Hope Church was planted in 2022 in the heart of Gray, Tennessee — a contemporary community rooted deeply in the Word of God.
Hope Church was planted in 2022 by a group of believers who wanted to create a contemporary church experience — one not encumbered by traditional constraints, but still deeply founded in the Word of God.
We began meeting at Daniel Boone High School in March of 2022. Soon after, we renovated part of a building in the heart of Gray at 5034 Bobby Hicks Highway, and that’s where you’ll find us today.
We believe this is a place where God can move in and through the Tri-Cities, and we pray He continues to guide us as we walk in faith along the path He has set before us.
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayers.Acts 2:42
We strive for everything we do at Hope Church to fall under that vision — Scripture-based teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer.
Our goal is for the church to grow in depth and knowledge of the Word. And our prayer is to keep expanding the kingdom by planting more churches with the same calling: loving God, loving people, and making disciples (2 Timothy 2:2).
Hope Church is committed to and believes in the local church. We believe the local church is the conduit God uses to equip and care for His people. We believe God’s Word is a cohesive story of the Gospel that points to Jesus Christ — the only Hope for this world — and that it is important for the church to establish doctrinal truths according to what the Scriptures teach.
“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”A.W. Tozer
We believe God eternally exists as one essence and three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit — each of whom is fully God.
God has made Himself known to the world in Jesus Christ, the Scriptures, and creation. The Bible, being God’s inspired and authoritative Word, is His witness of Himself to humanity — and is therefore free from falsehood and error.
God created the world from nothing and governs all things at all times in all places.
All humanity is created in the image of God and possesses intrinsic dignity and worth.
Sin has fractured all things, leaving the world in desperate need of salvation.
Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
The Church is the body of Christ, sent into the world to shine forth the glory of God.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit we see on display in the New Testament are still active within the life of the church today. They did not end with the closing of the New Testament or the death of the last apostles (1 Corinthians 12:1-11). The gifts are empowering for the church — dispensed by the Holy Spirit when necessary and good for the encouragement and empowerment of the body — and should always be used in good order, with the purpose of strengthening and unifying the church.
We believe in the healing power of God, done according to His sovereign will. While we always pray in faith for healing, our faith is not grounded in the promise that God will heal, but that He is fully able to heal. We acknowledge that not everyone will be healed; healing takes place by the will of God, not the will of man (Acts 14:10; 19:12; 16:18; 20:9-10; 2 Corinthians 12:8-9; Galatians 4:12-14; Phil 2:26-27; 2 Tim 4:20). Our ultimate hope is not in the healing of our earthly bodies, but in the redemption of our eternal souls.
The gift of tongues, as presented in the book of Acts, was given by the Holy Spirit to enable people to understand the Gospel in their native tongue regardless of the language spoken (Acts 2:3,7,8; 1 Corinthians 14:21). We believe the gift of tongues is still an active gift. Authoritative messages given in tongues to be spoken over the church body should also be accompanied by an interpretation provided by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:6, 27-28). The gift of tongues is also given in the form of prayer — used as communication between that person and the Lord.
Based on the precedent set in the New Testament, we believe baptism should follow conversion, by immersion in water. Baptism by immersion symbolically depicts the believer’s union to Christ through His death and resurrection (Romans 6:1-14).
Jesus Christ is returning to the world in the future to judge the living and the dead.
Our desire is a simple mission statement our congregation can grab a hold of — summed up in three parts. How we envision that playing out in the life of our church breaks down into six core values that flow out of our mission.
We are commanded by God to love Him with all our heart, soul, and mind. Every fiber of our being is to love God — and from this, everything else flows.
Scripture is our final authority. We teach it plainly and let it shape every part of how we live.
We talk to God before we talk about Him. Prayer isn’t a warm-up — it’s the work.
When we love God, love for people flows from us. Jesus directly commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Faith grows best around tables and in living rooms. We were made to be together.
What we have isn’t ours to hoard. We give freely because God gave first.
God’s design for the Church is not to keep the Gospel to ourselves. He commands us to make disciples — sharing His love with others.
We play for the bigger team. The kingdom is wider than our walls — or our name.
We make disciples who make disciples — and plant churches who plant churches.
We hope our story will become your story — and that God will use you to impact His Kingdom.
Our elders, pastors, directors, and the rest of the leadership and staff who serve the church each Sunday — and through the week.
