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Featured Leaving Baptist in Your Church Name Won't Scare People Away

Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by Revmitchell, Jun 8, 2015.

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  1. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
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    It is not relevant. People who do not see on the sign that it is a denominational church will assume it is a non denom church. If we are concerned that people will not stop and visit because Baptist is in the name so we intentionally leave that out because of that reason we are working to fool those people into coming in and visiting. It is dishonest and a poor testimony.

    If we have the perception that the name Baptist is perceived negatively then we need to be out in the community working to change that perception honestly rather than deceptively hiding who we are.
     
    #21 Revmitchell, Jun 8, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 8, 2015
  2. JonC

    JonC Moderator
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    That's why I suggest that we tell people that we are Southern Baptists.

    All of our nondenominational churches (in my area) hold to a baptist distinctiveness (they are Baptist). If this makes them denominational, then I am really not certain that there is such a thing as a truly nondenominational church. What separates First Baptist Church from Central Christian Church is that we are Southern Baptist...not that we are Baptist.

    I guess what I am asking you is if by denomination you mean an affiliation to a specific association or convention, or do you mean holding Baptist beliefs? If the former, then shouldn't we let people know our denomination? If the latter, then wouldn't a true nondenominational church be extremely rare? And if the latter, then why would not advertising "baptist" be deceitful when it is inherent by default?

    I could understand this argument if it were a century ago. Now I am not so sure.
     
    #22 JonC, Jun 8, 2015
  3. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
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    #23 Revmitchell, Jun 8, 2015
  4. go2church

    go2church Active Member
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    The point is that being baptist but intentionally obscure the fact, that is a deceptive practice. If a church wanted to go an extra step and specifically say what type of baptist church they are, that is fine, but not necessary to avoid a deceptive practice.

    Additionally, it would in many cases not be practical as many baptist churches have more than one affiliation either at the local, state or international level.

    Add to this that affiliation with a particular baptist group doesn't mean full acceptance of everything that particular baptist group does and you could end up creating confusion in an attempt at clarity.
     
    #24 go2church, Jun 8, 2015
  5. SolaSaint

    SolaSaint Well-Known Member

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    I agree Crabby, but I think the issue is much larger than you mentioned. I think Westboro has given not only Baptists a bad name but Christianity all together.
     
    #25 SolaSaint, Jun 9, 2015
  6. annsni

    annsni Well-Known Member
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    On vacation one year, there happened to be a Baptist church within a long walking distance from where we were staying and we decided to try it out. Harbor Baptist Church on Block Island was the church. We walked in to a couple of women greeters which was fine but then when the service started, we were introduced to the woman pastor by the woman deacon. There was literally not one man from the church leadership. We didn't realize that it was an ABC. I'm not sure if the church has a website now but it didn't back then so we just figured a Baptist church would be good. Now we don't even bother to try to go to church on vacation. Being on a boat makes it really difficult to get to church unless it's within walking distance and usually any church near the harbor isn't good. So since we have our own pastor, we do church by ourselves. :) Oftentimes it's while we are traveling (sailing or motoring, depending on the weather). This year we will be in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard for at least one Sunday. :)
     
    #26 annsni, Jun 9, 2015
  7. righteousdude2

    righteousdude2 Well-Known Member
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    It is my thought that many good Baptist churches, with darn good preachers have dropped the name Baptist, and still preach a mean, convicting Gospel! I see no problem in it, as long as the people attending know it is a Baptist church they have joined! :smilewinkgrin:
     
    #27 righteousdude2, Jun 10, 2015
  8. righteousdude2

    righteousdude2 Well-Known Member
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    Agreed. They are a bad seed for the name Baptist!
     
    #28 righteousdude2, Jun 10, 2015
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