By God's grace, the saints of Franconia Baptist Church have been preaching Christ in Northern Virginia for over 150 years.
Franconia Baptist Church began as Beulah Baptist Church, located on Beulah Road in Alexandria, Virginia. The church covenant was formally adopted in on November 10, 1870. On February 2, 1873, Rev. B.P. Dulin was called to serve as pastor. After covenanting together in 1870, the church saw years of faithful preaching, steady growth, and consistent practice of church membership and discipline.
In 1957, the church purchased land at the corner South Van Dorn Street and Franconia Road, and a new church building was constructed. A portion of the Beulah Baptist congregation relocated to this new site, where they covenanted together as Franconia Baptist Church, under the pastoral leadership of Dr. C.L. Bishop. The current church building still sits at this same location today. Over the decades that followed, Franconia Baptist continued, by God's grace, to serve the Northern Virginia community through faithful gospel preaching and a variety of ministries aimed at reaching the lost, equipping Christians, and serving those in need.
In 1966, the Franconia Baptist Church property became the site for the newly chartered Luther Rice College, with Dr. C.L. Bishop serving as president. With its first enrollment of students in 1967, the college served as a center for educating Christian men and women in theology, ministry, and liberal arts. Eventually, the college relocated to a different site in Alexandria.
From June 2015 to May 2022, Nick Roark joyfully served as pastor. On May 22, 2022, the congregation called David Fullerton to serve as the senior pastor of Franconia Baptist Church.
Today, Franconia Baptist is a diverse, growing community of Christ-followers who are committed to glorifying God by proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ in all the nations, as well as equipping Christians to treasure Christ in all aspects of life and ministry. FBC is actively engaged in local, regional, and global ministry efforts—partnering with other likeminded churches to pray, send, and go for the spread of the good news. We seek, by God's grace, to continue as a bright gospel witness in Northern Virginia and to the ends of the earth.
Franconia Baptist Church serves in friendly cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention.
Beulah Baptist Church building (circa 1940)
Franconia Baptist Church building (circa 1960)
___________________________________________________
*More information is available at Franconia Museum.