A paper about 'a name for mission'

Here is an electronic version of the paper I gave out at church today. It looks at some of the issues we face as we think about a name for our congregation that will be useful for us in our mission.

Ideas for a new name

We had our congregation meeting yesterday to brainstorm ideas for a new name for our church. The suggestions (in no particular order) were:

• St Andrew's Summer Hill
• Inspired by Christ
• Summer Hill Community Church
• Summer Hill Anglican Church
• Andy's @ Summer Hill
• St Andrew's Summer Hill - a growing church
• St Andrew's Summer Hill - the church on the hill
• All People's Church
• SASH
• The Andrew Ites
• Summer Hill Christian Outreach
• Summer Hill Village Church
• St Andrew's Community Church
• SHAC (Summer Hill Anglican Church)
• Summer Hill Cross Cultural Church
• All Nations Church
• Summer Hill Church
• Summer Hill International Church
• St Andrew's Global/World Bible Fellowship

If you want to add to this list let me know! Where things go from here is for me to discuss the ideas with Parish Council and then make a presentation of some ideas to the congregation. I want to hear as many ideas as possible and listen to what people think before I move towards making a decision.

UPDATE TO THIS POST
Over the last six months I have been sharing about the local area and the challenge we have of mission in our part of Sydney. In church, at our vestry meeting, at coffee nights and in Parish Council I have been saying how we need to:

1. be a church which welcomes a broad age range of people from many different ethnic backgrounds
2. be a church that is able to welcome people in their 30s, including those with children (add to that those in their 20s until we have a functioning group for this age)
   
3. to gather together in what is almost a church plant!

I have said that this will involve change, and said these things about change:

1. change is exciting
2. change is painful
3. we change for the sake of others
4. we don’t change what is central

In thinking about change we particularly looked at Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 9:22:
"I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. "

He then instructs all of us to "run in such a way as to get the prize." As Christians we are called to do everything possible to change ourselves to enable others to follow Jesus. As I lead our church I want to run in such a way as to win the prize and not be one that just beats the air - all talk and no action.

A name for mission?

We are currently thinking about a name for our congregation that helps us best in our mission. This Sunday we are going to have a meeting after church where I will give a brief presentation of what this is trying to achieve, outline the process of how we are going to think about this together and then most of the time will be spent brainstorming ideas.

The meeting will be in the upper meeting room starting at 11:30am and finishing around 12:15-30pm depending on where our discussion takes us.

A name for mission!

Many churches which are reinventing themselves or planting are taking on new names to help them in taking the good news of Jesus to new people.

A familiar name has powerful associations for us, but for outsiders a name can be alienating or just plain meaningless. Our congregation's name is a powerful way of communicating who we are and what we are on about:

Here are some examples:

1. The Cross-cultural Bible Church (CBC) is the name of the congregation that meets at St David's Arncliffe
2. Christians in the Media and Annandale Community Church meet at the corner of Booth and Johnston Sts, Annandale. You will be hard pressed to find any mention of St Aidans!
3. St Albans Multicultural Bible Ministry meets at St Albans Anglican Church Rooty Hill.
4. Penisula Community Church is the Anglican Church at Pyrmont
5. Concord Community Anglican Church is the name of the Church at Concord West (Holy Trinity)
   
6. Macquarie Anglican Churches is the name of the churches that meet at St Dunstan's and St George's, Eastwood.
7. Meadowbank International Church is a church plant of Christchurch Gladesville aimed at reaching the multi-ethnic people of Meadowbank.
   

As we think about if St Andrew's is the best name for us we need to think of how we communicate to outsiders more than our preferences. Jesus' great mission was for the sake of those who were lost in order to bring them back to God:

"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." Luke 19:10

Rector's Spot - Is St Andrew's the best name for us?

Today in my Rector's Spot I raised a question about the name of our congregation. Is the name St Andrew's the best name for us as we undertake mission in our area?

The name we use for our congregation is a powerful tool for communicating who we are and what we are on about. In our mission we want to put everything to our advantage.

Over the next two months I want to talk about this issue in our congregation, with Parish Council and with our Church Wardens.

Please note - this discussion is not about the name of our building, it will remain as St Andrew's.