Early churches
Forty-eight years ago on June 18, 1972, the first service of the Bella Vista Baptist Mission was held in Bella Vista Village.
The following year, on April 11, 1973, the Bella Vista Baptist Mission voted to officially incorporate as the Bella Vista Baptist Church. According to the May 1973 Village Vista, “Thirty-three persons signed the incorporation papers. This is the first incorporated church in Bella Vista Village. Three days earlier, a Groundbreaking Service was held for a $127,500 church building. The First Baptist Church of Bentonville, sponsor of the Mission, assisted in the service. The building will be constructed on Mission property.” Its location is just east of the Bella Vista Library at 50 East Lancashire (Highway 340).
The Bella Vista Baptist Church’s 25th-anniversary booklet stated “Members of the First Baptist Church of Bentonville who were living in the Village began to meet in homes for ‘cottage prayer meetings,’ asking for God’s will about starting a new church … By early 1972, land in Bella Vista had been given for a building. The Mission Department of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention made a portable chapel available which was moved onto the property. On June 18, 1972, the first service of the Mission was held, with 27 in Sunday school and 54 attending the morning worship service … By November 1973, the new church building was ready, and the first services were held in what is still the present auditorium … The church continued to grow as the Village increased in population … In January 1998, the Church gave birth to the Village Baptist Church to be located in the western part of Bella Vista.” That church is at 380 Glasgow Road.
The Benton County Daily Democrat of Feb. 28, 1979, gave credit to Cooper Communities for the steady advance of church development, saying, “In planning for an inviting retirement center, the vision of religious focus was not omitted — indeed, it was encouraged by free land grants in anticipation of resident needs to build also dwelling houses of God. In the first decade of the village, four churches were formed. Now, well into its second (decade), the number has more than doubled, and there is every reason to believe more will doubtless follow.”
In the fall of 2016, the Bella Vista Historical Museum sponsored a temporary exhibit on churches in Bella Vista, with pictures and information on all known churches in Bella Vista, which by then totaled 25 churches. At that time, the newest churches in Bella Vista were the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints at the corner of Lambeth and Kingsland, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses Church across the street on Kingsland.
The Oct. 22, 2016, issue of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette carried an article about that museum exhibit, and included information about another Baptist church, saying, “Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church got its start in the old Dug Hill building in 1982 when Treva and Larry Lovvern came to Bella Vista with the mission of starting a church. In the Dug Hill community building on the hill in Bella Vista, with a handful of faithful members, Fellowship became a church.” Eventually, the church ended up in its present building at 502 West Lancashire Blvd.
The museum also has information available about historic churches that stood long before Bella Vista Village, started by John Cooper Sr. in 1965, came into existence. These churches were the heart of the area farming community in years past, including Donovan, Dug Hill, Miller, New Hope, Rocky Comfort, and Summit. Only Rocky Comfort and Summit no longer exist, although each still has a cemetery that was associated with it.
The of February 1975 reported on other churches getting started in the Village, “The Bella Vista Community Church, an interdenominational group with a membership of 140, meets in the Riordan Community Building … The Bella Vista Christian Church, with a membership of approximately 40, also meets in the Riordan Building … And the Bella Vista Lutheran Church … has 40 members (and) is holding its worship services in the Hill ‘n Dale Activity Hall.
That article summed up the effect of churches in Bella Vista Village, saying, “The total effect of this involvement can’t be measured in the cost of church buildings but rather in the stabilizing influence it has had upon new residents who come from 20-25 states. They have literally jumped at the new opportunity that is theirs to sing in church choirs, teach classes, serve on church boards and committees, assist with church-related projects, and even help with young people. Many of these retirement-age residents had turned these responsibilities over to younger members at ‘home churches.’ Now, they’ve become an enthusiastic part of their ‘adopted’ church families, and, in return, the church has made their transition easier.”