Members of the Church of Christ residing in the Mount Vernon area originally worshiped at various congregations. Considerable travel in all kinds of weather was required to reach these congregations.
In late 1971 a group of Mount Vernon area residents met to discuss formation of a congregation in the area. Names and addresses of all members were secured from all the congregations in Northern Virginia. A letter was sent to each family inviting them to support and attend the new congregation. The families forming the new congregation were Col. Gordon Bruner (U.S. Air Force) and his wife Barbara, now retired and living in Fort Worth, TX; Lt. Col. Jack Duer (U.S. Army, deceased) and his wife Patricia and children, who now live in Copper Cove, TX; Maj. Ray F.
Butts , now retired and living in Longwood ,FL; Haywood and Hazel Echols (deceased) now residing in Yorktown, VA; Bill and Rita Mathis of Fairfax County, now residing in Florida; and Leslie and Helen Welch, now residing in Aquia Harbor, VA.
In mid-1972, the church started holding Sunday morning worship service at Waynewood Elementary School in the Fort Hunt area. Sunday evening services were not held. Services were also held on Tuesday evenings in the members' homes. The Alexandria Church of Christ, located on Braddock Road in Alexandria, VA, sponsored the formation of the new church with a down payment of $20,000 on a piece of property on which to erect a worship facility. The property, located at 8607 Old Mill Road in Alexandria, VA was purchased October 12, 1973.
Since fifty percent of the organizing group were military and subject to transfer, it was decided the purchase would be in the name of the Alexandria Church, to avoid possible loss of their money. All monthly payments on the mortgage were made by the Mount Vernon Church. The mortgage was satisfied in 1991. The original plan was to remove some of the interior walls of the house located on the property, and use it as a meeting place until a permanent facility could be financed. After discovering that the walls were load bearing and could not be removed, it was decided that a garage located on the property would be expanded into a small chapel. Leslie Welch was in construction and did the expansion. He charged for only the material used. He secured a permit from Fairfax County for this purpose.
The group started meeting three times a week at the property in mid-1974 and continued until 2000 when construction was begun on a new building. Service was held at the Best Western on Richmond Highway and Agape Christian Academy on Mount Vernon Highway until construction of a permanent worship facility was completed. Worship commenced in the new facility in April 2002.
Important Historical Dates:
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