Latest News
News from our church, school, and around our synod
COVID-19 UPDATE – MASK MANDATE
Dear Peace Members,
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers has signed an Executive Order mandating face coverings “whenever you are indoors or in an enclosed space, other than a private residence.” This means all Wisconsin residents who attend a church service will be expected to wear masks unless they have a medical condition that prevents them from doing so. Pastors who are preaching or presiding at worship services won’t need to wear a face covering as long as they are more than 6 feet away from other individuals.
Since this mandate is in effect August 1 through the month of September, our upcoming worship services will be impacted .
Your congregational leadership understands that this is a controversial topic and there are members of Peace who stand firmly on opposite sides of the issue. Reasonable people can debate how effective masks are. Reasonable people can have friendly debates over whether or not the government guidelines are too restrictive or not aggressive enough. However, this much is not debatable: our Lord directs us to obey our government unless that government would ever ask us to do something that goes against God’s Word. In fact, that was well covered a few weeks ago in worship focusing on the 4th Commandment (here’s a link to the service and Pastor Waldshmidt’s sermon – https://peacehartford.org/weekly-worship-july-23-26-2020/).
Let us all remember that brothers and sisters in Christ can disagree, even disagree with friendly and reasonable debate. Let’s also remember that there are matters that are much more important than mask wearing or not mask wearing. May our language and our actions express the love that God has first shown to us in Christ—as well as the unity that we enjoy in Him. We who are so dearly loved by the Lord — together let’s agree that this debatable issue about masks will not divide us, take our hearts and minds off of Christ, or rob us of our unity.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things – Philippians 4:8
A few additional notes:
Peace still offers online worship for those who are not comfortable attending in-person worship (you can find a link to the latest service on the home page)
A limited amount of homemade and disposable masks will be available for worshipers, but we encourage you to use your own if you are able.
If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to one of the Pastors.
Jesus Bless and Keep You!
Your Peace Leadership
5 Minute Virtual Bible Studies
May 13, 2020 – The God Who Knows
May 6, 2020 – My Joy & Delight
April 29, 2020 – The God of Jeshurun
April 22, 2020 – The God of Israel
April 15, 2020 – The God Who Sees Me
Distance Learning
March 17, 2020
Dear Peace families,
I’m writing to provide more information about our plan for distance learning. Our goal is to provide you with learning opportunities for your children so they can continue to learn and grow. The information provided below is a simple overview; the classroom teachers will be providing more specifics.
Stay Connected to Jesus
Our school is closed so that we can preserve our families’ health and safety. We are equally concerned about your spiritual health. As you’re able, make time to grow in the Word. Read the bible, have a family devotion, watch one of our past sermons, sing/read a hymn, or just spend time in prayer. During this time of uncertainty, lean on your God.
Schedule
We are taking “snow” days on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week. This will enable our faculty to develop plans for our distance learning. Distance learning will begin on Thursday, March 19th and will run through March 27th. We will plan to take our regularly scheduled Spring Break on March 30th through April 3rd.
Right now, we are scheduled to return to classes on Monday, April 6th. There is a possibility we will extend to April 13th and follow our district’s decision. We will continue monitoring the situation and will communicate a decision several days in advance. Our school building will remain closed until classes resume.
You may have heard the DPI is allowing waivers for instructional hours. The process for private schools to do this is still developing. However, we still feel it is our duty and obligation to provide our students with ways they can learn even if the hours requirement is waived.
Distance learning
Our philosophy for distance learning is to provide our students with learning opportunities while not adding stress to our families. We understand that our parents are wading through uncertainty with their jobs, childcare, and income. Your children’s education is important to us, but we also understand that the demands of everyday life have changed. Therefore, our teachers will be focusing on our core curriculum – Word of God, Literacy, and Math – and providing additional enrichment opportunities in other areas.
Your child(ren)’s teacher will be communicating with you about their plans for learning as well as the best way to stay in contact with them. Our teachers will be available by email, phone, text, or other technology during regular school hours.
Our teachers are working to deliver the best possible learning opportunities, but we are all learning in a changing situation. Some things may work great, some things may need to be adjusted. Please stay in communication with your chid(ren)’s teacher(s).
We appreciate your patience and understanding. As plans change, I will communicate them to our Peace family. I am looking forward to when we can be back at school, am praying for health and safety for you and your families.
In Christ’s Service,
Principal Ben Washburn
