Kia ora Church Family,

"How would one describe a healthy and thriving business? Maybe it would be a good income on the bottom line, or a wonderful place to be working where everyone enjoyed what they did and worked together as a team to achieve a good outcome. Or maybe a place where everyone was respected and their ideas were listened to. All good outcomes right? And I am sure there would be other things you might think of.
 
So, what about a healthy and thriving church? Wouldn't it be somewhat similar, even the bottom line is applauded when we make the budget, even more so when we see people coming to faith in Jesus. Maybe it's also when the message is appreciated and applauded, as we had last week. Then it could also be the sense of belonging and purpose and unity that is achieved, even in the midst of our differences and at times not always seeing eye to eye.
 
For me, one of the signs of health and well being in a church is the number of baptisms we have that tell me that people are not only coming to faith in Jesus but being obedient to his word and His call on their lives. This Sunday we have another baptism, one of many this year and in a few weeks time a couple more and who knows maybe you will be next.
 
Another sign for me is what we heard last week with that amazing prophetic word of encouragement, from someone who is just visiting us for a few weeks. That was so uplifting and edifying towards this family as we heard just how much God loves this church and calls us all to love one another. These are signs of a healthy and thriving church. So, take heart, keep praying and God will do something special with FBC if we keep looking to Him and loving Him first.
 
May the Lord continue to bless you through this coming week.

Steve

For the Kids...  
Welcome back to term 4!  How did we get here? This term is a busy term but we are looking forward to the countdown to Christmas. 

Wonder Kids (Preschool Programme): This week we are looking at the story of Daniel and the Lion's Den, focusing on the basic truth that I can brave and trust God.
Discovery Kids (Primary Programme): This week we are looking at why we are doing the joy ride for Joyya and also discussing a little about baptism. 
FBI (Intermediate Programme): This week we are continuing our four-week series on navigating what the Bible is, how we can use it, and what it means for our lives today.  This week we are looking at how the bible points us to Jesus. 

Baptism Celebration

We will be celebrating Carolyn Cornu's baptism in our Sunday morning service.  Please be praying for Carolyn both as she prepares to be baptised and following her baptism.  If you are interested in being baptised, please connect penny@fbc.nz or steve@fbc.nz. 

Prayer at 5pm
 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. Eph. 1:17
 
As a church fellowship, we need to declare Christ as the Head of our Fellowship and seek His direction and enablement for our church, so that we can be in step with His will.
We meet at 5pm on a Sunday in the church prayer area to do just that, to connect with Jesus, who brings life to us individually and fruitful life to our fellowship. We would love to have you join us!
 
Note, this week 15^th October, rather than meeting at our normal time, we are joining with the inter-church worship night, to be held at FBC at 7pm.
 

Franklin Community Worship Night
Sunday, October 15th 7pm - 8:30 pm @ 128 Victoria Street West Pukekohe
Kia Ora Church, 
Our next Worship Night is coming around quickly! This one is going to be special! A time to worship together as a wider community. A collective band, musical worship, and prayer! 
See you there. Click this link for the flyer.

Joy Ride
We're gearing up again for Joyride 2023 - another chance to make a huge difference for children in Kolkata who are connected with the work Joyya do. In 2022, almost $40,000 was raised which went towards bouncy castles, after school classes, leadership opportunities, fun days and a zoo visit, amongst other things. And FBC was part of it.  We will be doing church offsite at Pukekohe Intermediate School on Sunday 29th October and enjoying a fun morning with God, Bikes and BBQ's. 

Office Assistant Extraordinaire

We are looking for an office Assistant to join our staff team at Franklin Baptist Church.  

If you have a dynamic personality, efficient administration skills, basic bookkeeping skills, advanced computer skills, and enjoy working with teams of people we would love to hear from you. 

Currently this is a 6 hour a week onsite paid role, as an Office Assistant, supporting the Office Manager in their role.  

It is a 6-month, fixed term position with the hope for this to continue and hours to increase. 

For more information, please email Penny@fbc.nz 

The General Election 2023 Is This Saturday!
We realise that the general elections for Aotearoa New Zealand are just around the corner.  We do not wish to tell you how to vote but do encourage you to be prayerfully considering how you vote in the election.
Some helpful things for you to know:

• If you’re not enrolled, you can do this at the voting place. (You can enroll on Election day)
• Voting starts on Mon 02 Oct, with the final date to vote on Election Day Sat 14 Oct before 7pm
• You can vote at any voting place in the country, but it is quicker to vote local if you can
• You do not need ID to vote – just show up!

If you would like help to discern who you should vote for, here are some helpful tools:

• Vote Compass - Check out which political parties align with what matters to you here
• Policy - Compare political parties and candidates here

For further information, or to enroll or update your details you can visit the voting website vote.nz

Come to the Table
The women's ministry team would like to invite all women to join them for a special evening of connection, cooking demos and tastings. Saturday 11th November, 7pm at Franklin Baptist Church.  Tickets are $10 and will be available from the info desk from Sunday. Save the date, gather your girlfriends and get ready for a fun night together. 

Alpha - The Marriage Course
An enrichment course for all couples, no matter age, length of, or health of your marriage. An online course is planned for later this year - aimed at those couples with little children or couples who find themselves in a different location. More information coming soon!
Enquiries: sandra@fbc.nz

Oasis
We will be meeting again on Wednesday at 10am.  All are welcome! It would be appreciated, as always, if you are able to bring a food item towards morning tea. For more information contact Charlie Potter. 027 529 8211

Hospitality team 
We would like to thank those people who signed up last Sunday to volunteer and be involved in the hospitality ministry. For those who have missed it, It's not yet late! There will be a sign up sheet in the info desk. You can serve as a welcomer, be a kitchen helper setting up tea and coffee and you can also be in the info desk and have the opportunity to help people know more about the church and its current events..

Sharing Kai
It has been great to see people bringing in excess produce from their fruit trees at home to share with everyone.  We have created a space for this underneath the missions notice board.  Please put fruit/vegetables that you would like to share with the congregation on the table.  

GAT Prayer
Check out the latest news from the Global Action Team. Click here for the OCT-NOV newsletter.  A printed copy is available at the Info desk. Thanks for upholding them and our other partners in prayer.

Booking Rooms at FBC
If you would like to book the use of a room at FBC (either for personal use or church use), please fill out the form. Link for FBC Booking Request Form

Prayer Chain
If you would like to submit a prayer request to the Prayer Chain, please email Arlene Hutcheon on arlene@ps.gen.nz or send a text to 0274726198. All prayer requests are treated as confidential.

Giving
You can give online, by automatic payment or direct debit. Our church bank account: 01 0403 0013842 00 or click here to donate now. For the "Renew" giving, please indicate "Renew" as reference for giving through bank. And if using the above link, click "Renew" on the drop down tab. 

Church Center App
Our Church Center app is where you can find what's going on in our church whanau. Click this link to find out how to download the app here.

Whanau news
If you have something you would like to share in the Whanau news, please email it to staff@fbc.nz by 12 noon on Thursday. Thank you.
Please note that we post Church sponsored/supported events and activities. You can personally post any other advertising requests in our FBC Community Facebook page.

As an encouragement to all of you while you're at home...check out some of the songs we're currently singing on Sundays and a few new ones we might sing in the future. If you have a Spotify account, this is the link to FBC Worship on Spotify