The first portion of this page was adapted from a church history report compiled as part of the Centennial celebration of the Buena Vista Methodist church in 1968. As of this writing, the church is now approaching 155 years of Gospel Service to the community of Buena Vista.

The first record of formal community church meetings begins with those held in a school house which was built in 1859. The small congregation grew and in 1867 the first regular pastor, Rev. Mathews, came to conduct services for members of the Buena Vista Methodist Episcopal Church.

Soon Rev. Mathews and members of his congregation felt the need for a church building. Not having any building funds, the congregation was truly concerned as to means for securing the building materials. Rev. Mathews took it upon himself to secure the needed materials.

A lumber mill was in operation at Black Dog Landing, located about 3 ½ miles south of Buena Vista on the east bank of the Willamette River. When asked for a donation of lumber, the mill owner bargained to haul to the river bank and donate all the lumber “a preacher could raft in one day”. Unknown to the mill owner, Rev. Mathews had been a lumber rafter on the Mississippi before joining the service of the Lord. Being a tall, husky young man, Rev. Mathews went to work with gusto. By noon a sizable amount of lumber had been rafted and the mill owner had found it necessary to assign an additional driver and team of horses to haul lumber to the river.

Rev. Mathews, when asked to join the mill crew for lunch, replied: “There is no time on this day to stop the Lord’s work.” By evening enough lumber had been rafted to build the entire church building. Only finished lumber, windows and doors remained to be secured. That material was donated by the Independence Sash and Door Factory.

The land on which the Church was originally built was given to the congregation by Reason B. Hall (the original founder of Buena Vista). The ground at the original site was very low and wet. In 1904 Amedee M. Smith and Alice Smith donated the land from the old Buena Vista Brick and Pottery Company building. In November of that year the church building was moved to its new home.

By 1909 the church had acquired the property south of the church building as well as a parsonage, and it was not uncommon for the church to host 100 or more members. In 1925 alone, the church received 76 new members and baptized 55 new converts. Over the next few decades the church began to steadily decline, when it was finally sold to the current Buena Vista Community church in 1986.

This second portion of this page has been adapted from a church history report compiled to celebrate the burning of the church’s paid off mortgage papers, November 19th 1994. 

With much prayer, a meeting was held on September 7, 1985 to discuss the formation of a Bible believing Church in Buena Vista. The name “Buena Vista Bible Fellowship” was selected as at that point in time Buena Vista United Methodist Community Church was still meeting at the historic church.

The objectives listed for the fellowship were:

1. To provide Sunday School and Worship.

2. To provide good Bible teaching.

3. To become a body of Strong Believers.

4. To bear witness to Christ in the community and surrounding areas

The church was shepherded by Lay Pastors until May 1986 when we called Pastor Paul Blikstad from the Salem Lutheran Brethren Church to be our pastor. His congregation gave permission for him to minister to us, and he served as the church’s pastor until his retirement in December 1992. 

In December 1986 The purchase of the then closed Methodist church property was negotiated with the trustees of the Western Conference of the United Methodist Church. Our first church service was held Sunday, December 21st.

In February of 1987 the church officially changed its name to Buena Vista Community Church to better reflect our desire to serve our local community.

In July of 1987, the 120 year old building was showing its age and a decision had to be made whether to remodel or tear down the historical old Church as it was now unsafe for regular use. It was decided to leave the building standing until September of 1988 to see if there was any community support to save the old building for historic purposes.  With little community interest, it was ultimately decided in 1988 to return the few contributions that had been made to the donors and to proceed with the dismantling of the building.

A small building for services was erected debt free, and in August of 1990 the ground was broken on the current sanctuary and classroom additions. With the assistance of the Mobile Missionary Assistance Program (MMAPS) three teams assembled to help with the framing of the new sanctuary and classrooms, drying in the new building before the end of October.  Additional work crews from MMAPS saw the project through to completion, with a dedication held on October 25th, 1992. 

Over the next 3 decades, the church acquired the old Polk County firehouse to the South of the church, while donating their land across the street for the construction of a new Firehouse. The parsonage was donated to the church, and we have seen several pastors come and go. Through it all, God has been faithful to provide for us in all seasons. From the early roots of a pioneer Methodist church on the frontier, to our reconstitution as a Community Church, God has ensured that for the last 155 years there has been a body of believers worshipping and serving Him in the Buena Vista Community. We see His gracious provision in all of it, and we look forward to seeing what He has in store for our next 150 years!