Hillside Baptist Church has been described as “a faithful church with an aging congregation and limited resources.” That’s a true but incomplete description. It is never a simple endeavor for a church of any size to cultivate a substantial vision for spiritual faithfulness and numerical growth, and that is especially so when fewer than twenty people attend worship and half that number are members.
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.
The numbers have been crunched and the Annual Church Profile (ACP 2025) report from 384 Baptist Churches of New England (BCNE) congregations reflects the national trend of “sustained growth” in attendance and baptisms, while the membership totals declined in 2025 when compared with 2024.
If your church finds itself the target of an intruder with a deadly weapon and a lethal intent, what should your pastor, leaders, and members do in the crisis moment to stay alive? And what training and strategies should you implement to prepare—as much as possible—to survive an attack that hopefully will never happen?
On Resurrection Sunday, April 5, 2026, members of Whiting Community Church, a small congregation in Addison County, Vermont, gathered to sing “Christ, Our Living Hope,” a hymn that no other congregation had ever sung.
“That is awesome!” proclaimed Jim LaMothe, pastor of Stamford Community Church, when he learned that his community-focused congregation in rural Southwestern Vermont, some fifteen miles “on the other side of the mountain” from historic Bennington, had become the four-hundredth church to join the Baptist Churches of New England nexus. The Board of Directors approved their application for membership at its March meeting.
Youth Ministry in New England has been thriving since the beginning of the year, and we’re excited to share with you all that God has been doing among youth in this region.
An excellent example of a congregation that represents BCNE’s growing edge is the multiethnic Word of God Christian Fellowship that Neptali Rondina has been leading since May 14, 2017. The Filipino American immigrant church serves recent arrivals from the Philippines, individuals and families who have found their way to Metrowest Boston and those who have lived near the region’s largest city for generations.
Baptist Churches of New England (BCNE) launched an innovative strategy, the New England Gospel Collaborative (NEGC), which procured $1,700 in gross sales of artisanal coffee since November, funds that will be invested in the church network’s foundation and then be used for ministries.
Mark H. Ballard announced in September 2024 that he would be planting a church in Bennington, Vermont. The founding president and chancellor of Northeastern Baptist College (NEBC) shared a vision from the Lord for planting a local church in Bennington, reaching the community with the gospel, and multiplying itself across New England, the country, and the world.
The 2025-26 academic year kicked off in September with NEBC’s largest student body ever—105 students! As you read that number, I encourage you to avoid concrete, impersonal thinking. Consider this: God brought on the campus 105 disciples, with their beautiful stories. Each student is a child of God, a laborer in the harvest fields of Vermont. That perspective will change the way someone thinks about what God is doing here.
The “hills are alive with the sound” of praise for Jesus because forty-two people made faith commitments and more than 600 heard the gospel when nine Vermont churches took part in the state’s first annual Operation Andrew evangelistic campaign. The yearlong interdenominational emphasis on praying for and talking about Christ with neighbors concluded October 11-18 with a celebration.
There are moments in history when a cry rises that cannot be ignored. In Acts 16, the Apostle Paul receives a vision in the night: a man from Macedonia stands and pleads, “Come over and help us.” It was not just a personal experience—it was a divine redirection. The Gospel would move into Europe, reshaping the future of Christianity. But long before that cry, Scripture had already given us a warning.
For generations, the global missionary movement followed a familiar path. From the historic centers of Christianity in Europe and North America, missionaries crossed oceans to proclaim the Gospel in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. This movement shaped the modern Church and carried the message of Christ to the ends of the earth.
I am an introvert. That's no surprise as roughly half of the world’s population are said to be introverts. While some might think that pastors, whose vocation includes frequent public speaking, would mostly be extroverts, my own experience has not shown that to be the case. As with the general populace, so with pastors: about 50%. If you are an introvert in pastoral ministry, fear not! There are some blessings, along with the challenges, that come with introversion.
Europe once sent missionaries who helped shape the spiritual foundations of the Americas — including New England. From John and Charles Wesley’s revival to George Whitefield’s preaching that sparked the Great Awakening, the Gospel flowed westward across the Atlantic.
A great mission work is being done in Europe even as you read this! The Baptist Church of New England has been given an open door to play some small part in this.
Every church desires to be a place of hope. Week after week, congregations gather to worship, pray, and encourage one another. Yet within nearly every congregation are people quietly carrying profound emotional pain. Some are wrestling with depression, despair, or thoughts of ending their lives.
Recently, my small group Bible study became aware that one of our members had received news about a very serious health condition. The moment she shared the diagnosis; the room became quiet. You could see the concern on everyone’s faces. Some of us didn’t know what to say. Others immediately began asking how we could help. In that moment we were reminded that small groups are more than just weekly Bible studies—they are spiritual families that walk through life together.
Every great turnaround has a moment. A line in the sand. A day when everything shifts from what was to what will be. For the church, that moment has a name: it is Palm Sunday.
A sixty-person church can plant another church—size isn’t the issue. A church of sixty can plant another church effectively and with mission, but not if it’s dying and grasping for air. A congregation that is plateaued or declining can’t think about multiplication when it’s fighting for survival. The energy goes to keeping what exists, not creating what’s next.
For many people in New England, a church’s online presence is the first (and sometimes only) interaction they will have with your congregation. Long before someone considers walking through your doors, they will quietly Google your church, scroll your social media, and form conclusions about who you are, what you value, and whether they would feel comfortable visiting.
As one year ends and another begins, most of us naturally pause. We look back on the year we’ve just lived—what went well, what was hard, what we wish had gone differently—and we begin thinking about what’s ahead.
This is a healthy moment. It’s a time for reflection, humility, grace, and even some dreaming. When done well, learning from the past doesn’t trap us there—it helps prepare us for the future.
As we step into a new year, Scripture offers a wise, balanced way to plan, renew, and move forward with God.
Each year during Advent, my family pulls out our well-loved copy of The Jesus Storybook Bible and reads through the stories leading up to Christmas. One of my favorite parts is tracing Jesus’s family line woven throughout Scripture, watching name after name unfold until we reach the child in the manger. It strikes me every year that Christ didn’t just come to a human family, He came through one. He chose to have this particular lineage, these particular people, their DNA forming His tiny baby body. And remembering that makes the genealogy feel far less like a list and far more like a miracle of grace.
