Paradise Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church), a member of the Lancaster Mennonite Conference, located in Paradise, Lancaster County, PA, built its first meetinghouse in 1806 on land contributed by David Witmer, the innkeeper. By popular subscription $828 was collected for the building. Forty years later it was replaced by a larger brick church. In 1885 the third church, 45 x 65 ft., also of brick, was built and in 1909 considerably enlarged. The first Sunday school was held in 1887. This was the center of the missionary movement among Lancaster Conference Mennonites, giving J. A. Ressler, A. Hershey Leaman, Mary Denlinger, John H. Mellinger, and John M. Kreider early to the cause. The sewing circle movement started here in 1895 and Mary Mellinger in 1911 became its first conference-wide chairman. The cutting room of the Associated Sewing Circles is near by. A beautiful cemetery is on the hill overlooking Paradise. The church membership in 1958 was 302, with Clair B. Eby as bishop, and Amos W. Weaver and Willis E. King as ministers.

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 116. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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