Our History

United African Church was founded on March 12, 1995, by some former members of First African Baptist Church of Arlington, Texas. First African Baptist was a mission of Hillcrest Park Baptist Church of Arlington. Our inaugural service took place on March 15, 1995 in a conference room at the Holiday Inn on Brown and Highway 360 in Arlington. Subsequent Sunday services were held at La Quinta Inn conference rooms, where we stayed till late September 1995. As the new church was without a home, some of our members made their homes available for Bible studies, prayer meetings and for other church business meetings. It was during one such meeting, on March 16, 1995, at the Adesulu’s home, that members adopted the name United African Church.

Following the name selection, members were asked to pray for a pastor. Meanwhile, three interim committees were set up to administer the affairs of the new church. One of the interim committees was charged with the pastoral search as well as inviting guest preachers for our Sunday services. The first of such guest preachers was Rev. Frank Ekejija followed by Rev. Glendens Bazuaye and Rev. Kennedy Adarkwa, to name a few.

On May 7, 1995, Rev. Kennedy Adarkwa was appointed as the interim Pastor. Rev. Adarkwa was later confirmed as the Senior Pastor of United African Church. Following his appointment as Senior Pastor, Rev. Adarkwa recommended that the church should join the Tarrant Baptist Association. In 1997, our application for membership was accepted. In late summer of 1995, the building search committee found an old clubhouse on 2023 S. Cooper Street which we renovated and began worshiping in on September 24, 1995. The church stayed at the Cooper location for the next eight years.

In November of 1996, the church launched a three-year building fund drive and at the end of that period, by the providential hand of God, the church had raised more than $120,000. In November 1999, the church purchased 3 acres of land on New York Avenue for $115,000, for which we paid cash. As the church began to grow, we considered a name change because we did not want the “name’ to be a stumbling block to people of non-African descent who wanted to be a part of the new church.Thus on May 21, 2000, the name United African Church was changed to United Christian Fellowship of Arlington.

In our short history, we have grown from a church of about 24 members in March of 1995 to about 300 members today. Throughout this journey, we have also changed locations four times - from Holiday Inn to La Quinta Inn to 2023 S. Cooper Street in Arlington and 1700 Polo Road in Grand Prairie. A large segment of our church is made up of young people and therefore, there was an urgent need to expand our facilities to adequately minister to them. In late 2002, after much prayer, the church applied for a building loan with the Baptist Church Loan Corporation. We were approved for $250,000 and construction of the new church building commenced in early March of 2003. On November 15, 2003, we moved into our brand new Sanctuary. Praise God for His goodness.

In 2005, the church had a need for a new Senior Pastor and members were asked to pray for God’s guidance concerning our need. A pastoral search committee was formed and underwent several meetings on the process of pastoral search. In 2006, Rev. (Dr.) Carl McElroy was appointed as the interim pastor. During the pastoral search process, several candidates were interviewed and Rev. George Effiom was selected to be the new Senior Pastor in May 2007. Rev. Effiom’s tenure as Senior Pastor began on July 1, 2007, ushering in a new era in our history.

On December 23, 2007, our church began "Lifeline", our radio broadcast and internet webcast ministry on KGGR 1040 AM, with a view to reaching a harvest of souls for Christ. Through this and many other ministries, we continue to strive to serve our Lord Jesus Christ by sharing his glorious gospel around the world. We give God the glory for guiding and protecting us through the many trials and challenges that we have experienced over the years, and look forward, with great anticipation, to greater service to the kingdom of God in the years to come!!