Being a simple guy, I find church names to be interesting. When I did my Masters project, a Promotion Manual for Local Churches, I did a little personal study of church names and categorized them. One of the few original-with-me things that I did. Now I’m going to inflict it on you.
Location Names. The location might be a street, residential area, township, city name, valley, or geographical region. In the United Brethren church we have Zanesville UB (town) and Atlantic Avenue UB (street). Location names can also describe the setting. In that case, we have the Lakeview UB and Countryside UB churches (both in Michigan). Location names work well because they tell people where to find you. That’s a good thing. But many churches are getting away from the location name, evidently deeming it too restrictive in this age of large regional churches.
Legacy Names. This name might refer to a religious leader, past or present. Or it could refer to a person important to that church’s past. William Otterbein was a founder of the United Brethren church. We still have two churches called Otterbein UB (Pennslyvania and Kansas); a few years ago, we also had Otterbeins in Ohio and a second one in Pennsylvania. My favorite UB church name was Boring Chapel, a small church in Ohio which, I was told, was named after the Boring family. The name has either been changed or the church has closed, I can’t remember which. But Boring Chapel is gone.
Biblical Names. These can be divided into several categories. First, there are biblical people, which are popular names among Catholics (St. Peter’s, St. Mark’s, etc.). Then there are biblical places. In that category, there are United Brethren churches bearing these names: Calvary, Gethsemane, Bethel, Bethany, and Jerusalem Chapel. We have biblical concept names: First Love, Living Water, Trinity, Grace, Faith, Agape. And then there are general biblical names: Good Shepherd, Prince of Peace, Emmanuel, Shepherd of the Valley, Pentecost.
Concept Names. This is the popular category today. These names are abstract, and tend to convey something about the essence of the church: Fresh Breeze, New Hope, Friendship, New Life, Fellowship, True Love, Open Bible, Maranatha. The popular "First," as in "First Baptist Church," could fit in this category, for want of a better place.
In my lifetime, I’ve attended UB churches with these names: College Park (location), Devonshire (location), First (concept), New Hope (concept), Emmanuel (biblical), and now Anchor (concept). Three of them have changed names in my lifetime. New Hope used to be Etna Avenue (place). First recently changed its name to Hilltop Community (location). And Anchor, until 1998, was Third Street (location).
In recent years, many other UB churches have changed their names, and most go to concept name. That’s the hot category right now.
- Two churches in Rockford, Ohio, merged (Calvary—biblical, and Otterbein—legacy), and are now New Horizons.
- Two other nearby churches merged (Willshire—location, and Zion—biblical) and now call themselves PraisePoint.
- Trinity (biblical) became Living Hope. Maple Hill became HomeFront. Shepherd Street became Crossroads. Prescott Avenue became Lighthouse. All concept names.
In Ohio, Redeemer UB church became Living Word, switching from one biblical name to another. Sometimes, any change seems good, I guess.
Career-wise, I've been hanging around and writing about and cheering on churches and pastors for the past 25 years as my denomination's Communications Director.
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