Our Story

As a church community, East Petersburg Mennonite Church has been intertwined with the neighborhoods of East Petersburg ever since this faith community gathered first as local Mennonite neighbors. We love being part of this community.

Oral tradition records that some neighbors first started gathering as a church community in 1720.  Our group was intimate and intentional in these years.  In 1831, the church community worked to create their first meeting house on the corner of State Street and Lemon Street. This original meeting house was an old log building that had been built for such a purpose by a church member, and may have also served as a “Union Church Schoolhouse”.  Over the years, many church groups shared this building and location, as well as collaborated together, until their growth allowed them to purchase their own space elsewhere.

As families steadily moved into the area it was also reflected in our church community’s growth. Quickly our community needed a larger space for meeting and ministry. For that reason, on March 28, 1867, the first pieces of land were purchased that our building currently rests on and a small building was built.  However, by 1896 that building quickly found itself too small.  On March 27, 1902, more land was purchased and added to our space. By 1903, there was a demand for finding ways to do more together and Sunday School was started.

In 1933, our meeting house building was once again remodeled and enlarged and new benches were brought in. However, just one year later some individuals were already enlarging the space even more.  The building we meet in today was built in 1997, incorporating our historic building into the new space. Our building continues to be used by the neighborhood, as well as many other organizations and ministries.

Throughout the years we have had eras in which we were fairly large as we gathered together, and there also have been eras in which we were a smaller community of intimacy and intentionality.  Though we are now a church community that is made up of a diverse collection of families from all over Lancaster County, there is no denying the connection of our church to its neighbors and neighborhood. We have been in this neighborhood for over 298 years. Our story has had many different chapters, and many more chapters continue to be written.  We continue to press on as a community that is learning to live and love like Jesus in East Petersburg, PA.