Church of Peace, United Church of Christ, is located at the corner of 12th Street and 12th Avenue in Rock Island, Illinois.

In addition to street parking on 12th Street or 12th Avenue, there are two parking lots next to the church off of 12th Avenue.

Worship services are held in the church’s sanctuary. You can enter the church via the east-facing doors on the corner of 12th Street and 12th Avenue, or through the south-facing doors on 12th Avenue near the parking lot. Regardless of which door you enter through, you can find the sanctuary by heading up the stairs.

An accessible entrance is located off of 12th Street. Follow the sidewalk towards the building and look to the left to find a reddish door. This door opens directly into an elevette. The door can be a little tricky, so you may need to find a member of Church of Peace who can help you.

On most Sundays before worship, we have adult Sunday School in the lounge in the basement. These sessions cover a variety of topics and are held from 9am to 10am.

Every Sunday before worship, we have time for coffee and snacks in the basement. People usually gather around 10am.

To get to the basement, some in through the entrances we listed above and follow the stairs down.

Sunday worship begins at about 10:30am and usually lasts about an hour.

Other worship services — like those held on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and Christmas Eve — are usually in the evenings and also last about an hour (sometimes longer). You can see specific times on our calendar.

Worship at Church of Peace is generally simple and follows a ‘traditional’ pattern:

• A prelude played on the organ and providing a time for us to center our thoughts and prepare for worship.
• A welcome from our pastor, followed by announcements that may be of interest to our community.
• Gathering songs by our small praise band. During this time, we also take a few minutes to greet each other.
• A time for children to come to the front of the sanctuary and receive a special message from the pastor.
• One or more readings from the Bible.
• A sermon that connects the readings to our lives.
• A time for offerings that support the congregation and its mission.

The service is punctuated by hymns and prayers. Some services may also include musical performances, baptisms, the acceptance of new members, or other elements.

Church of Peace offers communion on the first Sunday of each month and at some special worship services. We offer bread and wafers (with gluten-free wafers available on request) as well as red wine and white grape juice. Communion is usually served to the people by deacons, but some services may use other methods. Our communion table is open, meaning that you do not need to be a member of Church of Peace to take communion with us.

Children of all ages are welcome in our worship services. We begin worship as a multigenerational community. After the children’s time, pre-K children are invited to go to the nursery. Other children are invited to stay in worship. ‘Busy bags’ with toys, books, and other activities are available in the back of the sanctuary.

The sanctuary is wheelchair accessible.

Large print bulletins are available.

Readings during the service are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, and copies can be found in each pew. This version of the Bible is widely preferred by scholars and used in worship in many Protestant denominations.

Hymns are usually sung from the New Century Hymnal, which is commonly used in congregations of the United Church of Christ. When we use music from other services, the lyrics are printed in the bulletin.