Grove History

Like most good stories, the story of the Grove Church is full of many ups and downs. The story began a long time ago just north of Scranton when in February of 1863 a small gathering of Christians began to meet in a school house located in the "Notch" between Providence borough and Chinchilla. These believers organized as the Welsh Baptist Church and after a few years they relocated to Market Street in North Scranton eventually taking the name Market Street Baptist Church. A few years passed and another group of Christians believed that Providence needed an English speaking church, so Penn Avenue Baptist Church and Immanuel Baptist Church of downtown Scranton began efforts to start what would become Providence Baptist Church in 1884 and sixteen years later, the church took on the name North Main Avenue Baptist Church.

In 1981 these churches combined their congregations into the Main Avenue facility and adopted the name of Providence Baptist Church. The church continued to serve the community from this location but as time passed the membership eventually began to dwindle, however, the church wanted to be a blessing to the community and that set the stage for the next chapter of the story.

In late 2011, the Providence Baptist facilities were put under the responsibility of the a group of hopeful church planters and a long process of renovating the facility began, while worship services continued. All of the pastoral team worked outside of the church to support their families and dedicated themselves to establishing a healthy congregation in North Scranton.

As the facility began to show new life, God began to transform the lives of those who gathered for worship as the Grove Church. Families were restored and individuals experienced the power of the gospel in their lives. In August of 2013 the Grove brought Pastor Scott on paid staff to focus on moving the church forward, leading us to partner with the Stadia Church Planting Network to support the ministry here in Scranton.

God is continues to allow The Grove Church to be part of a long history of serving Jesus in North Scranton and beyond. By God’s grace we will carry on with the heritage established by those who have gone before us by loving Jesus, serving our community, planting churches and supporting other ministries. There is so much more to story of the church than we could put on this page, but we believe, the story is just beginning.

Join us and see where it goes from here as we help each other pursue Jesus in all aspects of life.