Everything is Backwards

Yeah, we changed the name of the church. I don’t like to backtrack and change decisions already made, but this one needed to happen. We originally named the church “Center City Church,” because it indicated our commitment to downtown and I liked the way it sounded. But this name was assigned even before we lived here, and we didn’t have a feel for the city yet.

Besides, with existing entities in Cincinnati such as “Center City Collision” and “City Center Properties” and “Cincinnati Center City Development Corp.,” it just sounded like a religious version of a name already well worn. Besides, I prefer a name that marks us in some spiritual way rather than a geographic way.

Thus, we have renamed the church “Christ the King Church.” Here’s our main reasons why:

1. It just sounds good.

2. It indicates a strong theological conviction that we share. Jesus is king and he wins.

3. Center City Church is a name with a geographical identity; Christ the King is a name with a theological identity.

4. It is fluid. I informally surveyed a number of people for their reaction to the name. Some thought it sounded Catholic or Lutheran, some thought Pentacostal, some thought African American.

I like that, because it means that people who become a part of this community from various backgrounds can have a church with a name that sounds comfortable and familiar to them.

We have also added the tag line, “a baptist community.” In an era when most church plants are eschewing denominational names, we have chosen to embrace it for a few practical reasons.

1. We are not ashamed of what we believe.

2. We do not want to be embarrassed by those who have generously provided funding to get us started.

3. The baptist tradition is a historically recognized faith tradition. We are not inventing anything new or progressive here. In fact, what we believe is very ancient and full of the beauty of tradition. We inherit the tradition of the English Puritan Baptists.

Ed Stetzer (church planting genius) says that a good church name is not going to get someone to visit your church. But a bad name can keep a person away. Thus a church name may not attract people but it certainly shouldn’t keep people away.

His scientific research has shown that Christians typically think that their denominational name is more negatively perceived by those outside the church than it actually is. After polling people inside and outside a particular faith tradition, he found that far fewer were turned off to the denomination’s name than what people on the inside thought.

Tradition (such as the word baptist indicates) implies stability and longevity. My goal and prayer is that this church would be the community that buries me and my family when we die and continues to have an impact on Cincinnati for centuries.