Our roots take us back to a Billy Sunday revival in 1910 in the heart of Youngstown. The Federation of Churches—now MVAC—was founded in 1916 after local pastors recognized the need to collaborate. Through God’s grace, decades later we have sought collaboration with all faith communities as we strive to embrace those who profess faith in God and desire to infuse God’s goodness into our community. As children of a loving God, we strive for reconciliation, unity and strength.

Long before Billy Sunday flayed the devil in the vast tabernacle erected for the revival on the site of the Republic Iron and Steel Company’s Office building underneath Market Street Bridge, Dr. William H. Hudnut envisioned many of the different denominations working together in the area.
The Billy Sunday revival strengthened his conviction that there should be a new unity among Youngstown’s churches and that an organization should be effected to ensure it.

In 1916, Dr. Hudnut, a long-time pastor of First Presbyterian Church, proposed a federation of churches to the Youngstown Ministerial Association after months of discussion and input from various sources. Dr. Hudnut’s presentation of the idea that the work of local churches be unified through a federation was without precedent in local religious circles, but it sparked sufficient interest to warrant inviting knowledgeable speakers to Youngstown.

After a few speakers put in the work to solidify the foundation, enough interest was generated among local church leaders to organize a Church Federation in Youngstown. On November 24, 1916, a meeting to which the pastor and one layman from each church were invited to the Youngstown Federation of Churches and elected Dr. William H. Hudnut president. Thus began what is now known as the Mahoning Valley Association of Churches.