All in Favor of a New Church Name?

One Monday morning at staff meeting, Jerry, our pastor of student ministries, told us that it had happened again. A high school student had invited a friend to the church youth group, and the friend was planning to come, until he found out it was at a “Baptist” church. Then he backed out because he felt his parents would disapprove.

This had become an ongoing problem. Nassau County, just outside of New York City, is about 55 percent Catholic, 25 percent Jewish, and the remaining 30 percent covers everything from any world religion to atheism. In our neighborhood the word “Baptist” is met with complete ignorance or is considered a form of extremism.

The high school student was open about it, but we knew that for countless others, even if they didn’t say so, our name was an obstacle.

Vote on the concept of a name change without a particular name proposed. Any specific name can become a distraction.

When I was called to be senior pastor of Manhasset Baptist Church in the fall of 2002, I realized that changing the name of the church would need to be one of my early priorities, if we were to reach beyond the boundaries of Manhasset and beyond the boundaries of those already positively inclined toward Baptists.

But in a congregationally governed church, it wasn’t my decision alone. I needed to proceed wisely and carefully. I waited until the third elders meeting to broach the subject. While none of the elders felt our current name was an asset to accomplishing our church’s mission, some were concerned about the timing of any change.

We agreed to wait one year before going public with any recommended name change. That way the congregation could get to know and trust my leadership.

In hindsight this proved wise because building relationships is crucial to any bold leadership decision. Many people, because they know you, will give you the benefit of the doubt even when they may disagree with you over something.

That first year the elders and I laid out a plan of action:

Present the idea of a name change at the October 2003 congregational meeting and ask them to pray about it.
Teach the theological underpinnings of a name change. We focused on 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, which culminates with the phrase “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.”
Hold an all-church prayer meeting, inviting people to an informal meeting for them to ask questions, and then calling them to come before God concerning the issue.
Vote on the concept of a name change at the January congregational meeting. This would be done without a particular name proposed. Any specific name could become a distraction. Voting only on the concept would keep the main issue on the table.
Upon a favorable vote, we would then give the whole church, members and regular attenders, an opportunity to suggest possible names via postcard.
The elders would then select the three top names and send out another letter, announcing the possible names, and asking the congregation to return the enclosed postcard as a straw poll, identifying which name they considered the best.
Propose the name that had the greatest support for a congregational vote at our April congregational meeting.
Hold a “Celebration Sunday” to get the word out and reemphasize our desire to see people come to Christ.

The plan proceeded mostly the way we anticipated. The whole process, from the first October meeting to our Celebration Sunday in June 2004 took about nine months. We had 120 names suggested, and going through them all was one of the most enjoyable parts of the process. We all had our favorites that made us chuckle like “The Love Church” or “Streams of Living Water of Jesus Christ.”

The three names that stood out to the elders were “Cornerstone,” “Crossroads,” and “Shelter Rock.” And in the straw poll, Cornerstone and Shelter Rock virtually tied.

We chose to recommend Shelter Rock for the congregational vote for several reasons:

1. Both Cornerstone and Crossroads are fairly common names for churches around the country (though not in our area).

2. Shelter Rock has special significance locally. The largest boulder on Long Island is called Shelter Rock (because, legend has it, Native Americans once took refuge there), and this rock happens to be in our town.

3. Shelter Rock has a positive biblical connotation (Psalm 27:5—”He will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock“).

4. And, not insignificantly, the web domain names (ShelterRockChurch.com—and .net and .org) were not yet taken.

So Manhasset Baptist Church is now Shelter Rock Church. In hindsight, I can’t say we would change anything. But there was one big surprise.

I thought the climactic event would be the congregational meeting to vote on the actual name. Not so. The most important vote turned out to be the vote for the concept. After much prayer and discussion, the members voted 65-18 to approve the concept of a name change. Once that was approved, the rest seemed to fall into place. There were actually fewer people at the congregational meeting to vote on the actual name than there were to vote on the concept.

Important turning points along the way:

Our church’s mission statement is “To lead as many people as possible into a joyful and growing relationship with Jesus Christ,” and it was easy for us to move from this statement to the question, Is our name inhibiting our calling to reach our community? Having a clear mission statement helped us lay out a strong vision for change.

Another big help for us was enlisting the support of former pastors. I went back 25 years, and it turned out that every pastor since 1975 had wanted to change the name of the church, but had always met with resistance. I drew on their support at congregational meetings in the form of letters recommending the change, and I invited two of them to our Celebration Sunday. Both were excited to come.

We had to answer some theological questions from critics. One was “If God is drawing someone to himself, is the name really going to make a difference?” We emphasized God’s sovereignty and also how God gives people responsibility to faithfully reach out and love and bear witness to their neighbors as effectively as they can.

Another question was “Are we not risking a slide to liberalism by taking out the word ‘Baptist’?” We pointed out that keeping the name Baptist doesn’t prevent theological drift, and that keeping integrity of belief is primarily a matter of teaching and leadership, not of signage.

We did our best to respond honorably and fairly to the concerns people raised.

Did we lose anyone because of the name change? Yes. I know one believer who felt that this was a path to liberalism and is now at another Bible-teaching church.

To me the more important question is “Has it made any difference in reaching people in the community?” and the answer is yes. We’ve seen an influx of new attenders, which has created a whole host of new challenges in ministering to and assimilating previously unchurched people. We also recognize that our ability to reach those without Christ still depends on completely relying on God’s provision, pursuing excellence in everything we do, and a clear presentation of the gospel.

Almost one year after we changed our name, an unexpected development seemed to be God’s way of confirming the decision.

A struggling church in a town 12 miles away closed its doors and willed us their five-acre site and facilities. This fall we are opening the second campus of Shelter Rock Church. The new name fits both locations in a way the old name never could have.

Steve Tomlinson is pastor of Shelter Rock Church in Manhasset and Syosett on Long Island, New York.