Our Beliefs

The Grove Church is a Southern Baptist Church in cooperation with other SBC churches
in the HBA and Tennessee Baptist Convention.

We believe that the Bible, consisting of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, is the infallible Word of God, verbally inspired by God, and without error (inerrant) in the original manuscripts.

We believe that God‘s intentions, revealed in the Bible, are the supreme and final authority in testing all claims about what is true and what is right.  God‘s intentions are revealed through the communicated words of inspired human authors.  In matters not addressed by the Bible, what is true and right is assessed by criteria consistent with the teachings of Scripture.

Therefore, the process of discovering the intention of God in the Bible (which is its fullest meaning) is a humble and careful effort to find in the language of Scripture what the human authors intended to communicate. Limited abilities, traditional biases, personal sin, and cultural assumptions often obscure Biblical texts. Therefore the work of the Holy Spirit is essential for right understanding of the Bible, and prayer for His assistance belongs to a proper effort to understand and apply God‘s Word.

God is the Creator and Ruler of the universe. He eternally exists in three persons; the Father; the Son and the Holy Spirit. These three are co-equal and are one God, each with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.

God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is sovereign in all things, be it in power, knowledge, love,  justice, or wisdom. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all people.

Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is co-equal with the Father. Jesus lived a sinless human life and died on a cross as the perfect sacrifice for sin making atonement for those who will believe. He arose from the dead after three days to demonstrate His power over sin and death. He ascended to Heaven’s glory and will return again someday to earth to reign as King of Kings and Lord of lords.

The Holy Spirit is co-equal with God the Father and the Son of God. He is present in the world to make men aware of their need for Jesus Christ. He also lives in every Christian from the moment of salvation. He provides the Christian with power for living, understanding of spiritual truth, and guidance in doing what is right. He administers spiritual gifts to believers when they are saved for the building up of the body of Christ. Christians seek to live under His control daily.

“Having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.” Colossians 2:12

Salvation is God’s free gift to all who confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in their hearts that God raised him from the dead. We can never make up for our sin by self- improvement or good works. Only by trusting Jesus Christ as God’s offering of forgiveness can anyone be saved from sin’s penalty. We believe Jesus paid the full penalty for man’s sin by his death on the cross. We believe forgiveness of sin is based on grace alone, in Christ alone, and through faith alone. Salvation is not based on good works or human efforts.

We believe that the term ‘marriage’ has only one meaning: it is that relationship sanctioned by God in which He joins one man and one woman in a single, exclusive covenant union for a lifetime, as defined (delineated in) by Scripture.

Jesus taught this view in Matthew 19:3-12.  He quoted Genesis 2:24, insisting on this Biblical view that is designed by God and has not changed from His creation of man and woman.

We also believe that God intends sexual intimacy to only occur between a man and a woman who are married to each other.  We believe that God has commanded that no one engage in intimate sexual activity outside of the Biblical relationship of marriage between a man and woman (1 Corinthians 7:3-8)

We further believe that any form of sexual immorality, such as adultery, fornication, homosexuality, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, pornography, pedophilia, or any attempt to change one’s gender, or disagreement with one’s biological gender, is sinful and offensive to God.  Scripture that address these areas are as follows: Romans 1:24-27; Romans 13:13-14; 1 Corinthians 6:18-20; 1 Corinthians 4:3-6; Galatians 5:16-26; Colossians 3:5-9.

We believe that in order to preserve the function and integrity of the church as the local Body of Christ, and to provide a biblical role model to the church members and the community, it is imperative that all persons who are officers of the church, members of the church staff, members of church committees, church messengers or who serve as volunteers in the functioning of the ministries of the church and its Bible studies, should abide by and agree to the statements in this Section “About Marriage,” conducting themselves accordingly.

We believe that God offers redemption and restoration to all who confess and forsake their sin, seeking His mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ.  Scripture that addresses these areas are as follows: Galatians 5:16-26; Colossians 3:1-17; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8.

We also believe that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity.  Hateful and harassing behavior or attitudes directed toward any individual are to be repudiated and are not in accord with Scripture or the doctrines of the church.