Remember when denominational names were en vogue? Remember when you could figure out which denominational church came to the city first: First Methodist; First Baptist; First Presbyterian? Remember when you could tell two churches that split: Harmony Baptist Church and Greater Harmony Baptist Church?
Those days are gone. But what has not changed is that many churches have commonalities in names. In their attempts to be different, they have become common. I went to social media and to Church Answers to learn from my community about church names. Their responses were both fascinating and funny.
- “Point” has become ubiquitous. LifePoint. CrossPoint. Add an “e” to be fancy: GracePointe; LifePointe; CrossPointe.
- “Life” has a new life: Life Church; Real Life; New Life; LifePoint or LifePointe (see above).
- Tim Keller put Redeemer back into vogue. Both Redeemer and Redemption get a lot of love.
- City Church, usually with another name in front of it. These churches can be found in the city, suburbs, and the country.
- Christ Church. It’s simple and popular.
- Five biggies the past ten years: Journey, Bridge, Foundry, Mosaic, and Generation.
- Cross has made a surge. Cross Church. Cross Fellowship. Cross Roads. CrossPoint or CrossPointe (see above).
- Simple Church. Sorry, that was a book (available at LifeWay.com).
- Meaningful names. Impact. Potential. Epic. Transformation. Renovation. Innovate.
- Fellowship can be found in almost any town. It usually has other words, but sometimes it’s just Fellowship Church.
- Grace. Especially in the Reformed churches.
- Many churches like the new factor: New Life. New Hope. New Song. New Now (I made up the one). NewPoint. NewPointe (see above).
- Moving on up. Elevate. Vertical. Summit.
- Not English. Pick a Greek or Latin name you remember from seminary. Eklessia. Ecclessia. Koinonia. Agape. Many others.
What are some contemporary church names you could add? Got any funny examples? Let me hear from you.
Posted on June 18, 2018
With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.
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199 Comments
When we launched in 1998 we went with Grace Christian Fellowship. We decided on “fellowship” rather than church, which we found to have some baggage for a portion of the millennials.
Thanks, Bob.
Thom, I’m the Lead Pastor of Life Pointe (with an “e”!) Church in Lacey, WA. When we planted LPC ten years ago, none of us had ever heard of a church with this name. The “e” came from two very large new housing developments nearby, Lakepointe and Horizon Pointe. We created several names and field-tested them extensively before selecting Life Pointe. We thought we were unique (maybe should have named it “Church Unique”? No, that’s already taken as well!) Now the name is so prevalent that someone recently asked if we were part of a denomination called “Life Pointe,” and our most-recently-added staff member came from a Life Pointe Church in another state! ????
Hilarious!
Our church is called Hearts Harvest Church and in our area there is a church called, Enjoy Church, which I though was very clever. I wanted to rename ours to Enjoy it More Church! River and Streams are also very popular names. Great article!
Love it!
We went through the process of naming our church in the last 2 years (new church plant) so I’m familiar with all that you mentioned.
With a little bit of a rebellious heart to and buck current trends, we named our church after Jesus, and included our denominational identifier. Emmanuel Baptist Church. In our part of the world the Gospel that we preach sets us apart from the other area churches, and we like showcasing that distinction rather than our trendiness.
Thanks, James.
Buck,
I like the way you think. Maybe it’s because I think like that. It gives us more domain name choices too! Baptist in name AND practice!
We’re currently thinking of a name for our church plant.
35 years ago or so, traveling through Tennessee up in the “hollers,” I saw a church that took the name of the small community it was in. So it was Big Witch Baptist Church.
So much I could say. I’m showing restraint.
Lively Christian Fellowship! It is only called that because when they went to register the name “Living Christian Fellowship,” Living was already taken. So, they chose something similar????
Makes total sense.
For explosive short term growth how about “Malcontent Baptist Church?”
I like it, even though “Baptist” and “Malcontent” can be redundant.
Another name to take advantage of Public Service Announcement would “Church of Your Choice!” So it’s free promotion when radio stations says go to the Church of Your Choice this weekend.
Now that’s creative thinking!
I saw a Church in rural Virginia named, “Is That Really In The Bible Church.”
We have a winner!
In Taiwan, “Small Group” is getting popular after the “New Life Small Group Church” stared growing fast a few years ago — I have seen at least 5 or 6 other “___ Small Group Church” when I travelled around Taiwan with Campus Crusades’ evangelistic music ministries in the past year. So they seems to think small groups/cell groups are something new. I often wonder if their pastors and elders ever read the Bible carefully.
Some said the “New Life Small Group Church” grows fast because a super popular secular music star, Jay Chou, was brought to the church and was baptized, and now that becomes an attraction. I don’t know… all I know is Jay Chou started a “Jesus Fashion” ministry in that church, which seems contradictory to “Jesus the same yesterday and today and forever”.
Thanks, Michael.
Great Monday morning article. Now I’m not depressed!
Glad to bring a smile, David!
We are in the midst of doing a Re-plant under direction of the SBTC. We were advised to leave Baptist out of the name and to brand your denominational beliefs on your website.
We are seeking to break the chains of 64 years of “We never did it that way” attitude with new leadership and focus. As such we will soon become Center Cross Church.
God’s best to you and the church, Tommy.
are you ashamed of john the baptist or the early christian communities. if baptists are so good why fear someone will run?? i am catholic and sent my son to a baptist school. why. my husband had baptist friends in college who were true believers and we trusted … dont be ashamed of th gospel…
If you’re thinking about a new church name, the Babylon Bee has provided a random church name generator…pretty funny stuff.
My worship arts pastor and I sat down and tried to create our own church name generator…so many new names combine different traits or qualities: 1) water (spring, stream, river, brook, water); 2) flora (branch, tree); 3) geology (rock, stone); 4) navigation (compass, mariners, north, south, east, west, road); 5) high places (summit, point, elevation, elevate); 6) spiritual words (grace, hope, faith). So the idea is to take one word from two categories and there’s your new church name!
Gotta love the Bee twice!