What's in a Name?

I've been thinking about the name that we have on the front of our building..."Church of Christ".

Several years ago Amy and I attended the first Shepherd's Conference held at the Northside congregations building. I can't remember his name, but the closing speaker spoke about the name on the sign in front of the building. He spoke about the bold statement that it made to the community. He said it told everybody that we were a church of Christ. By using that phrase we were telling all who drove by that we were directly identifying with the individual whose teachings we follow. Up front, there was not a question about who we are and what we are all about. By making that identification, we take a definite stand. There should not be any question about what goes on with this group of people and what we believe.

The same thing goes for us as individuals. When we hear someone's name, what thoughts come to mind? What do other's think of that individual? What images appear for us to consider? Are they pleasant thoughts or those that make us think, 'Oh, No!'?

Our name says so much about us. It is probably the one main think that identifies us to others.

So, back to the original thought. I have been reading a book, Changing Traditions in the Churches of Christ. It is a series of essays that examines brotherhood issues. Quite frankly, alot of the focus so far has been on how we publically worship and the externals of style. But the book also speaks of attitudes and how we conduct ourselves in the worship assembly. It speaks of how we lives our lives and how we identify with each other when we are not personally together. It got me thinking about churches in our brotherhood and how some have dropped 'of Christ' from the name. When the issue first came up I will admit that I did not have a problem with this. After all...it was just a name. I listened to the reasons for changing the name. None of them seemed sound and they sounded like just a ploy to get more people into the building. But still, I thought that was the decision of that local congregation. But, the more I thought about it, the more uncomfortable I became with this and the stated reasons. My concern then turned into the following two questions: 1)How in the world did this ever become something that we would consider doing?, and 2) Why in the world would you want to do this?

Before this ever came up, I never thought about changing the name of the institution. The name is who we are. The name is what we are. It says everything about us. Up front, it tells the world who we follow. I recall that immediately after I was baptized I had a proudness (is that a word?) about being a member of this body. I had only been a member a few minutes but there was something definitely different about these people. I did not have any knowledge about the church, but to say I was a member of the church of Christ...it just sounded right. The institution, or better yet, the organization known as the Church of Christ had always been around, as far as I knew. And it would continue to be here, as far as I knew. Now with congregations deciding to drop part of the name...it just seems wrong. It almost says they no longer want to be a member of this body. By their way of thinking, it's almost as if they no longer want to be identified as part of the worldwide body of Christ. By saying they are 'a church' without any identifying marks they are leaving the door open for any wind of doctrine to come into their midst and be taught. It seems that they can preach and teach and accept anything they want. By not identifying with the larger body they say they can exist on their own.

By saying that a congregation is 'a' church they become just that: a group of people who are not identified with anyone else, ones who stand off on their own and try to do things their own way. I know there are places in the world that may be doing things in the way God expects us to act but we must be clearly identified as to who we are and who we follow. Without that we are headless. Without that we have no guidance. Without that we have no future.

Those are my thoughts. What do you think. Share with me.