From 1777 to 1819, pastors from the Reformed congregation in Carlisle preached among German Reformed families in Sherman's and Fishing Creek valleys, where residents established the first churches of what became known as the Sherman's Valley Charge. As the number of Reformed families increased and the long distance took their toll on itinerant pastors, the Sherman's Valley Charge divided in 1839, with the western part of Perry County becoming the Landisburg Charge. The Rev. Charles H. Leinbach, who served six congregations in the Landisburg Charge from 1843 to 1859, gradually transitioned his churches to English and introduced Sunday Schools. In 1859, the Charge split again into the Landisburg and the Blain Charges, with the Landisburg Charge including Lebanon (Loysville), St Peter's (Spring Township) and St John's - Ludoph's (Elliotsburg). In 1851, members of St. Peter's and Lebanon churches living in the Landisburg area decided, after a prayer meeting at the home of George Elicker, to build their own church on land donated by General Henry Fetter, and the brick church was dedicated on April 17, 1853. Assistant minister Theodore P. Bucher, serving from 1856 to 1859, established Mt. Dempsey Academy in the church's lower level to prepare young men and women for higher education, and it operated from 1856 until 1864, when the Civil War drew young pupils away. After several denominational mergers, the German Reformed Church became part of the United Church of Christ in 1957, and the Landisburg church became known as Trinity UCC. In 2001, Lebanon, St. Peter's, and Trinity churches united for worship under one roof, and the reconstituted congregation named itself New Hope UCC.