Have you ever thought about planting a church?

So what does it mean to plant a church?

Good question... At its core any church plant is undertaken because there is a belief that the community could benefit from its existence. We have prayed as a church for a long time and feel that God can use our church to benefit this community. We value the teaching of the Bible. We value prayer and we value spreading the Gospel above all else. While these values may sound basic we also feel that they are distinctive.

Don't you already exist?

Yes... Franconia Baptist Church does exist so we are not planting from scratch. In fact that is one of the many blessing that we have. God has given this church tremendous resources in terms of facilities, land, and heritage. The reason that we term this a church plant is because we feel that it is important to re-plant our congregation as we look to the future.

So what can I do?

We know that this type of ministry will not appeal to everyone. Some are looking for a church that is already fully established. The benefit of participating in our church planting efforts is that we are undergoing an exciting time of rebirth where we can develop the church that God wants to serve this community. I know from past experience that it can sometimes be difficult to feel like you are making a difference in a well established church. At Franconia Baptist each person that would like to participate can make a tremendous difference.

Please prayerfully consider the possibility of joining with us on this journey.

God bless,
Aaron

Exchange 521

We are launched!

God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Jesus – 2 Corinthians 5:21 (521)

An exchange… an exchange of an unclean spirit for a pure spirit, an exchange of deadness for life, an exchange of present glory for future glory, the ultimate exchange….

You can’t buy it. You can’t trade it. You can’t upgrade it. You can only accept it. This is the great exchange. We’ll talk more about that later…

An exchange is also a place where two roads come together. It is a market where items are trades. It is the trading of ideas between two or more people.

The other leaders and I have been preparing and praying for some time now that God would use this time as a means to bring together different worlds, backgrounds and ideas. We want this to be a safe environment where we can talk about differing views on life. As we wrestle with questions about our pain, existence, and our purpose we will unapologetically look to the Bible for our answers. That said, there are no questions that are off limits.

We want Exchange 521 to be a place where we can do life together. Christian or not, a lonely life is one of the most horrible ways to exist. We weren’t wired up to live that way. Having friends is a built-in need almost as important as eating and breathing.

We have chosen 2 Corinthians 5:21 as our foundation. It functions like a motto, a slogan, and a creed. If you know it and you believe it than we hope to help you live it. If you aren’t really sure about it than we hope to help you understand it. We want to create a comfortable place to bring anyone no matter where they are at on their spiritual journey.

- Aaron

Growing our ministries

I can't believe that two months have flown by since beginning as the pastor here at Franconia. The time has been wonderful. God has stretched me in ways that I could not have imagined.

As we make plans for next year I have spoken to leadership about our areas of greatest need. There are three places that we would really like to invest in during the upcoming year: children's ministry, youth ministry, and our new service, "The Exchange".

These are the specific areas where we could use a lot of help. The budget will reflect these priorities but we cannot do it without you. Please pray about contributing your time and talents in these very important ministries.

Together we can make a difference in our community!

The Exchange

We are getting really close to launching our new contemporary service!

After a lot of discussion I think that we have settled on the name "The Exchange".
2 Corinthians 5:21, God made Christ who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ. This verse is often called the great exchange where God exchanged our sinful natures for His righteousness through Jesus.

We are praying that God will use “The Exchange” as a place where people can come together for worship and community. Our target date for the first Exchange gathering is Sunday, October 19 at 6:30 in the Franconia Baptist Church sanctuary.

EXCHANGE
Pronunciation: \iks-ˈchānj, ˈeks-ˌ\
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English exchaunge, from Anglo-French eschange, from eschanger to exchange, from Vulgar Latin *excambiare, from Latin ex- + cambiare to exchange — more at change
Date: 14th century
1: the act of giving or taking one thing in return for another
2 a: the act or process of substituting one thing for another b: reciprocal giving and receiving
3: something offered, given, or received in an exchange

If you would like to participate on our leadership team please email me at aaron@franconiabaptist.org.