Why do we name our churches?
In the Bible, Paul referred to the saints in Ephesus and the church of God in Corinth when addressing his letters. Churches were not named, just described.
If I told someone about the church of God in Cedar Falls, he would ask, “Which one?” There are so many churches that there is no longer a church.
Today, every church has a name. Some names are inviting (Restoration Fellowship), some are neutral (Willow Creek Community Church), some are complex (Mt. Olive Lutheran Church, Evangelical Synod), some are trendy (Revolution Church). Some are named after people (St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church), some are named after locations (Fourth Avenue Church of Christ), some are named after theological principles (New Life Church), some are named after books (Desiring God Community Church). But they all have one thing in common: capital letters. They are all proper names. But proper names are only used to draw a distinction between entities.
Because of our hard hearts and our tendency toward destruction and division, it must be this way. We have to distinguish our church from the one next door because we do not preach the same message and we wouldn’t want anyone to confuse us with them.
We name our churches because there’s no other way…
Right?
I agree that if we did not name the church it would become “Downing Avenue” or “The Church with No Name.” Then those are the names.
Just like “Why narrow down our kids with names?” we name things for simplicity.
However, persecution will increase and once again we will be motivated to remove all outward signs. Naming a church will be counterproductive. Until then we need to join you in warning against needless division and “distinction.”
Someone once told me, “We are an eggplant. That other church is a grape. And yet another is an apple. But we, we are an eggplant.” Whaaaa…
We name our kids because they are distinct entities: Lily is different from Ethan, and when Lily does something wrong, you don’t want to punish Ethan for it.
However, we don’t name our arms and legs. I will refer to my right hand or my left hand, but I won’t give them proper names like Fretty and Bruiser, because they are not distinct entities. They are different from each other, but they are all me.
The church has become the first analogy, but it started out as the second analogy.