PENTECOST and PEACE spell P-O-W-E-R for some 211 charter members at our new mission in North Glen Burnie, Maryland. It was on Pentecost Sunday, 1958 that the Peace Lutheran Mission held its first service and it is on Pentecost Sunday, 1959, that the Peace Lutheran Mission is dedicating its first church. The power, of course, is that of the Holy Spirit who has made the amazing progress of Peace Church in one year a reality.

It all started when, after three years of service at Grace Lutheran Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I was called to direct the starting of a new mission package in the area north of Glen Burnie in the spring of 1958. I arrived on the scene right after Easter and with the able assistance of Miss Alice Schimpf, then parish worker of the Eastern District of American Lutheran Church, laid the groundwork for this new church to be born.

The area, which Peace Church serves, takes in a one-mile radius. One end is the older community of Ferndale, which has been served by a Methodist Church for the past 35 years. On the other end is a newer area of homes, which, prior to the birth of the Peace mission, was not served by any bonafide Protestant Church.

The fields were indeed white, ready for the harvest, and all the Holy Spirit needed was an opportunity to reap. Thus, it was that on September 28, 1958, Peace Lutheran Church was officially organized with 140 confirmed members and 235 baptized members. Some 60 of these 140 were received either by adult confirmations or by adult baptism. Eighteen more confirmed and 41 more baptized were added to the Peace Church roster by the end of the year.

When the charter closes of the Trinity Sunday52 more people will be added to the confirmed membership and 77 more added to the baptized membership to make the grand total of 211 confirmed 353 baptized. It is interesting to note that only 16 of the 211 were received by letter of transfer from A. L. C. congregation, and that 75 percent of the charter membership were either inactive or not a member of any church. Our Sunday school, which shows promise of rapid growth upon entering our new church, stands at 125 members.

One of the big jobs of a mission church is to find a good location. Through the providence of God, Peace Church was Able to do something which some ten other churches had tried to do in the last two years and failed, namely, find a piece of property on Wellham Ave., which runs through the center of the mission area. The only available piece of ground with utilities was a parcel of about two acres with four occupied homes on it. With the help of the Bready-Fisher Contractors, who are building homes along Wellham Ave., the Peace Mission was able to negotiate the property for $25,000. The Bready-Fisher Corporation contributed $5,000 as a gift toward the purchase of the property.

The next big problem was to clear the property. The men of are congregation dismantled the big two-story home and the Ferndale Fire Department burned down two one-story houses. The fourth home has been kept to use for Sunday school space and a Scout house.

With such rapid growth, it was necessary to find a building that would best meet the needs of the community. After visiting area missions, it was decided to use the unit patterned after Messiah Lutheran Church in Alexandra, Virginia. In order to obtain this large of a unit, the men of Peace Church voted to lay all floor tiles and do all exterior and interior painting. In addition, Mr. Horace Wharton, a member of Peace Church, agreed to make all the chancel furniture. The two story colonial brick building contracted with Shepherd and Vanous of Severna Park, Maryland, for $42,400, but complete furnishings it is valued at over $50,000.

The Baltimore Mission Society, which has helped so many Baltimore area missions in the past, has been of invaluable aid to Peace Church. The Society gave the mission the down payment on its present parsonage at 203 Chalmers Ave., and voted to give the mission a $1,000 dedication gift. Besides this Society, the sister congregations have contributed gifts totaling over $1,500 to be used for church furnishings.

The future for Peace Church is indeed a bright one. At the present time, there are some 450 new homes in the process of being built in the area right around the church. Many of them will be ready to be lived in this summer. Plans call for an additional 1,000 homes in the immediate area of the mission in the next five to ten years.

And so as Pentecost rolls around year after year the people of Peace Lutheran Church, North Glen Burnie, Maryland, will be able to give testimony to the words of Jesus: “But you shall receive POWER when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.”