A forum for the PSCC Name Change Focus Group to post their ideas and comments.
We clarified in our most recent meeting that we should avoid these kinds of words:
1. Words that are too limiting in their description of who we are. Example: Gen Y Gathering.
2. Words that carry excess baggage in our culture. Example: Fundamentalist Fellowship.
3. Words that have no authentic meaning for who we are. Example: Tiger Point Church.
4. Elitist or exclusive-sounding words. Example: True Disciples Fellowship.
The words used in church names fall into five categories; they are words that describe or allude to the church’s Identity, Culture, Mission, “Product,” or to some aspect of God’s character or what He is doing in the world. See examples of these descriptors in this chart.
Matt clarified an important fact for us at the Wednesday evening meeting: Our work as a committee is not to figure out a cool name for our church. Rather, our purpose is to do the groundwork that will open our hearts and minds to the name God already has for us. It is fitting that we all adopt Matt's prayer: Lord, show us what our name is.
Thanks, Gary, for your thought posted below. The blog is a both-and forum. Matt was asking for more than just clarification of identity. It's important to go ahead and post any reasonable name idea, because that will stimulate thinking among the rest of us. We need not fear an online debate; opinions posted here carry no ultimate authority. The whole idea is to clarify and stimulate our thoughts. It will be Matt's job in our actual meetings to take whatever data is produced here, and steer it in the productive direction he wants it to go.
Justin made an important clarification at the end of our initial meeting: some church names today focus on the church's mandate (what they feel called to do), rather than on their identity (what their particular church culture is like). Perhaps Forum members could share some examples.
Another alternative, somewhere between mandate and identity is: what the church offers to its community. As an example, a church in Olympia is called: Church of Living Water.
