7. Statistically, the churches that are growing the fastest and reaching the most unchurched people are those that do not have a denominational affiliation in their name.
When you look at the list of this year’s Top 100 Largest and Fastest-Growing Churches in America, 90% of the churches mentioned on both lists do not have any denominational affiliation in their name. The facts are simple – churches in the 21st Century are more likely to grow and reach more of the unchurched if they do not have a denominational affiliation in their name.
8. The trend in our own denomination (the SBC) is to not use “Baptist” when rebranding our churches or our entities.
- Why is it that The Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention is now LifeWay Christian Resources?
- Why is it that out of the thousands of new SBC churches that are being planted in North America, I can’t think of a recent one in the last 20 years that actually has the word “Baptist” in their name?
- Why is it that one of our six SBC seminaries, Golden Gate Theological Seminary in California, has rebranded itself as Gateway Seminary?
- Why is it that the former President of our own denomination rebranded his church Cross Church?
Why this trend? Why this change? Because our leaders want our churches and institutions to be attractive and non-threatening to those whom they’re trying to reach. Depending upon what part of the country you live in, the name “Baptist” can be more of a wall than a bridge.
9. Jesus Christ ought to be the only stumbling block for someone to come to saving faith – not a denominational name.
In the Book of Acts, a church controversy arose in the Church of Jerusalem. Gentiles were being converted to faith in Jesus Christ in record number. Yet some believers (who had been former Pharisees) stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses” (Acts 15:5). What was Paul’s response? He said, “my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.” (Acts 15:19). In other words, we should remove any unnecessary barrier that would prevent a person from coming to faith. So if the “Baptist” in my church’s name causes an unbeliever to think of me as a Westboro Baptist Church member holding up a picket sign, then I can live without having the word “Baptist” in my church name. I want to say with Paul that I have not put any hindrance towards any man coming to faith in God.
10. The Church is God’s idea; denominations are man’s idea.
I know it’s not politically correct to say this but the whole reason we have denominations in the body of Christ is the result of sin and divisiveness in the church. Denominations didn’t exist until after the Protestant Reformation. Rather than resolving doctrinal differences Biblically, the church kept splintering off into new subgroups of denominations. The New Testament Church had no concept of denominationalism. And as much time as we’ve put into trying the come up with a “nifty” name for our church, the early churches didn’t have that either. They were simply “The Church at Ephesus,” or “The Church at Philippi.” We need to make sure that we don’t make our preference our principle.
With that being said, we will always be a Baptist church that teaches Biblical doctrine. I believe strongly in the mission of the Southern Baptist Convention and we will continue to look for ways to give and to increase our support through the Cooperative Program, the International Mission Board, and the North American Mission Board of the SBC as we move forward into the future.
If your church ever does have to navigate through the complexities of rebranding or a church name change, I can assure you that it’s much more of a difficult process than you might think that it is. But if that brings you one step closer towards reaching those who are still far from Christ, the pain of change will be worth it in the end.
This article originally appeared here.
