Chapel Hill Fellowship History

Chapel Hill Fellowship was founded by members of the former Bethel United Methodist Church in Wichita, Kansas who had a vision to reach the growing outer northeast area of Wichita.

The first Chapel Hill service was held Sunday, October 1, 1995 at Wichita Collegiate High School. Approximately 43 acres of undeveloped land at the northwest corner of 13th Street North and K-96 Highway was purchased by the Wichita United Methodist District Union with support from the Kansas West Conference of the United Methodist Church.

On January 15, 1995 the first meeting to start planning the new congregation was held. The following Sunday, a group of 12 people started meeting weekly at the home of Paul & Jan Longhofer for prayer and planning.

In March of 1995, the founders met on the land to pray and seek God’s direction.

On October 1, 1995, Chapel Hill held its first service at Collegiate High School followed by a balloon launching on the property.

On July 8, 2001, Chapel held its groundbreaking ceremony on the land. At that time only Lakeview Gardens Cemetery was in clear view of the property.

A groundbreaking service for the new church home was held Sunday, October 18, 2001 on the site of the new building with more than 300 people in attendance.

After nearly a year of construction, with God providing even the small details in the completion of our building, Chapel Hill opened the doors to it's new sanctuary on October 6, 2002. Our bell was given to us by the congregation at Isabel, Kansas. Most of the congregation gathed together to lay sod and watch the bell go in.

Chapel Hill opened the doors to it's new sanctuary on October 6, 2002 for it's first service to standing room only of over 500 people!