About the following report : Everything depends on asking the right
questions.
Why attend a church with a denominational name ?
( 1 ) Trust. You can depend on a consistent message and viewpoint.
( 2 ) Pride. You can identify with great men and women of faith from that
denomination.
( 3 ) Institutional Foundation. The church is part of an effective
system that gets things done.
.
Seems to me these are important considerations. Besides, a church can use
a denominational name in a creative way and pick up some advantages
found in "new name" churches. Such as ? How about--
Open-minded Baptist Church
Challenge-the-Culture Lutheran Church
21st Century Presbyterian Church
Modern Fundamentalist Methodist Church
New Reformation Episcopal Church
.
Should work out OK.
Billy
.
.
.
from the site :
Gleanings
.
.
Should Your Church's Name Include Its Denomination?
(UPDATED) New research says both churchgoers and the unchurched agree
decision is a 'two-edged sword.'
Jeremy Weber
A new study by Grey Matter Research suggests that both churchgoers and the
unchurched largely agree on whether or not Protestant churches should
reference their denominational affiliation in their names.
Most Protestant churches reference their denomination in their name. A
prominent counter-example: Rick Warren's Saddleback Community Church, which is
affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).
The SBC recently debated _changing its name_
(http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/septemberweb-only/southern-baptist-name-change.html)
to remove
potential obstacles to people attending new church plants, _particularly
in the Northeast_
(http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/november-web-only/sandy-spotlights-surge-in-southern-baptist-church-plants.html)
. Instead,
it decided to _allow the use_
(http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2012/02/task_force_keep.html)
of an unofficial moniker, Great
Commission Baptists, which LifeWay Research showed _less than half_
(http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2012/06/membership_down.html)
of churches intend to use.
Grey Matter surveyed a representative sample of 773 unchurched and churched
adults in all 50 states and found risks in both approaches.
"When a church does not reference its denomination in the church name,
unchurched people tend to see that church as less formal, rigid, and
old-fashioned," _notes_
(http://www.greymatterresearch.com/index_files/Church_Names.htm) the
Phoenix-based market research firm in a news release. "But this
also makes them feel more uncertain and wonder whether the church is trying
to hide its beliefs."
The most interesting findings:
1) Churches with denominational references (vs. none) in their name are:
Four times more likely to be perceived as "formal." Three times more
likely to be perceived as "old-fashioned." Almost three times more likely to
be
perceived as "structured and rigid." Three times less likely to be
perceived as "open-minded."
2) By contrast, churches with no denominational references in their name
are:
Less than twice as likely to be perceived as "honest."
More than twice as likely to give people "feelings of uncertainty."
Almost five times more likely to be perceived as "trying to hide what they
believe."
3) The perceptions of Protestant churchgoers and the unchurched only differ
on a few matters:
Churchgoers believe a church with its denomination in its name would be
"more welcoming to visitors" (33% to 20%).
The unchurched believe the opposite: that such a church would be less
welcoming to visitors (30% to 19%).
Churchgoers believe a church with its denomination in its name would be "a
church for people like [them]" (40% to 20%).
The unchurched are evenly divided. Approximately 1 in 5 pick churches with
denominational names, and almost 1 in 5 pick churches without
denominational names.
Churchgoers say they’re "more likely to consider" churches with
denominational names (39% to 23%).
The unchurched are more evenly divided. Almost 1 in 4 are more likely to
consider churches with denominational names, while 1 in 5 pick churches
without denominational names.
4) The main caveat is age, concludes Grey Matter:
"In general, older Americans are more comfortable with denominational
church names than are younger people. People age 65 and older are especially
likely to see non-denominational names as the church trying to hide what they
believe (55% to 3%) and as making them feel uncertain (51% to 7%), as well
as to see denominational names as welcoming new visitors (38% to 18%) and
as a church they might consider visiting (48% to 14%). On the other hand,
adults under the age of 35 are much more divided over this issue. For
instance, while they agree with older adults that non-denominational names are
more likely to make them feel uncertain, the split is only 34% to 22%, and it’
s noteworthy that 22% say a denominational reference is what would be more
likely to make them feel more uncertain. Younger adults are also more
likely to see non-denominational names as welcoming to new visitors (36%,
versus
27% who say this about denominational names), as a church for people like
them (27% to 18%), or as one they might consider visiting (27% to 19%)."
5) Ron Sellers, president of Grey Matter, offers advice on how to mitigate
risks associated with either choice: "A church with a denominational
reference can have a contemporary and friendly logo and sign to help deal with
any perceptions that it’s rigid," he writes, "while a church without the
denomination in its name might use a catchy tagline to communicate something
about its beliefs, to help overcome any uncertainty people may feel." 6)
Denominational names are not a widespread liability as often thought. Grey
Matter found that only a minority of the unchurched have negative perceptions
about such names: "Eight out of ten unchurched adults do not feel a
non-denominational name would make them more likely to consider visiting a
particular church, and six out of ten do not feel this signals a more
open-minded
church."
-----------------------------------------------
.
Selected Comments
.
As a former denominational executive officer, I can attest that thousands
of churches are electing to drop denomination identity in an attempt to
reach a more diverse populace. It is a fact that most people on the street
don't even know what a denomination is, and they could care less. My
prediction: denominationalism is fast becoming irrelevant and will eventually
become
extinct like the Dodo bird. I further predict that unless the local
churches change their divisive and excluding message in favor of a welcoming
and
inclusive message, they, too, will become a thing of the past (see 2 Cor
5:18-19).
.
I'm not completely certain that 773 people is a good enough sample group to
draw significant conclusions from for this kind of research. Besides, the
research doesn't really tell very much. We're still left with a cursed if
you do, cursed if you don't thing.
The biggest difference of getting an unchurched person in the door is
relationship. I don't know how you do that with the moniker on you sign.
.
I am a member of an SBC church and proud of this as initially being one who
came from a strongly liberal denomination that stood for anything and
everything - unless it was Biblical. I do get frustrated though when people
who
do not understand the fact that being "baptist" can mean anything from a
liberal Baptist denomination to a legalistic one - in my opinion both being
un-Biblical. I just got finished explaining to a friend that the "baptist"
church she was a part of in Virginia was not SBC but a very legalistic
baptist that I will not mention here. Men like Dr. Al Mohler and David Platt
and Matt Chandler represent the SBC (holding to the Bible as inerrant
in-spite of what our culture says) yet both The Church at Brookhills and The
Village do not include SBC anywhere in their name. I recently was trying to
find
the denominational affiliation of a church to recommend to a friend and
could not discover it until I checked where their mission's money goes. Yes,
it is an SBC church and mostly made up of people under 40. I knew that if
it was under the covering of the SBC that it would be Biblical but hiding
the SBC part makes it more attractive to young people.
--
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