History of Oak Christian Church

 

 

Text Box: 1860—2009…and until the Lord returns Dayton Christian Church was established in 1860 at Dayton, under the sponsorship of Daniel Ellis, Andrew Means and Hugh Pilcher. Daniel Ellis gave one acre of land on which to erect the building. Dayton was located one mile east and on and on-fourth mile south of the present site of Oak Christian Church. On March 22, 1871 the acre of land was purchased by the Church Trustees to settle the estate of Daniel Ellis. In 1909 a new church was built at Oak by members of the church and help from people of the surrounding community, on an acre of land given by Jim Cook. The name of the church was changed from Dayton Christian church to Oak Christian Church. The church thrived for a while but interest lessened and the doors were eventually closed for about four years between 1912-1916. The doors were reopened and the church reorganized due to the efforts of Dave Anderson and Jess White.  Miss Sadie Pulley was the Sunday School Superintendent.         During the depression years, this being a farming community, there were few permanent residents and attendance dropped into the teens and eventually down to four or five. The faithfulness of Mr. & Mrs. John Pulley and their children along with Mrs. Eldoranda Selix kept the church open during this period. As people became a more permanent part of the community, the church again enjoyed steady and healthy growth. In the 30’s Brother Whitehouse, from the King City Christian Church, came and preached on Wednesday nights. He also wanted to make sure the church had communion each Sunday. He helped in many ways to keep the church organized. Oak Church has always worked with its youth. When Coleman Pulley was superintendent during the 50’s, he had the high school class take charge of Sunday School and communion the first Sunday of each month. This effort of training for the young people still continues today. The congregation needed more room for the growing church so a basement was built in 1950 and church building was moved over it. In 1959, the church was extensively remodeled. The roof was replaced by a new one, a baptistery was built, also four classrooms, a kitchen and a vestibule were added. All the work was done by the members of the church and their friends. No carpenters were hired. The building was dedicated March 23, 1960. Again in 1980 larger facilities were needed. Classrooms were added to the east side of the building. A nursery, with adjoining bathroom were also added. The basement was again enlarged and a modern kitchen was built on the east side. Also at this time Sam and Ella Smith donated land on the east to be used for   parking. Worship services were added to the Sunday School routine in 1979. Pat Sampson was called as the church’s minister and served in this capacity until 1987. As the church grew in numbers and reached out to a larger area the need for a full time minister became apparent. In 1988, Bruce Paulus was called as the first full time minister. In 1990 the basement and sanctuary were expanded again. The growth of the church continues as God works in mighty ways. In 1993, Steve Kilson came to minister with Oak Church. During the summer of 1995 a new front porch was built and new vinyl siding was added to finish the exterior of the building. In 1997 Mark Nichols became the minister of Oak. During his time a new church sign was added to the church yard. The High School youth worked and raised money to purchase this new sign, they were guided and assisted by the leadership of Jeff & Linda White. In 2001 Aaron Jeffers was asked to minister to the congregation of Oak. New electronic media, such as Power Point Presentations, were added to Sunday Morning Worship when Aaron arrived. In September 2005, Joel Mitchell became our pastor. As we all work together we look forward to a great future with our new pastor. But greater by far than all the building and remodeling done to the church facilities is the building and remodeling of peoples lives. It would be impossible to record all the wonderful works that God has done in the lives of people. The Spirit of God has opened doors of opportunity for the gospel message to be shared with more and more people. We give God the honor and glory for the wonderful work taking place here at the Oak Christian Church.      Home