Removing or Omitting "Baptist" From Your Church Name

My son likes Cici's Pizza. When he is traveling, he will call me and ask me to look up (on the Internet) the location of a Cici's in the town he is passing through.

Are pizzas all the same? Basically, but he wants (what he considers) to be the best.

That's how I feel about being a Baptist. Why settle for anything but the best...?

If I'm traveling and I don't see the name Baptist, I will pass. I want to know that they believe the same way I do - the basic distinctive Baptist doctrines. Some of the teachings may be different, some of the standards may be different, but the basics should be there if they wear the name Baptist.

 

I agree with some former posts. We shouldn't be in the business of attracting other "Baptists." Most of the Baptist that have come to my church from other "baptist" churches in the area are generally angry about one thing or another. In the end they prove to be folks who want to sit on their blessed assurance or want to criticize. They tend to be more concerned about what the church can do for them rather than an interest in serving. I too want to reach the lost not some other church's wayward sheep or someone who is passing through on vacation. If leaving the name Baptist is about attracting other Baptists, then we have an identity problem and a mission problem.

 

For 12 years I attended a church that was a non-denominational church. Many former Baptists attended there. There was never any talk about Baptists, Catholics, Presbyterians, etc. believed but rather what scripture teaches. It made for a very different environment. Nobody could argue about what the heirarchy taught in Nashville or anywhere else.

 

I've been a Baptist since I was saved 45 years ago (May 18). A pastor once said, "You don't have to be a Baptist to go to heaven, but as long as you're going you might as well go first class." :laugh: I can't imagine being anything else, but the important thing is what Jesus said, "Ye must be born again." He didn't say we had to be a Baptist or any other denomination. In fact, He didn't start a denomination; He started a church of born again believers.

I have found Baptists to be too judgmental and condemning. I was condemned for divorcing my adulterous wife, and the deacons wanted me removed as the song leader--in two different churches. The problem is that in too many churches (not just Baptist) we have people who are too busy pointing out the "mote" in their brother's eye and don't notice the "beam" in their own eye. Christians are very quick to point out the sin in someone else, but they ignore their own sin. God taught me a long time ago that I have no right to judge and condemn anyone. Only He can do that since He's the only One Who is perfect.

 

This pretty well sums up the problem. Unfortunately we could probably list examples until the Second Coming. I think that Baptists are perceived as being obsessed with things that no one else cares very much about while, at the same time, giving little attention to problems that many people worry about. In that list, I would include the various moves by the SBC to force doctrinal purity in churches while taking potshots at teachers in public schools and encouraging parents to pull their children out of public schools.

Another example involves the issue of abortion. (Here I have to pause to say that I am reluctant to bring this into the discussion because I don't want this thread to degenerate into a discussion about the pros and cons of abortion. If that happens again, I apologize.) There is statistical evidence that when women have better access to education and vocational training for better jobs, the rates for unwanted pregnancies and abortion go down. Instead of advocating for these and other proven remedies, too many Baptists continue to put all of their eggs in the basket of a Supreme Court reversal of Roe v. Wade. As passionate as many people are about this, it is the easy way out.

I think that in these, and other issues, Baptists are seen to be judgmental and uncaring about the problems of others. Who would want to go to a church with people like that? FTR, my church still has "Baptist" in its name, and we have no interest in removing it.

Tim Reynolds

 

I was really hoping someone could articulate exactly what doctrines, distinctives or essential truths were conveyed by the word Baptist.

 

Not trying to sound like a wiseguy, but you seriously don't believe either of those matter to a lost person, do you?

 

I think people should know us by how we interact within the community, and how we treat each other. Namely, they should know us by our love. They'll figure the rest of it out as they continue to get to know us.

I understand to a degree about seeing "what kind" of church it is, as far as denomination. Ultimately, however, we should be more concerned with how we are representing the gospel in our lives and not on our church sign.

 

How is that any different than an independent community church?

 

The problem is that they already know that many Baptist churches are a split off from another Baptist church.

 

The average person has no idea.

 

I agree. However, you can't be sure that just because the name says Baptist that it teaches the same as you've been taught. The last I knew, there were over 40 different kinds of Baptist churches with different beliefs. In my home city there is a 7th Day Baptist church. I've heard about a Baptist church with Catholic beliefs. I'm not sure what they call themselves--maybe Baptilics or Catholtists? :laugh:

 

Oh my! Well, as someone already stated, I'm sure we all know of a Baptist church that we wished DID NOT have "Baptist" in the church name.

 

If the church is named Fellowship, Friendship, Harmony, Unity, etc, they know :laugh:

 

Not really. The average person knows nothing about this, they never think of it.
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By using the name of the church to attract people are you talking about the saved or unsaved?

 

Visiting a new church is kind of like reading a newspaper.

Absorb what you want and leave the rest alone.

If one is grounded in the Scriptures, it doesn't take long to know if you are in a church that believes the same way you do and teaches biblical principles.

 

I know of a church in a large northern Metropolitan area of the US that "added" Baptist to their name (they were known as the " 'XYZ' Bible Church" for many years, until those with Pentecostal leanings 'hijacked' the mane of "Bible Church" in that area) to differentiate that they, in fact, were not of the Pentecostal persuasion, but did preach and teach, clearly, the doctrines of Grace and salvation by faith. Their statements of faith and polity is one I do basically agree with, which, BTW, did not change one word except for the'addition' and adoption of the name "Baptist" so that today they are known as the " 'XYZ' Bible Baptist Church' on their sign.

A selection from the Statement of beleifs of the above church, where the founding and senior pastor just happens to be one of my closest friends (through both a University where we met, and the now-defunct Bible College where both of us attended, and are graduate alumni of) for almost 40 years.

I can live with all that!

(And I can give an even more detailed Statement, and info about the church, should one want to PM me, about this particular church, in the Greater Chicago area.)

Back to the subject at hand:

Is there any real difference in 'adding' the word 'Baptist' to the church name or 'taking it away' in order to more closely identify what one believes, consistent with the general area, and for the 'general public'? I don't see it, personally.

There is a So. Baptist Church near me, whose name is (or at least was) "The Church at 'Wunderland'" with a clear subscript on the sign reading "A Southern Baptist Congregation".

Diorectly across the road, is also a church that is (or at least was) known as the "Wunderland Community Church" which is a Methodist church (and has always been so, and had that name, since its inception) with some identification that this, too is a Methodist church, with the Methodist logo clearly displayed.

(FTR, either of these last two names possibly could have recently been changed, since I have not been through the area for a few years, not drivng there every day, anymore.)

However, since the two churches do happen to be located in the community of "Wunderland", is that somehow deceptive? Is it deceitful? I don't think so, in any of the above cases.

Disclaimer: To abuse an old line from "Dragnet",

"The stories above you have read are true; the names have been changed to protect the 'guilty'." :laugh: :laugh:

Ed

 

Here having independent, bible fellowship, bible church, church of XYZ , harmony, community or unity (among others can't think of right now) means charismatic/ pentecostal church, and absolutely nothing near baptist, usually full of a lot of errors.

 

Some of these churches, unfortunately, do not exactly live up to the name! :tear:

Ed