History of the Charlottesville Church of Christ
Construction complete
after 2006 fire.
Photo Credit: Martin Horn, Inc.
The Charlottesville Church of Christ was established in June 1965 under the leadership of Bishop Rufus Hayes. The church began with six members, all belonging to the Hayes family. Soon thereafter, Elder Isaac Copeland, and his wife, Sis. Maude Copeland, became members of the church. The church developed and members began to gradually grow.
The membership struggled to keep the church going. The rent of $85.00 a month was such an astronomical figure to this congregation that Bishop Hayes drove a cab in the evenings to pay the rent on the building. The Lord blessed the congregation and soon the rent was reduced to $50.00 per month based on Bishop Hayes’ communication with the landlord.
Bishop Hayes worked diligently in the area in an attempt to win souls to Jesus Christ. His wife, Mother Betty Hayes, worked right by his side. Very soon after coming to Charlottesville, Bishop Hayes went to the local radio stations seeking a time and opportunity to host a radio broadcast. After a brief period, he was preaching to all of Charlottesville and the surrounding counties for 15 minutes every Sunday morning. Eventually, many doors were opened and churches in the area began to call Bishop Hayes for revivals. His popularity in the community began to grow and churches in the vicinity began using Bishop Hayes as a drawing card to their churches. Every community in Central Virginia began to call, and pretty soon Bishop Hayes was preaching three to four sermons every Sunday at whatever church he was called to bring a word.
With the ministry on the rise and membership steadily growing, the building was purchased in 1974 for $10,000.00. Many souls were baptized in Jesus’ name, and the congregation began to grow. Soon the Charlottesville Church of Christ was an integral part of the community.
Always being a dreamer and a man with the vision of God, Bishop Hayes began to see bigger and better things for God’s people. He began to dream of a new church on the hill. In spite of much opposition and the doubt and scorn of the community, his vision did not die. Consequently, with much faith and prayer, God delivered and the dream was now a reality. The new edifice was erected in 1990 and we worshipped the Lord here for 17 years with much success and achievement.
On May 4, 2006, our faith was once again tested as many watched as the church was overcome with flames of destruction. Onlookers watched as the unbelievable took place right before their eyes, and a dream was literally up in smoke. Unwavering was the persistence and faith of the dedicated members of the Charlottesville Church of Christ and their courageous leader during this uncertain time.
The uncertainty was short-lived as church members and the community as a whole came together to ensure this tragedy would not be the end of a local church and ministry. As the cleanup began, local church doors were opened to us to worship as we waited on the Lord with renewed strength. We eventually retreated to the original church building for services as the rebuilding process was underway.
Before anyone expected it, we saw construction beams erected and the structure of the new building was coming back together. It then became a personal mission of the members to get back to our “Home on the hill”. With much work and perseverance, you sit here with us today looking at the grace of God and power of determination. One year later, we were back in our Home of the Hill.
