The History of Mt. Hope

At Mt. Hope Nazarene Retirement Community we have a long legacy of caring. No senior goes unserved.

Timeline of Mt. Hope Nazarene Retirement Community

In 1910, the Chiques congregation built the white frame Mt. Hope meetinghouse in Manheim, Pennsylvania. Presently, this meetinghouse structure is recognizable at the east end of the main building of Mt. Hope Nazarene Retirement Community along Mt. Hope Home Road.
From the time this meetinghouse was built in 1910 until 1954, Sunday School was held every week at both the Mt. Hope meetinghouse and Chiques, with worship alternating between the two locations.
During extensive renovations of the Chiques Church house from 1954 to 1955, Sunday School and worship were held exclusively at Mt. Hope. With a more modern facility completed at Chiques, Mt. Hope was used occasionally for evening services and special occasions.
In February 1965, the Chiques congregation voted to sell the property to the Dunkard Brethren Church.
Starting in 1969, the old meetinghouse was the site of the Mt. Hope Dunkard Brethren Church Home.
In 2006 the property was sold to the Ephrata Grace Point Nazarene Church.

The legacy continues

It was always a dream of Ephrata Grace Point Nazarene Church to have a community benefit organization where “no senior goes unserved,” a resource to the churches in Lancaster and Lebanon counties for their congregants and the community. This vision, similar to that of the Dunkard Brethren Church Home, was to offer a nursing facility and health care rehabilitation center where excellent care was provided regardless of one’s ability or inability to pay for the cost of care. The legacy of caring continues at Mt. Hope as family, staff, and volunteers partner together to carry out this heart-felt mission.

Testimonial

Bruce & Ginny McMillin

“It all started when God gave us the mission ‘to serve the least of these,’” recalls longtime board member Bruce McMillin, who remembers the facility faced the challenge of operating together successfully with 90% Medicaid state assistance when it became Mt. Hope in 2006. “Almost immediately, major repairs were needed. But, as God promised, He kept us on a straight path, finances were provided, and again, year after year, the Lord supplied enough money to do it, one way or another. God is so faithful to Mt. Hope,” recalls Bruce.

Today, Bruce and his wife, Ginny, reside in an independent, residential living cottage at Mt. Hope. Now in his early 90s, Bruce is very proud of Mt. Hope’s 5-star standard of care and deficiency-free success! Bruce, along with many others, enjoy sharing about Mt. Hope’s heart-felt mission and affordable housing opportunities.