A History of Oak Hills
August 27, 2026 | by: Dale Thiele | 0 Comments
Posted in: Pastoral Encouragement
At our Getting Acquainted with Oak Hills luncheon, we typically share a brief history of our church. This reminds us of God’s faithfulness to our church over the years. It also emphasizes that this is God’s church, not any one person’s church. Finally, a history of the church also helps us discern where God is leading us in our next chapter. Today I would like to share the history of Oak Hills, with a view to what’s next.
In the mid 90s, West Hills Presbyterian Church was a fast-growing congregation under the leadership of Jimmy Dodd. They had a desire to plant more churches in the Kansas City metro in order to proclaim the astonishing grace of God in Christ throughout the area. Even before West Hills had a building, they called Scott Sauls to plant a new church. Starting in 1998, Scott met with a core group of people interested in the new church. Their target area was Lees Summit. On November 1, 1998, a group of 25 people signed the original charter, requesting the Heartland Presbytery to form Oak Hills Community Church as a mission church of the PCA.
In January 1999, Oak Hills held her first Sunday worship service. After holding services for one year in Lees Summit, they decided to move back to Johnson County, because the majority of the people coming to Oak Hills were from Kansas. The church grew under the preaching of Scott Sauls, as he emphasized the free and amazing nature of God’s grace. Many found the church as Scott’s sermons were broadcasted locally on the Bott Radio Network.
2002 and 2003 were momentous years in the life of Oak Hills. In May 2002 the church elected her first ruling elders and was organized as a particular church of the Heartland Presbytery. Then in the summer of 2002 the congregation called her first associate pastor, Russ Ramsey. In July 2003 Scott Sauls announced his resignation and the congregation called Jon Dunning to serve as the second associate pastor. Later in 2003 the congregation would call Russ Ramsey to follow Scott as the second pastor of Oak Hills.
Between 2000 and 2004, Oak Hills met in a variety of facilities: an elementary school, a high school, the Culture House, and the DoubleTree Hotel. In the summer of 2004, the church started to meet weekly at St. Thomas Aquinas High School. Attendance continued to grow under Russ’s ministry, with a peak average of over 200 people each Sunday in 2008.
Russ resigned as pastor in April 2010. The church embarked then on a yearlong search for the third pastor of Oak Hills. This was a challenging time for the church. Attendance and giving were in decline. Membership was becoming weary with the prolonged rental situation. And there was unrest over the core identity of the church.
I was called as the third pastor of Oak Hills in the summer of 2011. Early on, I gave my attention to three areas: establishing our identity as a Bible-rich, Reformed-Presbyterian church that celebrates the grace of God, developing financial habits that would enable the church to purchase her own building, and preparing the leadership and congregation for that search of a building. God blessed Oak Hills during those years, even when there were some turbulent moments. Jon Dunning resigned as associate pastor in 2013 to start the RUF ministry at K-State. We tightened the belt on the budget by remaining a one pastor church and stopping the rental of office space. And we prayed.
In March 2015 God opened up the door for us to purchase our current building in Shawnee. We saw this as an opportunity to establish roots in northern Johnson County, develop our ministries, and become a beacon in the community for the gospel. God has blessed Oak Hills over these eleven years. Attendance and giving has doubled since we moved into this building. Our staff has grown to have two full-time pastors and three part-time directors. We have built a reputation within the community of being a church eager to serve and care for people. And people continued to be renewed by the grace of God as it is made known from the pages of the Bible.
This past year, the Session has announced our desire to seek a new church building. This desire springs from seeing our current building as insufficient to facilitate ongoing and growing gospel ministry. Our location is hidden in a small neighborhood. Our sanctuary is near capacity on Sunday mornings. Our parking lot is too small. The two-stories limit access for some people. The aesthetics are not beautiful. We desire a new building for our church that is more visible in the community, more spacious for growth, more accessible for all people, and more beautiful to reflect the majesty and beauty of God.
You will be hearing more about our vision and plans for seeking a new building in the months to come. At the heart of all of this, our history and our search for a new building, is our longing to know and make known the astonishing grace of God. Oak Hills was founded on this premise: apart from Jesus Christ, people do not know true hope or peace or joy; apart from Christ, people are dead in their sin and under the just wrath of God. But in the gospel, the good news of Christ’s sacrificial, substitutionary death, forgiveness of sin and redemption from the guilt and misery of sin are proclaimed. For 27 years, through all of the ups and downs, Oak Hills has sought to proclaim the gospel to people who need to hear of God’s grace. I pray that as we look ahead to new opportunities, God would continue to bless our ministry efforts for gospel fruitfulness.
