Is it a trend in the General Baptist to take Baptist out of their name?

I pastored a church a few years ago with Baptist in its name. We discussed taking it out...making it more "Christian" generic, without changing the mission, vision or Baptist Statement of Faith. Some of the loudest voices were against it, one man saying, "if they don't like the word Baptist, let them find a different church." When I explained that younger people don't want to belong to a denomination, they want to belong to Christ, my argument had little effect. And so the name remained. The word Baptist was apparently more important then bringing in the next generation to hear the gospel.

 

I’m a pastor in a Converge Church. The reasoning was presented to me that it was more friendly for an overseas missionary to say they were there with Converge, versus a Baptist group. Still a crazy name for a conference if you ask me.

 

Pastor Sam, do you mean the General Association of General Baptists based in Poplar Bluff, Missouri?

Thanks.

 

Converge (Baptist organization) - Wikipedia

"Converge, formerly the Baptist General Conference (BGC) and Converge Worldwide, is a (US) national evangelical Baptist body with roots in Pietism in Sweden and inroads among evangelical Scandinavian-Americans, particularly in the American Upper Midwest. From its beginning among Scandinavian immigrants, the BGC has grown to a nationwide association of autonomous churches with at least 17 ethnic groups and missions in 35 nations. The current president of Converge is Scott Ridout."

 

Thanks. Just wanted to clarify. Yes, I see this happening kind of "across the board" so to speak.

 

The removal of "Baptist" was hinted at in an annual business meeting and the earth trembled beneath the building running through the entire township maybe even the entire State of Washington.. Metaphorically of course.

 

A number of churches in this area have taken Baptist out of their name, most becoming Community Churches - nondescript of doctrine. (Perhaps the new name conveys the lack of doctrine being preached.)

From my research, I found that although the name Baptist is removed, the affiliation with the founding Baptist organization remains.

Someone is practicing deception and I suspect many walking through the Community Church doors are being deceived.