Prince of Peace Westland Mission Partner Profile

Prince of Peace was founded in 1949 by a group of Lutherans who had split off from the Missouri Synod and others and met in a legion hall. They broke ground for small church in Wayne in July, 1951 and with the help of five mission builders, were able to dedicate the sanctuary by the end of November, 1951. Over the years they have been served by Pastors Heins, Beyer, Brown, Beckam, and Rorem. In 1961 they bought a large parcel of land in Westland and in 1971 broke ground to build the present church which was dedicated in 1973. They soon experienced financial difficulty in paying the mortgage and maintaining the Wayne church building which took years to sell. Eventually they sold a piece of their land to obtain stability. The following years the church successfully worked its mission and did some charitable helping through their outreach programs. Then Pastor Rorem moved to Alaska in January, 1991. In the spring of 1991 Pr. David Bonde accepted a call and became Pastor of the church. He helped Prince of Peace get their financial books in order separating capital funds and operating funds from benevolence. He emphasized increasing their reach out to others rather then being self centered. In one of his sermons he said, "A church that looks only inside is due for failure."

David Bonde had been a pastor "in the city." This was fresh in his mind, and he remembered clearly the isolation between city and suburban congregations, and he knew of the definite needs of the city church. The committee went to visit Faith Memorial and they were awestruck by the many programs they had, the strength of the Congregation and the joy they showed even though they were people of little means. Faith Memorial was later renamed Spirit of Hope. Spirit of Hope's witness to us was important- doing faithful ministry in their place in spite of the adversity, Spirit of Hope is a fine example of a community of hope in a difficult place and being a place of joy. One committee member said, "We decided to grow our giving, and we voted to give a percentage of our budget and increase the amount every year."

Thus began a mission partnering that has endured for eighteen years. "Having a mission partner helped make that giving 'cast in concrete" and connected us to the idea of mission which we had needed to renew within ourselves," said a committee member who has been with the partnership since the beginning.

"We sent our catechism class to Spirit of Hope for a tour and talk by current Pr. Bode. They then spent the Saturday afternoon serving lunch to 245 people who otherwise would have no food." This is good work, good fun, educational, and enriching for our kids. Both our church and our partner church benefit in various ways and benefit greatly," said Carl Ames, Pr. of Prince of Peace Westland.

The lessons learned from Pr. Bonde have not been forgotten by the congregants of Prince of Peace as they continue their generous giving despite the financial difficulties of the current times and the fact their church is in the shadow of the Ford Wayne Assembly Plant. "We are blessed that we are still able to keep our commitments and therefore serve both God and man," said Pastor Ames. He also said “ I have never served a church with more lay leadership, all I have to do is help make something possible like outreach to a particular need and the members take it up and then own it themselves.”

Prince of Peace is supporting:

• Habitat for Humanity with workers and financial gifts
• Veterans Homeless Shelter in Detroit with gifts and having them eat and worship with us three times a year
• Living Waters Camp Ministry. One of our members who is an engineer along with forty people goes to the camp to do maintenance and repairs of all kinds in the fall. We also support them yearly in our budget.
• Continue the support for Bette McCrandall, a missionary who is in Liberia and have supported missionaries for nearly forty years
• Fifty people for Cropwalk - one in an electric wheelchair
• Salvation Army food for after school program - cooking, serving, and cleaning on Tuesdays of each week
• LSSM at Wayne Family Center - bi monthly Sunday dinner
• We maintain our benevolence giving to the church at large as intended

The Prince of Peace Mission Partner Committee recommends every church should have a Mission Partner. This is good work with both heavenly and earthly dividends that cannot be taken from you.

Special thanks to Luan Purcell for providing history and most of the quotes.

Bill Swasey

Bill Swasey is a member of the Synod Stewardship Committee, the Synod Mission Partners Committee and St Thomas Grosse Ile.