Two Centuries on Slate Hill Road
Slate Hill Mennonite Church sits along a familiar stretch of road in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, and it has been there a very long time. The first Slate Hill church building went up in 1816, and the congregation that calls that spot home has been part of the surrounding community ever since. In the years since, the people who gather here have changed in many ways - in size, in the languages they speak, in the neighbors next door - but the address has stayed the same: 1352 Slate Hill Road.
Today Slate Hill is a congregation of LMC: A Fellowship of Anabaptist Churches, a family of roughly three hundred congregations across the United States and around the world. The motto that shows up throughout the church's life is simple: Living Our Faith. That phrase shapes everything from the Sunday service to the weekly Bible quizzing program to the church's involvement with refugees, disability ministries, and global missions.
A Blended Sunday Worship Service
The week centers on a Sunday worship gathering that begins at 9:30 AM. The service is described by the church as blended worship, a style that holds together the tradition and the newer expressions of congregational song and prayer. People who cannot be there in person can join through the church's YouTube channel, where recent services are posted and streamed.
Inside the building, the Welcome Center sits right inside the front door. Greeters are there to answer questions and help newcomers find their way, and a Connect Card is offered so that the church can follow up during the week. Visitors are welcomed with the phrase that appears on the front door: come as you are.
Three Languages Sharing One Sanctuary
One of the most distinctive things about Slate Hill is what happens after the main English-language service finishes. The building does not empty out. Instead, two other communities gather to pray in their own languages.
At 11:00 AM the Lao Fellowship begins in the lower level of the church. The Lao Fellowship traces its roots to the 1970s, when Slate Hill Mennonite Church sponsored the first family of refugees from Laos. Many of those original families have since moved away, but the work they began continues. Today the gathering includes members from Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, and other places, and the service is conducted in Lao and Thai, with English used as well. There is no full-time Lao pastor at the moment, but committed lay members lead worship, prayer, and teaching. Each year on the first Sunday of December, the Lao Fellowship hosts a Southeast Asian Celebration that draws Cambodian, Indonesian, and other guests from across the area.
At noon, Canaan Bethel Church, a Nepali-speaking congregation, begins its own worship in the Slate Hill sanctuary. Canaan Bethel has met in the building since 2020, and the partnership is part of how the Slate Hill family of faith lives out its calling to welcome refugees and new neighbors.
Kids, Youth, and the Next Generation
Children are woven into the Sunday morning rather than sent off to a corner. During the 9:30 AM worship service, a nursery cares for the babies, and Children's Church gathers kids for music, stories, and activity time. After the service ends, a Sunday School hour offers a Bible lesson and hands-on activities. On Wednesday evenings during the school year, Kids' Club adds another weekly touchpoint with music, skits, discussion, and games for kids.
The youth ministry at Slate Hill reaches students in grades six through twelve. Junior High and Senior High students have their own Sunday School class after worship, a Wednesday evening youth group for faith formation and fellowship, and monthly social and service activities. The church also participates in AMEC Bible Quizzing, a ten-week program in which students study Scripture in depth and meet for friendly regional quizzes against other area churches. Retreats, a youth banquet and fundraiser, mission projects, and a youth convention round out the year, along with pool parties, Christmas parties, game nights, and movie nights. Students in grades six through twelve are also paired with a mature Christian mentor who meets with them monthly and stays in touch through the week to encourage, listen, and pray.
Johnny Zook leads the junior high program and has been active in ministering to Slate Hill's youth for nearly twenty years, joining the ministry team in 2019.
Adult Discipleship in Relationship
The adult ministries at Slate Hill are built around a single conviction: it happens in relationship. Care Groups and Missional Discipleship Groups create small settings where adults study Scripture, pray, and encourage one another. Separate Men's and Women's groups give men and women their own spaces for fellowship and growth.
Other regular touches include a Hilltop Luncheon, a book discussion group, a Ping Pong group, and Menno Knotters, a fellowship that gathers around a shared craft. The church also keeps an online event calendar so that newcomers and longtime attenders alike can see what is happening on any given week.
Disability Ministry and Pastoral Care
Slate Hill takes seriously its ministry with adults who have intellectual and developmental disabilities. The church offers a special Sunday class on the third Sunday of each month and monthly activities in partnership with Cumberland Vista residence in nearby Dillsburg. Each March, Slate Hill hosts a community-wide Spring Fling for adults and their caregivers.
Pastoral care is shared between the pastors and an Elder Team. The church also offers individual, couples, marriage, and family counseling through its ministry staff. Pastor Joy Fasick, the Associate Pastor of Community Life, coordinates care and counseling, preaches occasionally, and oversees children's ministry. She holds a certificate in Pastoral Ministry from Eastern Mennonite University and a Master's in Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling from Messiah College.
The Anabaptist Thread and What the Church Believes
Slate Hill is part of the Anabaptist tradition that emerged in sixteenth century Europe. The church acknowledges that the word Mennonite sometimes calls to mind horse-and-buggy images from quieter country roads, but it notes that those communities share historical roots with Slate Hill, which seeks to follow Jesus as an engaged presence in its own neighborhood. The people who attend come from many denominational backgrounds, drawn by the Anabaptist emphasis on peace, discipleship, and community.
The teaching position of the congregation is the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, and the Core Beliefs articulated by LMC shape how the church puts that confession into practice. At the center is Jesus Christ, and from that center flow three commitments. The first is a way of seeing the world through God's reign, marked by radical allegiance to God above every other power, believers baptism as a sign of new life in Christ, and a welcome for the rich variety of cultures, races, languages, and expressions of worship that the Holy Spirit produces. The second is a way of reading Scripture through Jesus, in community, and guided by the Spirit, with the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective as one Anabaptist expression of that reading. The third is a way of living the Christian life as disciples, marked by God's mission of reconciliation, peace as a way of life rooted in the gospel, intentional contrast to the world through mutual care and accountability, the Christian home as a primary place for nurturing faith, and simplicity, integrity, justice, and personal and global stewardship.
Serving Local and Global Neighbors
Service is part of how the church describes itself. Inside the building, that looks like a Worship Team leading congregational song while an Audio/Visual Team works quietly behind the scenes, a Coffee Team brewing a fresh pot for after the service, Nursery and Children's and Youth Ministry volunteers investing in the next generation, bus drivers showing up faithfully, and a Chicken BBQ and an MCC Service Day drawing the whole church together.
Outside the building, Slate Hill partners with a long list of local organizations. The church supports mentoring, food drives, and financial partnerships with groups such as New Hope Ministries, Bridge of Hope Harrisburg, InterVarsity, CCO, BHA of PA, the Carlisle Coalition for Urban Hugs, Cross INC, and Thrift on Purpose. Camp Hebron is among the camp partners the church supports.
The congregation also looks beyond its own region. Slate Hill partners with global organizations in missions, Bible translation, and meeting practical needs around the world. Among the partners listed are EMM, Wycliffe Bible Translators, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), Thriving Villages, and Friends of Shirati.
Planning a First Visit
For those thinking about coming for the first time, the church keeps things straightforward. On-site parking is available when you arrive, and the building is fully accessible, with step-free entrances, accessible seating, and an elevator to the basement level. The Welcome Center is right inside the front door, where greeters can answer questions and hand out a Connect Card. Office hours are Tuesday through Thursday from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM and Friday by appointment.
Worship begins at 9:30 AM on the upper floor in English, followed by the Lao Fellowship at 11:00 AM in the lower level, and Canaan Bethel Church at noon in the sanctuary. Anyone who wants to get a feel for the music and preaching ahead of time can watch recent services on the church's YouTube channel. Those who want to support the work financially can give through the church's online giving page.
The Pastors and Ministry Team
Lead Pastor Lynn Shertzer has served the congregation since 2001 and is a graduate of Eastern Mennonite University and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he earned a Master of Divinity, and in 2009 he completed a Doctor of Ministry with a concentration in preaching the different genres of Scripture. Before entering ministry he spent eleven years as a sales manager in the business world.
Jen Fredrick serves as the church's Care Minister. Lay Elders, a Church Board, commissions, and committees help lead and support the ministry of the congregation alongside the pastors.
Through all the changes of two hundred and ten years - the addition of the Lao Fellowship in the 1970s, the expansion of facilities in 2006, and the arrival of Canaan Bethel Church in 2020 - Slate Hill Mennonite Church remains a place where a wide range of people gather on one hilltop to follow him who first gathered them there.