Our History

Chippewa Valley Bible Church was founded in 1934 by a handful of dedicated Christians under the leadership of Pastor Lawrence E. Oman. The first meetings were held in the O.A. Bollom home at 21 East Spruce Street in Chippewa Falls under the name of “Christian Gospel Chapel.”

In the early part of 1935 a store building was rented at 31 West Spring Street for the church’s services. They continued to use this location until the autumn of 1939. At that time the church moved to the former “The Loop” theater building on North Bridge Street, which was used as a meeting place until 1942. Pastor Lawrence Oman, after faithfully serving from 1934 - 1942, turned the duties over to Arvid Nyquist, who served from 1942 - 1952. Pastoring duties were then fulfilled from 1952 – 1954 by L.A. Thompson, 1954 – 1958 by Bruce Hanks, 1958 – 1961 by Palmer Yngsdal, 1961 – 1964 by John S. Rahn, 1964 – 1967 by Arvid Nyquist, 1967 – 1969 by Leslie Gentry, 1969 – 1970 by interim pastors Clinton Jeffries and Ben Johnson, 1970 – 1990 by William“Bill” Pederson, 1990 – 2001 by Andy Majorins. From 2002 - 2018 Jim Woldhuis served with the Elder Team as Teaching Elder. Presently, Troy Solava is serving as Teaching Elder.

In 1942, a building at the corner of East Columbia and North Prairie Streets was purchased, and services continued at this location until 1964. In 1964-65 a new building was built at the corner of Irvine Street and Chapman Road with a total square footage of 6,000 feet. The annual budget during our humble beginnings grew to exceed $3,500 in the '30s and today we’ve been blessed as it’s grown to nearly $500,000.

Throughout the years, evangelism has been vital to the church with various methods used. Tent meetings, Bible conferences, revival meetings at the church and united efforts with other local churches have all aided in the Lord’s harvest of souls. Missions, as well, have always been an essential part of the church’s ministry with an annual budget of $25 at its inception to approximately $51,000 in recent years. Our Awana Club was established and charter granted in 1971, through the leadership efforts of Bill Pederson and Darrel Dodge. This charter continued through May 2018 under the leadership of countless volunteers dedicated to reaching boys & girls for Christ. In September 2018 we launched a new Children’s Program called BLAST (Bible Learning And Studying Together) using Gospel Project for Kids.

On our 40th Anniversary, November 10, 1974, the mortgage for the building located across the highway on the corner of Irvine Street and Chapman Road was burned and our name was changed to “Chippewa Valley Bible Church.” God continued to bless and provide for His Church here in the Chippewa Valley with steady growth, prompting the leadership to consider options for a possible new building site. In God’s perfect timing, the land where the present church building exists was found at 531 East South Avenue, just west of Halmstad Elementary School.

In July of 1984, ground-breaking activities were held for a new 12,000 square foot facility (double the size of the previous location) and the old building was sold to Our Hope Lutheran Church for $225,000. In 1998, once again feeling the demands on our available space, a classroom addition on the south side provided us much needed rooms for Sunday school, Bible studies, BLAST & Youth Ministries.

2004 was our 70th Anniversary. The leadership, after much prayer and study, presented the Arise & Build Campaign to the congregation. This was a Kingdom Vision building plan that provided unique additions to all four sides of our facility. We were richly blessed in 2005 with the purchase of a 2-acre lot to our west which helped center our existing facility on our 6-acre lot providing us an east and west entrance. Once enough money was raised we broke ground on the West Wing in July 2006. The addition, completed in 2007, included a much larger kitchen and fellowship hall, more restrooms, storage and a new west entry complete with carport and 40+ parking spaces.

In 2014, our 80th Anniversary, the leadership (taking advantage of our park-like setting of a larger lawn with mature oaks) planned the  construction of a large pavilion to provide space for outdoor church picnics, potlucks, graduation parties, weddings and special services. Praise God for providing the needed funds and the many volunteers who stepped up to lend a hand, including our own Troop 72 Boy Scouts who built all of the picnic tables. We’re blessed to be able to periodically worship outside and celebrate God’s awesome creation.

In 2019, needing more storage space, we constructed a large 4-car garage with upstairs storage area to house numerous supplies needed for our Ruby’s Pantry food distribution ministry. The garage was also designed for the storage of our 15-passenger church vans as well equipment/supplies for a variety of other church ministries.

Through prayer we seek God's direction for the future that only He can provide by sharing with us His wisdom and discernment for His growing church here and abroad. CVBC leadership does not take this lightly as we plot our course in this community and continue on our nearly 90-year history of helping, ministering, leading, equipping and teaching those whom we are blessed in meeting along this journey. We praise God for faithfully providing His local church with godly men and women willing to serve and lead.

As our CVBC family continues on a path of steady growth, we once again are experiencing growing pains. The leadership prayerfully investigates potential remodeling or building options that would enhance or supplement the path that was laid out during the Arise & Build Campaign. Thankfully, God continues to provide for our needs and any challenges we may face, as we trust in His Word and our personal relationship with His Son, Jesus. Our faith resides in God alone who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or can imagine.