The Chestnut Hill Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church USA) in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, a member of Lancaster Mennonite Conference, is located in Columbia, Pennsylvania on land originally warranted to Joseph Sherrock in 1740. In 1790 Martin Greider and Michael Hoffman deeded a tract to Samuel Nissley, Michael Seichrist, and Joseph Sherck, ministers of the "Hempfield Mennonist Religious Society." The log meetinghouse erected on it was used  until 1874, when a brick church was built. This was enlarged and remodeled in 1909 and 1947. The burial ground is at the Salunga and Landisville meetinghouses, which were for many years a part of the ministerial circuit. The congregation numbered 133 members in 1953 and 124 members in 2002. The Sunday school, started in 1884, averaged 130 in the mid-1950s.  A circuit young people’s meeting started in 1946 was well attended also at this time. Henry E. Lutz was the bishop, Jacob L. and H. Raymond Charles were the ministers, and Martin S. Newcomer the deacon in 1953.

In 2009 the membership was 102; the ministers were J. Donald Brubaker, J. Leon Eshleman and Melvin H. Thomas.

Additional Information

Address: 4050 Marietta Avenue, Columbia Pennsylvania

Phone: 717-684-5513

Website: Chestnut Hill Mennonite Church

Denominational Affiliations:

Lancaster Mennonite Conference

Mennonite Church USA

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, pp. 553-554. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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