A Growing New Hampshire Church Helps a “Faithful Church With an Aging Congregation and Limited Resources”
Hillside Baptist Church, Pembroke, New Hampshire
Fellowship Church-Granite State, a growing church plant in Hooksett, New Hampshire, has a heart to see healthy churches across New England strengthened and supported for the sake of the gospel.
Long before we launched the church, we took mission teams to Hillside Baptist Church in Pembroke, a town about seven miles distant—to pray in their parking lot.
Over the years we have prayed not only for Hillside, but for the broader Allenstown, Suncook, and Pembroke region. We prayed for revival, for renewed life in local churches, and to see baptismal waters flowing again throughout the area.
Volunteers from Fellowship Church-Granite State painted Hillside Baptist Church’s sanctuary and helped refresh the space for worship.
As a church, Fellowship Church-Granite State (FCGS) is already prayerfully looking ahead toward future church planting opportunities; the Allenstown/ Suncook/Pembroke area is one of the regions we hope God may allow us to invest in more deeply in the years ahead. Because of that, Hillside has never felt distant to us. We have viewed them as a faithful sister church in a nearby community that matters deeply to us.
Over time, God connected us with Pastor Alex Musard and the congregation at Hillside. As we got to know them, we saw both the challenges they were facing and the opportunity God had placed before us.
Hillside Baptist Church is a faithful church with an aging congregation and limited resources. As a church plant that has been blessed with growth and volunteers willing to serve, we felt we could not simply sit back and do nothing.
Baptist Foundation of New England Grant
Through the generosity of a $3,000 grant from the Baptist Foundation of New England, along with the sacrificial giving and labor of many volunteers from Fellowship Church, we came alongside Hillside in several practical ways.
We built out the stage walls to accommodate updated technology, purchased and installed two sixty-five-inch televisions for the front of the sanctuary and a seventy-five-inch “confidence monitor” for the back of the room. We also ran wiring for the system and replaced an outdated computer with a Mac mini computer for projecting the slides and announcements.
Beyond the physical updates, we have sought to support and encourage the church in practical ministry needs. One of our members temporarily served as a pianist for Hillside. My wife, Linda, currently serves as Hillside’s treasurer, helping establish systems and relieve some administrative burden from Pastor Alex, while she prepares the church for a transition back to one of their own members.
“Many times, an established church has helped start a new church, but rarely does a new church revitalize an established church. This is a great day for the Kingdom of God in New Hampshire,” Terry Dorsett wrote Aaron Cockrum March 3.
The BFNE agrees with Pastor Aaron’s desire to help every church flourish.
Baptist Foundation of New England
Help us accomplish this vision with your generous gift to our 2026 Flourish Campaign. Click the link below.
Empowering Churches to Flourish
This partnership has been a tremendous blessing to our church. We believe God has strategically positioned churches not only to plant new works, but also to strengthen and encourage existing churches that are faithfully standing for the gospel. We are grateful for the support from the Baptist Foundation of New England and look forward to continuing to explore ways we can partner with Hillside Baptist Church in the future.
