Taking the 'Reformed' out of a Reformed Church's name

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I really don't think the name of the church matters much to the unsaved. To many, any "church" is just filled with a bunch of hypocrites. We just need to be about living the christian life outside and inside the church that God has called us to no matter where or which church name we are under. God has shown me time and time again that he will always build his church, in his way, and sometimes it is in accordance with our cleverly devised plans. We are in our current churches and denominations due to the leading of God's Spirit. My early church background was Southern Baptist, to see "Presbyterian" on a church sign to me meant it was full of unsaved people, who were baptized as infants, who hadn't heard the gospel and might just have a homosexual woman pastor. The word "Reformed" had little historical church meaning to me and I did not know that "Reformed" Baptist churches even existed. There were some unmarked Reformed Baptist churches close by, but God evidently had other plans as they stayed unknown to me. Even after becoming a Presbyterian, in the early days I thought only two branches existed, PCUSA and PCA. Having OPC and ARP on a church sign meant nothing to me at that time. The meaning of words and abbreviations are only relative to the understanding that we have. If God wants me in the "Reformed Free Cookies Wretched Sinners Saved by Grace Infant Sprinkling Unpsalted Presbyterian Church", I think I will end up there regardless of the church name.
 
Our church has been having the opposite debate - we have been a community church, with not as much numbers growth as many would like, and one idea has been to put Presbyterian in the name. My husband is one of the proponents, not with the idea of it necessarily bringing in more people, but just to help people who are looking for a Presbyterian/reformed church. Also, like Kevin said, there's the desire to "call a spade a spade." The name is supposed to communicate something descriptive about the church, and "community" communicates to me non-denominational, which seems almost a little deceptive (no offense meant here, I go to a "community" PCA). Most of the new faces we see are friends of church members or people who find us on the PCA website directory anyway.


Hey Albert - shout out to Stone Mountain - I grew up over there!
 
I have seen the video clip with Dr. Sproul before and watched it again now, and he makes the point well.

In corporate worship, we are concerned about what pleases God, not what might please unbelievers.

He also makes the point that in their unregenerate self, the unbeliever is not really "seeking" God. Rather, he is seeking things God alone can give- peace, contentment, life, forgiveness, but not really God.

We want what WE want, but we do not want God.

We want to be entertained. We want people to accept our sin. We want worship to reflect our pop culture of the moment. We want the church to cater to us, because we reason, after all, it's all about us and what I feel and what I want. It's as if others are there to change to serve us, to make us happy.

So, an unbeliever might not want to hear or see the word "reformed" or "covenant" or "sovereign grace." Indeed he may not like the word, "Christian" (or sin or repentance).

Now, there is a "going out" to reach the lost. I think reformed theology especially emphasizes this through an all-of-life discipleship. We go equipped, though imperfect, into every aspect of life with the full counsel of God's Word, every part of it and every application of it.

So, in thinking through changing the name here, it needs to be in line with that- What pleases God, not what might offend an unbeliever.

I would not change to a vague, innocuous name for a communion of believers because it is supposed to not offend unbelievers.
 
I'm with the others who say take it out. If you want the "reformed code word" for your church name, do something with "Redeemer" - i.e. "Get Your Redeemer Here Christian Church - (GYRHCC)", or "Finally There's a Redeemer in Town - (FTRT)", or "Redeemer Christian Church". Another good Reformed decoder-ring word is "Covenant" - but that might sound a little cultish if you're already having trouble with "Reformed". In my experience, lots of PCA churches have Redeemer in their names... plus, it's in the Bible.

Along those same lines (though not biblical), how about Calvin Community Church? Or Knox (or Beza) Bible Church?

You could do Redeemer Bible Church - maybe that'd draw people in thinking it's a Bible return place...
 
I have seen the video clip with Dr. Sproul before and watched it again now, and he makes the point well.

In corporate worship, we are concerned about what pleases God, not what might please unbelievers.

He also makes the point that in their unregenerate self, the unbeliever is not really "seeking" God. Rather, he is seeking things God alone can give- peace, contentment, life, forgiveness, but not really God.

We want what WE want, but we do not want God.

We want to be entertained. We want people to accept our sin. We want worship to reflect our pop culture of the moment. We want the church to cater to us, because we reason, after all, it's all about us and what I feel and what I want. It's as if others are there to change to serve us, to make us happy.

So, an unbeliever might not want to hear or see the word "reformed" or "covenant" or "sovereign grace." Indeed he may not like the word, "Christian" (or sin or repentance).

Now, there is a "going out" to reach the lost. I think reformed theology especially emphasizes this through an all-of-life discipleship. We go equipped, though imperfect, into every aspect of life with the full counsel of God's Word, every part of it and every application of it.

So, in thinking through changing the name here, it needs to be in line with that- What pleases God, not what might offend an unbeliever.

I would not change to a vague, innocuous name for a communion of believers because it is supposed to not offend unbelievers.

All good points, but whether or not the words "Reformed" and "Presbyterian" are in a church's name is a morally neutral issue, is it not? We certainly shouldn't be vague or innocuous (or deceptive), but it doesn't necessarily follow that taking "Reformed" out of the name will render it so.
 
Hello,
While I am sympathetic to argument. Moving the reformed emphasis
to a smaller "subhead" really won't fix the problem since it will still have to
be explained, which probably won't happen if it only shows up on printed materials.
I would keep the name and work at changing what people associate with your name.
That's why I refuse to use “Christ-follower” instead of Christian, which is becoming popular,
especially among emergents. Eventually Christ-follower will have a bad association attached to it because we are all sinners. Then what will they call themselves? People will always come up with reasons to reject the gospel. While I don’t think we should make it harder for them, subduing our differences that are grounded in our beliefs and confessions doesn’t help other Christians looking for a new home or unbelievers who may think it doesn’t matter what church they visit because “they are all basically the same.” Like you said, at least it gives you a starting point in a conversation unlike “Cornerstone Community Church.” I don’t think sounding generic will help you in the long run.

God bless.
 
A little Background: I'm a member of a tiny (Free Reformed) church plant in Northern Ontario, Canada. We are hours away from the nearest reformed church and in a small rural community (population of several hundred) that has had no exposure to reformed theology.

Last spring when our group came together we decided on the name
"Nipissing Free Reformed Church." Nipissing, to represent the geographical district we are located in and then, "Free Reformed" the federation to which we belong to. Anyways, as time went on and we began doing outreach (door to door, book tables at farmers market etc).... it has seemed that the 'reformed' aspect of our name has become a great stumbling block in outreach in a community that seems more likely to associate reformed with a cult then a true evangelical church. We have tried to use the opportunity to explain what reformed is and pass on literature to explain but it still seems to be a hindrance. Especially to the unsaved/unchurched

At our latest business meeting I voiced changing the name of our fledgling church to something such as (For instance) "Cornerstone Community Church -- (and then with less emphasis) a member of the Federation of Free Reformed Churches". There was some opposition, as some thought it would be watering down who we are as a reformed church... in other words 'selling out'.

I pointed out that in all our promotional material and in our outreach we highlight clearly the distinctives which make us 'reformed Christians' and our message would not change. And I agree we need to keep some sort of designation to help other reformed christians possibly find our church and sift it from the other generic evangelical churches but do we need to highlight the reformed aspect?

What do you think? Have any of you been in this scenerio? How important is 'reformed' in a reformed church's name?

Revisiting the original post here, it is asking for more than mere suggestions of a church name.

The issue, as I'm understand it, is that in this small town, unfamiliar with reformed theology, the word "reformed" in the title is somehow being misunderstood (by people not familiar with it in the first place).

A reformed church does not need to have the word "reformed" (or other typical denominators) in its name either to be reformed (or to be understood).

But the question here is that the term is somehow not being understood, and though they are trying to explain it to people, and in their literature, it does not seem to be understood by outsiders.

So, what I'm thinking now is... God has given you a place among the misunderstood! Your mission is to persevere and be faithful in your calling as a biblical, reformed church and use the opportunities God gives you to engage that misunderstanding. That may be your calling for now, a story that the church can tell in later years (when we first started, the town did not seem to know what "reformed" was- they thought we were a prison colony... etc.)

Rejoice that you are being called to suffer in such a small way for the Kingdom (being misunderstood).

I think you need to keep the name, focus on discipling the people God is calling to you and build that covenant community. Be faithful in that. Don't worry about the name, you're dealing with something deeper than that.

But I would also try to define yourself with some sort of outreach too... how about an annual picnic to invite the public?

So as you develop a particular church mission statement focus on building a biblical, reformed covenant community that reaches out into this small community, trusting God for the results, willing to suffer a little, willing to be misunderstood, willing to be alone, if need be... willing to experience and model a bit of what Christ experienced for us.
 
demrofeR Church Community

There is nothing wrong with not having "Reformed" in your church name. The church I attend is called "Sovereign Grace" and many, more specifically, the un-churched, have no idea what exactly the church stands on but to someone who does have knowledge on God's sovereignty, Reformed Theology, or Calvinism will know what this church is about. I would be careful on how you name the church, as well, since there are many churches with the name word "Cornerstone" in it. As a matter of fact, my previous AG church was called "Cornerstone Christian Community." Lol
I'd look up the name before you definitely chose one. I don't think you asked for ideas or suggestions for the name of your church...but If you want some then let me know, I'll be more than happy to help ya out!
 
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