Just outside the city limits of Opelika, Alabama, where new subdivisions meet the rolling countryside of Lee County, Union Grove Baptist Church has stood on Lee Road 391 since well before the Civil War. Organized in 1828 and once known as Friendship Church, it is the oldest congregation in the Tuskegee-Lee Baptist Association, and the members who gather there like to call it "a hospital for the hurting" - a place where anyone who walks in is meant to feel the love of Christ.
Two Centuries on the Same Grounds
Union Grove has been on this stretch of Lee Road 391 for almost two hundred years. The property was given in 1854 by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Shelton Oliver, and a portion of what is now the cemetery was purchased from Mr. C. H. Martin. Two early buildings were lost to fire - the first around Civil War times and a second one Sunday morning in 1897 - and the third sanctuary, built in 1898, still stands on the grounds and is still used from time to time when extra space is needed.
As the surrounding community grew from rural farmland into a prospering residential area, the church kept building. In June 1980 a Fellowship Hall went up, and for many years the children's Sunday School classes and nursery met there. Ground was broken in April 1997 on a new Worship Building that the members themselves largely constructed, finishing it in August 1999. The completed sanctuary seats about 300, with the nursery, toddler room and three classrooms downstairs and six classrooms upstairs that serve as the Children's and Youth departments. A 2014 expansion added a new fellowship hall, kitchen, gym and several classrooms, and donated land next door provides a paved center lot with visitor and accessible parking.
Sundays at Union Grove
The weekly rhythm at Union Grove fills much of the day. Sunday School opens the day at 9:45 AM, and the morning worship service follows at 11:00 AM. After a midday break, Discipleship meets at 4:45 PM and a second worship service gathers at 6:00 PM. Nursery care is provided during the 11:00 AM service for newborns through age three, and the building is set up to keep little ones close to the worship room. During the 11:00 AM service, children ages four through second grade are dismissed after the music for their own Bible lesson and activities in the kids church room.
For adults, Sunday School at 9:45 AM and Discipleship at 4:45 PM are the two weekly teaching hours. Wednesday evenings add a Prayer Meeting at 6:30 PM along with classes for every other age group, including the youth.
Kids, Youth, and Adults
Union Grove's ministries are organized around three groups: Nursery and Kids, Youth for seventh through twelfth grade, and Adults. Nursery care during the morning worship is the entry point for the youngest, while the kids church for four-year-olds through second graders gets its own lesson and activities. The youth ministry, run under the UGBC Students banner on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter/X, and Snapchat, gathers Wednesday nights at 6:30 PM and connects with students throughout the week online.
Adult ministry centers on the Sunday School hour at 9:45 AM and the Sunday evening Discipleship hour, with midweek classes as well. Music for the services is led by Music Director April Willett, who also serves as the church's WMU (Women's Missionary Union) Director.
What the Church Believes
The church's stated purpose is to "Reach and Teach people how to live out the abundant life through Evangelism, Discipleship, Fellowship, Prayer, Ministry, Giving, and Worship" - a seven-fold framework anchored in John 10:10. Members confess one God eternally in three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - and hold that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant and authoritative Word of God for the Christian faith and living.
Union Grove teaches that Jesus Christ is fully God, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, performed miracles, died on the cross as the atoning sacrifice for humanity, and will come again to judge the living and the dead. The Holy Spirit is described as a person who convicts the world of sin, indwells believers, and empowers a godly life. Salvation, in the church's words, is the free gift received by turning to Christ in saving faith and repentance, purchased by His shed blood at Calvary.
Reaching Out: Shoeboxes, Chainsaws, and Summer Bible School
Operation Christmas Child is one of the church's signature mission projects each fall. Members fill shoeboxes with gifts that are distributed to children in need around the world, and for those without time to shop, the church will pack a box on their behalf when they write a check made out to UGBC and marked "OCC." April Willett, the WMU Director, oversees the project.
Union Grove also partners with the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief program, training volunteers for ministries that range from chainsaw cleanup teams to childcare for affected families. Anyone interested in joining can speak with William Letlow, the church's Disaster Relief contact.
Vacation Bible School returns each summer, with a themed four-day program of Bible lessons, music, and activities for children. Past themes have explored Jesus as the light of the world, with days built around Jesus as God's promised Son, God's perfect Son, the powerful Son of God, the proven Son of God, and God's plan for forgiveness.
Leadership and the Building
Jacob Burdette is the twenty-third pastor of Union Grove, a line that the church counts back to 1907. Diana Botsford serves as Church Secretary and is the main point of contact for the office. April Willett leads the music and women's missions work. The church office can be reached at 334-749-0461 or ugbcopsecretary@gmail.com, and online giving is available for those who wish to support the ministry from afar.
Twenty pastors and counting, three sanctuaries, and the same road outside Opelika - Union Grove's members like to say the church is rich in history but pointed toward the future, with a vision still for the community growing up around it.