Nicosia. During the growing season, roughly mid-March through mid-October, work sessions are generally held Tuesday and Friday mornings from 10:00 AM to noon, weather permitting.
Food produced in the garden goes to partners serving food-insecure neighbors, including Enid's Food Pantry at St. Bartholomew Lutheran Church in Trenton. St. Bartholomew, described as Prince of Peace's closest church partner, receives nonperishable food through a donation bin near the Community Room. The two congregations share worship, fellowship, and community outreach, including support for food distribution.
Prince of Peace's immigration ministry works with Interfaith-RISE, an organization supporting refugees, asylees, and immigrants through housing, English-language proficiency, employment services, cultural orientation, and access to social, mental health, and healthcare services. Church volunteers help with English learning, basic laptop skills, driving, transportation to appointments, mentoring, and donations of household goods and seasonal clothing. The congregation also supports an annual refugee welcome gathering.
Additional partnerships extend the church's service. Lutheran Social Ministries of New Jersey receives Easter grocery bags, backpacks, school supplies, Christmas gifts, and other requested assistance. Trenton Rescue Mission receives clothing donations. Cross Roads provides ecumenical retreats for all ages. Prince of Peace has also joined Dutch Neck Presbyterian for worship and education, supports mission work through the New Jersey Synod, and participates in the West Windsor Area Ministerium, a cooperative body of clergy and congregations in central New Jersey.
Through the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the congregation supports ministries including World Hunger, HIV/AIDS ministry, Lutheran Disaster Response, and campus and outdoor ministries. These connections place Prince of Peace's local work within a wider Lutheran pattern of care for people affected by hunger, poverty, displacement, illness, and disaster.
Parish Care and Service Within the Congregation
Parish Care offers support during joy, sorrow, concern, worry, or times when a person simply needs someone to listen. Its ongoing work includes providing rides, delivering meals, sending notes, making phone calls, and visiting people who cannot attend church. The congregation also keeps homebound members connected through mailed worship materials and periodic visits.
Parish Care helps with memorial and funeral services, receptions, graduations, weddings, and installations. During spring and Christmas, adults and children join in caroling at local senior residences. These ministries express care through ordinary acts of accompaniment, hospitality, remembrance, and practical assistance.
Volunteers serve in the Altar Guild, worship, communications, the digital team, finance, hospitality, property care, and stewardship. Some also participate in garden work, singing groups, small groups, racial justice activities, refugee support, and food distribution. The range of roles makes room for both worship-centered service and practical work connected to the church's buildings and community ministries.
Spaces for Worship, Music, Meetings, and Quiet Contemplation
Prince of Peace's campus includes the original sanctuary, now the Community Room, and the larger worship space used on Sunday. The worship space has excellent acoustics and a baby grand Yamaha piano and is suitable for concerts and recitals. A narthex connects the interior with the meditation garden through exterior doors.
Other flexible spaces include a commercial kitchen and large open community hall, a conference room for up to eight people, an informal meeting room, a large meeting room for about 40, and a lounge for about 15. A music room contains a piano, and the Kids Room accommodates approximately 12 children with age-appropriate tables, chairs, and a craft closet. Free Wi-Fi is available throughout the building, along with a portable 40-inch display for presentations.
Rooms may be reserved by outside groups when the church calendar permits, making the campus useful for meetings, forums, banquets, conferences, classes, retreats, and small community functions. The House Next Door expands that setting with its home-like rooms and surrounding garden. Weddings, funerals, and receptions are also part of the church's parish life.
Prince of Peace accepts charitable donations online through Vanco by electronic check or major credit card. Gifts can also be made by check payable to Prince of Peace Lutheran Church. At its center, the church brings together Word and Sacrament, choral and bell music, education for every age, contemplative walking, disability-inclusive worship, justice, hospitality, and service. At Prince of Peace, those traditions remain joined in the continuing life of one Lutheran congregation in Princeton Junction.