Our Story

How it all started...

On December 9, 1973, after months of prayerful thought, five couples met in one’s home to discuss plans for establishing a church in Bella Vista open to all professing faith in Jesus Christ. One week later 31 met at Riordan Hall and decided to have Bible study on Sunday evenings until they found a minister. Arkansas granted a charter to the Bella Vista Community Church on March 22, 1974, and June 2, 1974, was set as Charter Sunday with 124 charter members. Since its inception, the church devotes 25% of all income to mission outreach.

According to the original Constitution and Bylaws, the objective of the Bella Vista Community Church is to provide the residents of Bella Vista with an opportunity to worship and study in their own community in an interdenominational setting. As revealed in the New Testament, its further purpose is to encourage these worshipers in faith in Jesus Christ and an active commitment to the work of the church, to aid their continuing growth in the grace and knowledge of Christ that they may know His will, and to work for the unity of all Christians that they may build the kingdom of God together.

At the dedication of the church building on July 20, 1980, the first full-time minister Rev. Allan J. Hunter shared this prayer, “Our Father, make the doors of this house, which we are dedicating to Thee, wide enough to receive all who need divine love, fellowship and the Father’s care, and narrow enough to shut out envy, pride and hate. Make its threshold smooth that it may be no stumbling block but rugged and strong enough to stand steadfastly and surely upon Thy Word. Make the doors and walls of this Thy house resound with the message of Jesus Christ, who is the Savior of the world and the chief cornerstone of this church. Amen."

In the foreword of the first annual report, Allan J. Hunter recounts, “How marvelous that He has called together a group of people out of many traditions and denominations to witness to the fact that there can be a unity of Spirit which is greater than our differences. The Bella Vista Community Church is built upon the foundation that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God and that commitment to Him is the essential building block of the church.”