What's in a Name?

I have been seeing a doctor at the same clinic for almost twenty years.  When I started going there the clinic shared their parking lot with the First Baptist Church next store.  Somewhere over the last five years the name on the church marquee changed to Grace Point Church.  To my knowledge it is still a Baptist Church but the leadership made the decision to go with a trendier, more marketable name.  That church is not alone.  The Southern Baptist Convention recently elected a president, J. D. Greer, who pastors a church that does not have Baptist in its name (Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, N.C.)

It is not just Baptist churches that are going with more contemporary names that are void of denominational designation.  I am a Lutheran and I am aware of several churches that have opted to take on names that are void of the word Lutheran.  Shepherd’s Gate, Crosspoint and Waters Edge are a few that come to mind.  Even if they are chartered as a “Lutheran” church, for the purpose of marketing they choose to go with a more contemporary name.  While some might find this trend troubling, I view it more as an attempt to reach the unchurched.  Across the board: mainline denominations are in the decline.  Most have graying membership and unless the trend is reversed future looks bleak for most denominations. 

If we find this troubling perhaps we have no one to blame but ourselves.  Many established churches have become more inner focused, doing a good job of meeting the needs of members but ignoring the needs of the community they live in.  While they have done a good job of preserving tradition, they have failed to pass the heritage to the next generation.  As a result we have a generation, The Millennials, who want nothing to do with “traditional Christianity.”  They are spiritual but if they are going to affiliate with a Christian community it will probably be outside the mainline denomination of their parents. 

A catchy new name and logo will only work if the people of God who live under that emblem view themselves as being Jesus in a broken world.  Claiming to be evangelical is not enough.  Being people of compassion and grace is the key.  The church must exist for the broken and lost, not for those who want to safe and secure.