Beginnings
On April 23, 1944, 36 women, men, and children, met in the Bois d’Arc Community Building to organize a Union Church, a gathering of Christians of various denominations. The Bos d’Arc Union Church was primarily comprised of people from Baptist and Christian Church traditions. Duane Hatfield, a student minister from Phillips University, served as the congregation’s first pastor. The church’s first elected elders were Lowell Brush, Russell Wallace, Fred Voelske and Melvin Brannen.
On January 14, 1945, the congregation voted affiliate with the Christian Church, later to become the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and the following day, adopted its new name, Community Christian Church.
After raising $2,140 to purchase an existing building in Foraker, which the church relocated to land donated on Hillside Street as a temporary site. The building renovation was completed April 7, 1946, and a dedication was held April 28, 1946.
In just two years, the church outgrew its building, and Community Christian purchased a 5-acre tract on East Longview, a few blocks east of its previous location. Two hundred nine people attended the first service at the new church building on Easter Sunday 1949. Six classrooms were later added, and in 1952 an organ was dedicated.
Community Christian Church relocated to the Selvey Addition at West Grand and Stephen and began worshiping there in 1959, with the first worship services held in the fellowship hall and education areas. On Christmas Sunday, Dec. 23, 1962, the first worship service was held in the newly constructed, although not completely finished, sanctuary.
Other additions to the church were completed through the 1970s, most notably, the current sanctuary. The groundbreaking for that structure was held in May 1993, and it was dedicated on April 22, 1994. The sanctuary seats 340 people, with a 50-person overflow area.