It should not be misleading, arrogant (e.g Haywards Heath Real Church), or an obvious barrier to new people attending.
Below are a few suggestions for names, updated with all your suggestions so far. You are most welcome to comment favourably or otherwise, and add suggestions of your own and we'll see where this leads.
Location based
Bentswood Church
Bentswood Community ChurchBentswood Evangelical Church
Community Church of Christ
Heyworth (Community) Church
Heath Evangelical Church
Mayflower Church or Mayflower Christian ChurchNew England Road Church
New England Road Community Church
New England Road Evangelical
New England Community ChurchNew England Church
Bible theme/idea/person
(The) Pilgrim(s) Church
Cornerstone
Saltworkz (Community) Church
The ArkChrist Church
Graham Nicholls
36 comments:
Mayflower Church,
Links well with play group
Christ's church?
Mayflower - some think it sounds a bit too soft
Christ's Church is not really distinctive.
Suggestion received by email: Saltworkz Church
distinctive from what?
Christ's Church describes THE church, not so much our particular church.
HHEFC conveys: where we're based; our beliefs (to some extent).
I think this will become an unnecessary distraction leading to a discontinuity with the past.
What would be the legal and administrative processes involved? What would be the costs?
Therefore, against a name change!
Will a name change do anything to advance the gospel or make us better Christians?
If so then I suggest "Saltworkz Church".
If not, we should focus on more important things.
What's in a name?
Name change makes some sense and also not.
Sense - name is a mouthful and very confusing - sounds like it's a Church free of Evangelicals. It isn't. also - it's often shortened to HHEFC because it's so long.....so better to have a name that you use fully in literature etc. Cost is minimal as the building's being changed now so no extra cost for the new signs etc. Also reprints etc happen anyway - so only cost is Pete's time and he wants change I think...will make publications easier to make.
No sense - We are changing the building so changing the name only adds to the local disconnection with our past. Also against the idea is that it's a very sensitive issue - have to remember all other churches in HH who are also Christ's church and Evangelical (if we drop the Free) etc.
my view: No Saltworkz PLEASE! I don't like it for a Cafe let alone a Church building....really no sense for the non-Christian although understand the link with the Cafe.. I would like a simple name - love Tim Keller's 'Redeemer Church' in NYC, and if you do a short name like that you can have a tag line like 'A Bible Centred Church' OR 'An Evangelical Church'.....you don't need the name of the place the Church is in in the name - it's in the address and the people who come mainly are already in HH! Also using Evangelical - a tricky one - only Evangelicals really know what they mean and it's often misused.
So after all that it's got to be.....oh sorry must get on with leading tonight's service.....oh, wish we could use 'Grace Church'. Love Matt!
Heath Evangelical Church
Christian Community Church
Christ Church
Community Church of Christ
New England Community Church
New England Church
Bentswood Community Church.
I know that there will be objections to all of them for some reason or another, but I totally agree that it is a good time to change the church name when it is reopened at Easter.
I like Bentswood Community Church or just Bentswood Church - I agree with others that something shorter and snappier would be a bit better. The downside of dropping 'Evangelical' from the name is that it makes it a bit more difficult for like-minded visitors/movers to HH to find us or understand what we're about before they come, but that's less important than reaching out into the local community. Ultimately, as a relative newcomer, I don't find HHEFC too bad a name and we should be focusing on ministry in all its forms rather than (as my grandmother used to put it) debating what colour to whitewash the vestry...
Colin
From the options suggested so far I like Bentswood Community Church the best, however, I wonder whether this would deter people attending from other parts of the town? I remember somebody commenting once, during a discussion on where members should live, that our church is for the whole of the town and not just Bentswood - a consideration for this discussion too.
Bentswood Evangelical Church?
Abbreviation: BEC.
We all discussed in HG (Spurgeon)last night and there was general agreement that something shorter would be better. However maybe to keep a link with the existing 'name' we should have a short name and then underneath the descriptive 'Haywards Heath Evnagelical Free Church'. Cornerstone was suggested and well liked - no 'Church' just Cornerstone.
Cornerstone
Haywards Heath Evangelical Free Church.
Matt White
Now for me personally:
Don't like Community in the name as it suggests we are about the local community action more than anything...which isn't the case. I don't like Bentswood as it's too specific on area etc as Nicky says.
I do like the idea of a more abstract name - but biblical like Cornerstone (wasn't my idea).
Why not just state a fact of the location so people can find the church easily and use the name of the road like:
New England Road Community Church!!!!
New England Road Evangelical!!!
But then you still havn't eliminated the problem of shortening the name.
JJ
I have updated main article with the suggestions so far.
I am thinking about the word evangelical. It does have some problems but it is a recognised term within the church and easy enough to explain outside the church.
Bentswood Evangelical Church
Heath Evangelical Church
?
I would like you say I'm in firm favour of a name change. We have a fantastic opportunity as a Church to reach out into the community with the new building facilities and a new name that is relevant to people will only help broaden our appeal, which in turn with help build Gods Kingdom.
The other motivation for the name change is that, Haywards Heath Evangelical Free Church (in all its glory), is a real pain to work with in terms of putting promotional material together. I normally get asked to use the name in full because HHEFC just isn't enough for none church people to know who we are.
A good proportion of my work, is developing brands for people and in my mind this is the best opportunity we'll have for a re-brand.
In terms of names, Spurgeon house group came up with 'Cornerstone' which I think is quite good. I've also heard someone mention 'The Ark', which I really like.
Whatever we go with, a strap line like 'Community Church' might be a good idea to use too. So something like The Ark as a relaxed way of talking about the the Church/Church Building in the community.
For instance, a conversation might be going on in the cafe.... "Would you like to come to the debt counselling session at the The Ark" or "Bring your kids to the nativity play, it 5 o'clock at The Ark".
A more formal approach might be taken in instances where were are really promoting an event or Church services where the strap line should be used.
A shorter way of of putting it would be: The focus on a name should be on what name is going to make it more accessible for people to engage with the Church and ultimately hear the word of God and become saved.
Pete
Can we change the name of the town...?
It seems that of the 34 letters in the current name, 38% of these are to do with the town.
I think it might be the easier option...
On a slightly less ridiculous note;
I realised through all of this, I actually quite like the name Haywards Heath Evangelical Free Church. When someone asks you what church you go to (outside of church circles) where you go to church, the fact that the name is so long often promotes further conversation about exactly what it is we as a congregation believe.
If I'm honest, (and what's the point on writing on here if not to be honest!) I don't like Cornerstone, and I don't like The Ark.
Cornerstone sounds like a re-invented Covenanters group and The Ark sounds like a playgroup. the fact is that you would still have to explain to anyone where these things were if they didn't know already, so the conversation efficiency would remain the same whether the place is in the title or not.
As it is I like the acronym HHEFC. It says enough about the church (people not building) to inspire some level of curiosity, without offending anyone.
Going back to the reason of not opting for "Christ Church" as not being distinctive about our congregation, Cornerstone...? The Ark...? Surely the same applies.
I reckon keep it as it is.
If it ain't broke, albeit a bit of a mouthful, why fix it?
The Ark is a playgroup isnt it?
Agree with the idea of a snappy name, agree with tagline idea.
But in essence i dont care two hoots what its called. the issues of us being un-united are ridiculous, the people who are getting up in arms about the change in name need to get a life, this is classed as a secondary issue, right?
Anything with New England Road in it might cause confusion with the church down the road especially for those who are new. "Bentswood" and "Community" could be considered presumptuous by the locals as most of us don't live in that area.
I agree with John F about names like The Ark, Cornerstone (wasn't that the name of the Abbey National Estate Agent chain years ago?) If we go down this route Saltworkz makes sense because it is already an established name in the locality as the cafe has a good reputation, so why not build on that?
However, with so many suggestion already isn't it going to be a tricky trying to keep everyone happy?
John R said a name change could be a distraction.
Colin said we should focus on ministry and not worry about the colour of the whitewash(!)
John F said - if it ain't broke...
I agree with them all.
It is broke, I think. Sounds weird and wrong - Free of Evangelicals.......It's easy for us who already attend to want it to stay the same but I do think it has issues as it is. It's much more about those outside the Church.
Having said that we could keep the Church name and just have a building name....so:
'The Rain Shelter'
Meeting Place of HHEFC
'Saltworkz Hall'
Meeting Place of HHEFC
'the Asylum'
Meeting Place of HHEFC
May be a less painful approach.
From Dave and Sue. Just think about it. Back in 2000 when we last considered changing the name of our church, Tony Blair was still quite popular, the twin towers still stood, broadband was still a distant dream for most internet users, and blogging was something that Canadian lumberjacks did when they had a cold.
This is our first attempt at "a blog", but please take the following comments and suggestions seriously.
1. On 4th Feb 2000 Nick, writing on behalf of the elders, suggested 29 possible names in order to stimulate ideas. Each of these suggestions contained the word "Church", but none contained the word "Evangelical" or "Free".
2. Considerable discussion and debate ensued until a short list of 5 suitable names were selected in April 2000. These were:
i)Grace Christian Church
ii)Calvary Christian Church
iii)Emmanuel Christian Church
iv)Cornerstone Christian Church
v) Hayworth (sic) Christian Church
You will no doubt observe a pretty similar pattern. Needless to say, the majority of Church Members could not agree with any of these name changes, and the "project" was shelved.
So, where are we now? We have both been very interested in all the suggestions that have been made, and very many are particularly relevant and challenging. However, once again they demonstrate that if you ask 100 people for a suggestion, you are going to get a multitude of different answers. Perhaps that is because although God created us in His image, He Graciously gave us all individual minds and hearts.
So, can we have the temerity to come up with our suggestions, and a few brief reasons why?
Sue suggests Heath Evangelical Church and Dave suggests Grace Evangelical Church.
Here is the reasoning, Sue first: Heath is a well accepted abbreviation for Haywards Heath; we are evangelical and this is very important for those searching for an evangelical church in the Mid Sussex Area. And for those who don't know what it means...well, let's tell them!
Dave thinks that Grace is a wonderful word, which he is sure we all do. What a great opportunity we would have with non Christians to be able to explain God's mercy to us in Christ, when they might ask why we are called Grace.
We must use the word "Church" because surely it tells everybody what we're about.
Generally speaking, we think it would be wrong to localise the name to one specific area of Haywards Heath or to attach it to a related activity in the community like Saltworkz.
Apologies for the length of this blog, but the lumberjacks need some medication!
With love, in Christ.
church@bentswood.hh - catchy, eh? ;-)
Here are two names to compliment the work in the cafe. The first one is The Pepper Pot, ha ha.
The other name is Lighthouse Community Church.
Any takers?
I’m in favour of a shorter name. Like the name Grace Church!
After reading all of the above - the best names in my opinion are:
1) Bentswood Evangelical Church
2) Heath Evangelical Church
Just think about talking in conversation about where you go to church with your friends. These just seem to be easy to bring up!
Where the church doesn’t use a location, names that come up that we haven’t considered include:
Emmaus / Bethany / Bethel
Son Rise / Logos / Lighthouse / Freedom /Mustard Tree / Xcel [yes ,really]
More conventional are (New) Life & (New) Hope
The most common descriptors now after the name are Community (or less often’ Family’) Church, and Christian Centre. The words Fellowship, Evangelical, and Free appear progressively less often in that order.
If we go for a location name I would be happiest with Heath Evangelical Church [I think other groups drop the Haywards, and on any literature the town name will be in full].
Bentswood or NER would for me only work if we were in a city, and Mid Sussex Evangelical Church would be a delusion.
If we choose Bible based words, I’d prefer Hope / Good News / similar without the Evangelical, on the basis that they invite a Question already.
I’m happy to go with any workable name and I am not against Saltworkz Church personally, especially if we can put a mica sparkle in the white render on the front of the building ! I had been thinking that with maybe the Saltworkz word always more bold than Church in literature and on the building, we could get a balance between our link with the community who may want to meet with us but are initially completely put off by a’ church’
That is not trying to deceive, but I'm imagining hopefully some future overheard comment .. Let’s go to the Saltworkz for the men’s breakfast/ parenting/ Christianity Explained / Sunday Morning.
Another thought from Sue A....how about "Good News (Evangelical) Church"? The brackets around Evangelical is so it can be listed complete in the telephone directory etc., but when it comes to referring to the church by name, it could be left out - Good News Church! Who could resist coming to hear what the Good News is?
Another thought from Dave....Although initially based in Hurstpierpoint, The Point meets every Sunday at St Paul's Catholic College in Burgess Hill, and appears to be drawing in the crowds.
I'm not suggesting that we closely identify with The Point, but perhaps their name has been successful, so my latest suggestion is.... The Rock.
Is Heath really an accepted shorthand for Haywards Heath? The business section of my BT phone book gives: “Heath Veterinary Clinic” in Burgess Hill; “Heath Technical Services” in Broadbridge Heath; “Heath Bathrooms” in Burgess Hill. However, “Heath Newsagent” is in Haywards Heath!
But then perhaps it’s the youngsters who use Heath – which of course rules me out.
As Nicky S and Matt W suggest, names such as New England Road or Bentswood might be too specific.
Depends whether you think the localised name is conveying the idea of where the church is, or where the church serves.
A short geographical name would be fine but we have not hit upon one that works. Bentswood Community Church or Bentswood Evangelical Church works at one level because it's where the church is, but it seems to sound to other people like it's trying to define the only area we want to serve.
"Heath" or "the Heath" Evangelical Church works as a more general description of an area but "The Heath" is probably not used widely enough as an abbreviation for HH.
So, we are leaning towards the more thematic names such as Cornerstone, Christchurch or Redeemer.
HHEFC(!) leaders are going to suggest a way forward in the next few days, but in the meanwhile any more suggestions are most welcome.
I confess I have had real problems in coming up with any suggestions regarding the name for the church. I noted Roger’s point that the church is known across the world as HHEFC!
The following is not an original idea but follows a conversation with another brother – I think it has many merits. Giving the new building a name such as ‘The Mayflower Centre’ but retain the name of our church. It gives the building an identity which is not a church- possibly helpful in the community?
The church (ie the people) retain the identity of HHEFC – we just happen to meet at the old address in a new building with a new name! Solution?!
I like the idea of naming the building and keeping hhefc. Although, I was struck by what Adam said on sunday, it's the people that matter not the building we meet in. Am I acting as a living stone? That's what I struggle with! Simon Ha
I live in Haywards Heath and as has already been noted , we cannot change the name of our town! The name of our Church is widely known and respected throughout the country and in many places abroad.
We live in an age of rebranding and much of it is awful.E g I have been a customer of Norwich Union for decades and it is now called Aviva - the business has lost its identity.
I believe that if we are to change our name (and this may be an opportune time to do so), we should retain our geographical identity.
Therefore I favour retaining "Haywards Heath" ....
Secondly the name "Evangelical" is an opportunity not a hurdle. If people we meet do not know what the word means , we have a gospel sharing opportunity !!
Thirdly , we are "Church" ;"living stones being built into a spiritual house" .
So I would like to see Haywards Heath Evangelical Church" as our new name.
If the compromise choice of Heath Evangelical Church is suggested , I would agree with earlier contributors , that it does not describe us accurately and could be confused with other Churches of the same name , elsewhere in the UK.
Finally I would like to record that I am not in favour of any of these names - Community,New England, Bentswood,Saltworkz, Mayflower,Cornerstone,Ark,Redeemer.
Roger O
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