Shirksville Mennonite Church (Pilgrim Mennonite Conference), located seven miles (11.5 km) north of Lebanon, was formerly a member of the Lancaster Conference. It is the oldest (founded 1740) and most northerly of Mennonite churches in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. Caspar and Barbara Shirk moved from Chestnut Hill to the farm from which the site for the meetinghouse was taken. When the deed was given to Christian Newcomer, Peter Graff, Peter Wolf, and Christian Lentz in 1776, the meetinghouse was already erected and the cemetery ground provided. It served the congregation until the present frame church was built on the same site in 1895. Most of the original families have been lost to the church, but others moved in; the membership in 1957 was 60, with Lester C. Shirk as minister.

In 2009 the membership was 109; the minister was Loyal Ebersole.

Additional Information

Address: Fredericksburg, Pennsylvania

Phone: 717-865-2005

Denominational Affiliation: Pilgrim Mennonite Conference

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 516. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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