In December 1750, the Rev. J. Jacob Lischey purchased a tract of land of 158 acres in what is now North Codorus Township, Pennsylvania.  Upon this land he built a house, started a farm, a church, and a school.

Rev. Lischey came to the Philadelphia area in May 1742 as an ordained Moravian minister.  His first ministries were in Reformed churches in the Lancaster area and then at Kreutz Creek and Yorktown.  He was widely traveled as a circuit rider, pastoring and starting independent churches in the frontier wilderness as far as Friedrichstadt (Frederick, MD) and the valleys of Monocacy (MD) and the Conococheague (Chambersburg, PA).

He was later recognized as a Reformed minister by the Coetus of the German Reform church.  Rev. Lischey was an independent thinker and advanced theologian who refused to accept all the dogmas of either the Moravian or the Reformed faith.  He was condemned by the Moravian Church and defrocked by the Reformed Church.

Lischey's Church was started as an independent church and existed until Rev. Lischey's death in 1781.  Wishing to call the Rev. Christopher Gobrecht as its new minister, the church organized as a German Reformed Congregation in 1784.  From this inception it shared its building with a Lutheran congregation and was called St. Peter's Lischey's Union Church.

Through the years, the Reformed Church first merged with the Evangelical Denomination to become an Evangelical and Reformed Denomination and then merged in 1957 with the Congregational Christian Denomination into the United Church of Christ.

Lischey's congregations have shared in ministry with other churches in charge relationships and continued its union affiliation with the Lutheran congregation until March 1, 1985, when the Lutheran and United Church of Christ Congregations merged into St. Peter's (Lischey's) United Church of Christ.

The church is now in its fourth building and location.  The present structure was built in 1897 and since remodeled several times (sanctuary pictured above).

The church has the oldest Vacation Bible School in York County.  It was started by the late Rev. J. N. Faust in 1922.  Presently, it is one week in length and serves both church members and the community.

The church is both family oriented and musically blessed.  There is Sunday School for all ages on Sunday morning and active youth groups for both the late elementary and the junior-senior high ages.  A children's church is active on the first Sunday of each month.  Through the year, the children are active with church camping at Hartman Center.

Under the direction of Mrs. Darlene Miner, the music program praises God through adult, teen, and children’s choirs, sacred dance, a chime choir, and an orchestra.  At Christmas, the children do a cantata the Sunday before Christmas and the adult choir does a community cantata, inviting people from several denominations to contribute their talent.

Lischey's supports the ministries of the United Church of Christ and the Institutions in the area related to the United Church of Christ; Hoffman Homes for Youth, Homewood Home Retirement Community, and Lancaster Theological Seminary.  In addition, the church supports an orphan in an overseas program, contributes to several children's programs in the area and helped in the creation of the Harvest of Hope Food Pantry, which serves the Spring Grove area.

Our members are active inside and outside the church in helping the needy of the community.