History

Germantown Mennonite Church is the Oldest Mennonite Congregation In North America

Germantown, the site of the first permanent settlement of Mennonites in North America, has been called "The Gateway of American Mennonitism," through which most North American Mennonites have symbolically passed.

Thirteen Dutch Mennonite families led the way, when on October 6, 1683, they arrived in Philadelphia on the ship, "Concord," and settled in what became known as Germantown, a small settlement about seven miles northwest of the seaport of Philadelphia.

At first, these families met in private homes and worshipped with Quaker families. By 1690, the Mennonite families began worshipping separately. Dutch Mennonites continued arriving, and then in 1707, Palatine Mennonite (Swiss-German) families followed, uniting with the Germantown congregation.

This west European ethnicity still largely flavors the Germantown congregation today, since approximately half of our members are of Dutch and Swiss-German ancestries. We rejoice in our ever-growing diversity in both ethnic background and religious experiences. One member expresses it this way:

I appreciate the way Germantown Mennonite Church strives to affirm that God's love embraces all people. Christ invites us to offer hospitality to all. I have found here a congregation seeking to worship God together and work to both respect and transcend differences of ethnicity, race, gender, sexual identity, physical ability, marital status, and class. Germantown Mennonite strives to create a safe yet open space for diverse people to offer praise, find healing, nurture spiritual growth, celebrate the Spirit, and explore both new and old paths of discipleship.      — John Linscheid

First meeting in private homes, the early settlers erected a log meetinghouse in 1708. In 1770, the log building was replaced with a stone structure that was the regular meeting place for the congregation until the early Nineties. In the mid-Fifties, with most of the regular attendees coming from the rural suburbs, this historic meetinghouse was almost sold.

The church's revival began in the mid-Seventies, when a concerted effort was made to gather the varied Mennonite graduate students and volunteer service workers within Philadelphia. The congregation began to grow numerically and assume an identity and vision for Mennonites who loved the city and felt a spiritual calling to live in an urban setting. A growing congregation soon made the 1770 meetinghouse obsolete. In 1993, after a couple of years as tenants in neighboring facilities, the Congregation purchased the present site at 21 West Washington Lane.