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Amish church records in Pennsylvania
The Amish practice adult baptism and generally did not create church registers the way Lutheran or Catholic congregations did. Compiled genealogies, family files, and Bible records are the main tools.
Where the records are
Mennonite Life Library & Archives
2215 Millstream Road, Lancaster, PA
Access: Resources for Amish, Old Order Mennonite, and other Plain groups: a genealogical card file (also on Ancestry as 'Lancaster, Pennsylvania, U.S., Mennonite Vital Records, 1750-2014'), surname files, family Bibles, and Amish and Old Order church directories.
Cost: $7/day for non-members; free for members and students
Source: Mennonite Life Library & Archives (article, 2025), Mennonite Life – Visit Archives & Library
Amish and Amish Mennonite Genealogies (Gingerich & Kreider)
Book, Pequea Bruderschaft Library, revised 2007
Access: 955 pages covering 144 surnames up to 1850 in the first American Amish settlements.
Cost: Purchase or library copy
Source: Amish and Amish Mennonite Genealogies (Pequea Bruderschaft Library, 2007)
Statewide sources for every denomination
Pennsylvania State Archives – Church Records (MG-262) and WPA Inventory of Church Archives
Access: Church records on microfilm, plus the 1937–40 WPA survey that recorded where each congregation's records were kept at the time.
Cost: Contact the State Archives
Historical Society of Pennsylvania via Ancestry
Access: Church and town records for PA and NJ, 1669–2013, all denominations.
Cost: Ancestry subscription
Source: Ancestry – PA and NJ Church and Town Records, 1669-2013 (HSP), HSP LibGuide – Ancestry