Welcome to Hills of Peace Lutheran Church.

Peace be with you! Que la paix de Dieu soit avec vous!

It is an honour and, most of the time, a joy to serve and share in the lives of this community!

While I was born in Sidney and raised in Nelson, BC, I have spent several of the last ten years out of province and abroad. I have come to Kamloops after meandering around Vancouver, Europe, and Africa to gain an undergraduate education; studying Theology at a masters level (MDiv) with the Lutheran Theological Seminary Saskatoon in Saskatchewan for four years; and living and serving as a missionary teacher with a post-graduate school of Lutheran theology in Madagascar for one year.

As a Lutheran, it is a core belief of mine that every aspect of our lives needs to seep with the gracious gift of life that we have been offered freely. Perhaps the most basic example I can offer here is the greeting of another human being on the road. A simple “hello” affirms the presence and life of another — gifts God gives us and gifts that we can recognize with gratitude by acknowledging the being of another in our presence.

I hope that we, as people of faith, can continue to turn ourselves outwards to service of others: to communities in need locally, nationally, and internationally. This continuous turning of focus away from ourselves will contribute to a greater sense of how God is at work with us and through us in the Lutheran church.

God is at the centre of all that is good. Having been given the gift of faith in baptism by grace through faith, I believe that we are each called to live lives that demonstrate this Gospel; Christ is with us no matter what, guiding, challenging, and forgiving us.

May God bless you on your journey,

Pastor Jane Gingrich

Barbara is deeply committed to the empowering of all people in their baptismal ministry. Her education and experience has taught her the healing power of a life of prayer and the transforming and restorative power of God’s love when the Christian community reaches out in acts of social justice and love to the most vulnerable of our society.