Hey God! What Should We Name Our Church?

Church Central has an article about changing a name of a church in order to reach the unchurched. Apparently a church in New Hampshire changed their name from First Baptist Church to Center Point Church. The people on the website look like they are really enjoying their new name. I'll have to bring up this topic at the next business meeting. I don't think that the idea will become popular since we just bought a $4,000 church sign. There seems to be a problem with these sign companies. They can sure make some cool looking signs. But how do we change our name once we buy one of these signs?

Actually, I think the title of this post is irrelevant. I really do not care what my church is named. I like to think about what the New Testament Church was really like in those first couple of centuries. Paul seems to only write to one church in each city. We know that these churches continued to grow. What happened when they could not fit into a house anymore? We know that they knocked out walls to make room for the growth. I'm sure they eventually had to split the group up and meet in different houses throughout the city. I wonder if they named their assembly? Did they name them after people like Paul, Peter, Luke, Barnabus, or James? Did they name them after their particular location in the city? At what point did their focus shift from the people being the church to the building being the church? What if we took a sledge hammer to our church sign and we brainwashed everyone into thinking that we do not have a name? Would our identity be found in Christ?


Then again, Get Anchored tells about a few churches that probably should change their names.

There’s the Jesus Lives Here Methodist Church in Roan Mountain, Tennessee.
And in Campbell, Alabama, you’ll find the Witch Creek Baptist Church.
There’s the Happy Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, or the Welcome Home Baptist
Church in Mount Airy, Georgia (Great Hills Baptist Church can loan them some
of their bumper stickers). I’m a little curious about why some churches
chose their names: Rising Daughter Church in Camden County, South Carolina,
or the Hanging Dog Baptist Church in North Carolina

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