Fairhaven Church

Fairhaven is actually a daughter church to the Burns Avenue Alliance Church (now known as Hillside Chapel), which originally began on the property now housing the City Gospel Mission in downtown Dayton.

In 1962, embracing a vision for reaching the south suburbs of Dayton, the Burns Avenue church was able to purchase property at the corner of Rahn and Marshall Roads in Centerville.

In 1964, 12 families committed themselves to being the core fellowship for the new church, and they began meeting at the Kettering YMCA. Pastor Dean King began his ministry in 1965, and in September of that year, 42 charter members were received into Fairhaven Church.

In 1967, Ron Julian accepted the call to pastor the congregation, and just one year later the first Fairhaven Church building was dedicated at 637 East Whipp Rd. The congregation grew, the church building expanded, space was rented, and services were added. By the late 1970's the need for a larger facility once again became obvious.

In 1980, the Lord miraculously provided for the purchase of 41 acres of land at the corner of Whipp and Marshall Roads. How that transpired is a story in itself!

In August of 1983, Pete Schwalm accepted the call to Fairhaven's pastorate and began leading the congregation into an era of expansion. Our current facility was dedicated in 1986, and four years later, the education and Founder's Hall addition were dedicated. Pete Schwalm served as pastor of Fairhaven until January 2005, when he retired after 22 years of ministry.

Returning to the US from missionary work in Malaysia, David Smith was installed as our Senior Pastor in January, 2005.

No history of Fairhaven Church would be complete without some mention of the daughter churches that began through the vision and sacrifice of the people of Fairhaven:

• Faith Alliance Church
• Centerville Community Church
• New Hope Community Church
• Christ Community Bible Church