About Us
The Church of Peace welcomes everyone to attend its services, meetings,
and special events. The weekly Sunday morning service is complimented
by special services throughout the year, including Ash Wednesday, a
Lenten series, and
Christmas Eve.
Sunday mornings are a busy time at church as everyone comes together to
attend Sunday School, practice in music groups, meet in
fellowship and worship. Frequently, there are special events after the
service to gather for a meal and entertainment. The weekday calendar is
also full with the daily activity of the church, outreach, meetings,
rehearsals, and volunteer opportunities.
The Church is directly involved in the neighborhood. Located in the
Longview neighborhood of Rock Island, through
outreach the church
partners with nearby Hawthorne-Irving School and people in need can come
to the office to get emergency assistance. For eight years, the church
has hosted work camps in the summer to help in local upkeep efforts.
The Community Caring Conference office is located at the church
and this “self-help” neighborhood organization has become an active
force in the community working for the good of the people.
The Church of Peace has been in located Rock Island since 1895. Founded
by German immigrants the church was originally called Deutsche
Evangelical Friedens Gemeinde or German Evangelical Peace Church. In
1912, the congregation built the church at its current location on 12th
Street and 12th Avenue. The history is seen in the stained glass
windows and the bell tower as it stands tall in the neighborhood. An
addition was added in the 1950s for offices and education classrooms.
In
1923, the name of the church was changed to Evangelical Church of
Peace. When the merger of the Congregational Christian Churches and the
Evangelical and Reformed Church denominations of Protestant faith
occurred in 1957, they formed the United Church of Christ. Therefore,
the church became the Church of Peace United Church of Christ (UCC).
The UCC national headquarters are in Cleveland, Ohio.
The UCC is a community of faith that seeks to respond to the Gospel of
Jesus Christ in word and deed. From the beginning of the UCC, we were a
church that affirmed the ideal that Christians did not always have to
agree to live together in communion. Our motto—"that they may all be
one"—is Jesus’ prayer for the unity of the church. The UCC is one of
the most diverse Christian churches in the United States. We are a
seekers’ church. At best, our congregations seek to include anyone and
everyone who wants to listen for the voice of the still speaking God.
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