The Bible serves as our sole guide to all we believe and profess. When there is a question about the interpretation of the Bible, we turn to our elders and lead pastor for definition.
God
There is one God who presents Himself in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is eternal, having no beginning or end. He created everything that is, out of nothing, and sustains it all by His power.
Jesus
Jesus is the Son of God. He is fully equal to and in fact is God. Jesus came to Earth for the purpose of offering Himself as a perfect sacrifice for the sins of man. He rose from the dead on the third day and therefore demonstrated His power and authority over sin and death. 40 days after His resurrection, Jesus ascended to Heaven and we eagerly await His second coming to take His people home.
Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead. He works in the world to make mankind aware of its need of Jesus. He lives in every follower of Jesus from the moment of their salvation. He gives us all the tools and resources we need to be the person God called us to be and to carry out the mission God has laid on each of us.
The Bible
The Bible is God’s word. It was inspired, literally breathed out, by God and in its original form is without error. It is the final authority for all matters of faith, doctrine and practice.
Man
We were created in the image of God, which means we have the ability to think, reason and choose for ourselves. Man willfully determined to break God’s command, and therefore sinned and is destined for an eternity separated from God in Hell.
Eternity
Heaven and Hell are real places. They are eternal. Every human being will spend eternity in one of those two places. God created us to be with Him. Our final destination however is our choice.
Salvation and Baptism
While God calls for us to do good works, those works have no ability to save us. Our only hope for Heaven is the grace of God that comes only through Jesus Christ. To receive that grace we must confess our belief in Jesus and repent of our sins. We believe that the next step in our faith walk is to be baptized by immersion.
The Biblical definition of the word baptism is a dunking, or an immersing. Baptism is an illustration of our death and resurrection. It speaks of a cleansing, of a coming to a new life. It illustrates our putting to death our old way of life and stepping out to follow Jesus. It symbolized our connection to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Salvation and baptism are integrally combined throughout the book of Acts and the rest of the New Testament. New believers immediately responded to the message of salvation by placing their faith in Jesus and being baptized. All members of The Grove have been immersed.
Sexuality
God creates each person as either a male or a female. These two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God. Rejection of one’s biological sex is a rejection of the image of God within that person.
Marriage
God created marriage. The Bible clearly defines marriage as the unifying of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union. It was God’s intention that sexual intimacy occur only in the marriage relationship. The Bible defines any sexual relationship outside of marriage as sin.
