A church name is for people who aren’t here yet. It’s meant to communicate who we are to people we have yet to reach. As such, it has both an internal function, seeking to capture the identity of a particular people, and an external function, seeking to communicate that identity to the community. Our elders have recommended prayerful consideration of the name, “Christ Fellowship Church.” Over the next two weeks, I’d like to discuss why we think this name captures who we are and communicates that well to those not here yet. I’ll take up the word, “Fellowship” next week but today let’s zero in on the most important word, “Christ.”
INTERNAL FUNCTION
Our elders believe the name “Christ” is essential in our name, because we believe Christ is the goal and the means of our mission. He is both the destination we are trying to reach and He is the power that moves us there. Our mission as a church is guiding people to multiplying impact for Christ’s Kingdom. This mission statement was adopted by our church in 2018, and it has shaped every decision we have made in my seven years as senior pastor.
Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on the cross, rose from the dead, ascended to the Father, is currently interceding for His people, and one day will return. As we live between his ascension and return, we respond to his powerful interceding by participating in His mission in this world. “Multiplying impact for Christ’s kingdom” is language we use to describe our participation in the Great Commission work of making disciples. We want to see disciples make disciples who make disciples.
Christ’s kingdom breaks into this world every time a disciple is made. Every person who repents of sin and trusts Jesus experiences the inbreaking of the kingdom in their lives as the Spirit indwells them and Christ begins ruling and reigning from the inside out. We believe every member of our church can participate in this kingdom work by making disciples.
Our proposed name puts Christ first because our participation in His kingdom work is our aim. Simply put, we wanted our new name to declare the supremacy of Jesus in all things. In our worship, we long to exalt and experience Jesus. In our community, we long to be the hands and feet of Jesus to one another. In our outreach, we long to declare the good news that Jesus is Savior and Lord.
One particularly important point for me in having “Christ” in the name versus other words like “Gospel” or “Hope” or “Harvest,” is I wanted to make it clear that we don’t worship an idea or concept, but a person. There are absolutely things we believe about Jesus that are essential. Truths about his divinity, humanity, substitutionary death, bodily resurrection, imminent return and heavenly intercession are all critical to any discussion of “Christ.”
But we must never forget that we worship a living, breathing person. I guess what I’m saying is that one of the liabilities for people who are committed to all these truths about Jesus is that He becomes just an idea, a theory instead of a real person. Jesus is more than just a set of propositions we assent to. He is not less than that, but he is surely more. He is not just an idea to agree to, He is a person to be experienced.
We pray that if this new name is adopted, it will keep us focused on what really matters. Distraction and drift are constantly a danger for any church. I remember very challenging seasons we have walked through as a church, chief among them as COVID-19.
In the heat of that season, I preached a message on Vaccines. At the time I was going through the book of John, but felt the need to address the issue because of how divisive it was becoming. (CLICK HERE to view the sermon) Many wanted me to take a hard stance on vaccines, but instead I basically said this: Jesus is bigger than vaccines. I spoke about the need for prayerful consideration of it, but above all I challenged everyone to respect one another’s decision, in part because we agree on way more in Jesus than we may disagree on when it comes to vaccines.
This is a critical example of how during a challenging season, I watched us stay unified around Christ. We loved and served one another, even though we disagreed on an important issue. Why do we want Christ in our new name? Because it truly represents the heart-beat of our church.
Another angle through which the supremacy of Jesus has been cultivated in our church family is through our five values as a church. I know that many of you may not be able to recite these values, but they are felt every day in our church family. These are the “who we are commitments” that shape the “what we do decisions” day in and day out. Values are also one of the ways one church is distinct from another. As I walk through these, notice how each one connects to the supremacy of Christ.
Compassionate Conviction. We are committed to the truth but in a loving and compassionate way. I will fully admit that this is harder than ever, as culturally we are told that certain beliefs are de facto “dangerous” or “harmful” to people. Despite this, we are committed to connect rock solid commitment to the truth with gracious, loving compassion for all people, especially those who disagree. Why? We want them to know Jesus. We want them to experience Christ Jesus in the same way we have. We believe Christ being in our name puts up front our commitment to the truth about Jesus.
Missional Margin. We are committed to a space between available and committed time. On the one hand, this means we try to do fewer things well. We would like to do Worship, Life Groups and Outreach with excellence. But this value is also critical for the mission as margin creates opportunity for investment in people outside the church. We believe Christ being in our name reinforces our desire to see margin corporately and individually for gospel advance.
Connected Community. We are committed to open, authentic, vulnerable relationships. Human beings at their core are relational and Jesus Christ came to redeem these relationships. This means that we believe Jesus frees us to be authentic with Him vertically and horizontally with others. We believe Christ being in the name reflects the incredible importance of this value to our church (it also is hugely important for the word “Fellowship,” but more on that next week). We believe Christ being in our name emphasizes that He is the center of our relationships as a church.
Deliberate Discipleship. We are committed to thinking carefully and prayerfully about how people are shaped and formed in Christ. This deliberateness shows up in things like how we structure worship, the way we teach kids and students, and how we expect every leader to first be and make disciples. Healthy discipleship always moves from identity in Jesus to impact for Jesus. There is no real disciple-making unless it moves us to share the gospel with the lost. All of this is rooted in the belief that we best experience the person of Jesus through active participation in the mission of Jesus. Including “Christ” in our proposed name demonstrates our commitment to follow Jesus as disciples.
Kingdom Cooperation. We are committed to working with other churches to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yes, the task of getting the gospel to the nations is much too big for one church. But more than this, we believe we have a connection with other believers in other churches through Christ. This living, supernatural, spiritual connection to other brothers and sisters necessitates cooperation. Now, we have to be wise about how we cooperate, given different convictions and beliefs within different denominations. The main thrust of our cooperation is through two entities: the Southern Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist of Texas Convention. Because our cooperation is for Christ to be known all over the world, we wanted to see “Christ” in our proposed name.
EXTERNAL FUNCTION
We want the name “Christ Fellowship Church” to communicate who we are to those not here yet. Three specific groups we are targeting with this name change: De-Churched, New Residents, and the Lost. We hope the word “Christ” communicates the following things to these groups of people.
Centrality of Jesus. We want our new name to tell people that we are a people defined by Jesus Christ. Yes, we cooperate with our denomination, but our ultimate loyalty is to king Jesus. This means there very well could be elements of our denominational tradition that show up in worship or ministry we engage in (take for example VBS), but we hold everything in submission to Jesus Christ. If something doesn't exalt Jesus, we will not do it.
At times, tradition and “the way we’ve always done things” can be assumed to be the way of Jesus. For example, for many years there was a certain style of music in many SBC churches that was uniform across the country. Piano, organ and choir were the norm everyone followed. During the Jesus Revolution of the 60’s, this all began to change. The previous uniformity gave way to a great diversity of styles in worship, leading to what some called “the worship wars” in churches. Many churches divided because of “traditional” and “contemporary” worship styles. I actually believe this has mostly died down in most churches because of this simple fact: Christ-exalting music is the goal.
We want the word “Christ” to communicate to anyone open to attending worship that what they will find is not a commitment to a particular style or tradition but to Christ. Yes, our church family worships in a more modern, contemporary style. But it is important for all of us to remember that we are not committed to any one style as a defining mark of our church. We are committed to Christ being exalted and experienced in worship. We are committed to Christ being sung about, engaged with and declared with power and conviction.
But this kind of centrality is not important just for worship style. It’s also important for our theology as well. We believe our statement of faith, the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 (CLICK HERE to view), includes both core theological doctrines you must believe to be a Christian and beliefs essential to cooperation as a member of this church. The former category includes things like the divinity of Jesus, his death and resurrection and our need to respond in repentance and faith. The latter category includes our belief about the inerrancy of the Bible, gender as binary and baptism by immersion for believers only.
But know this: there are churches that include much more in that second category. To be a member of some churches, yes even churches with “Baptist” in the name, you must wear (or not wear) certain clothes, you must use a certain translation of the Bible, and you must school your children a certain way. For example, there are churches who believe women wearing pants is wrong. Oftentimes this belief is aggressively taught as THE truth. We want our members to exalt Jesus in what they wear, but we would never insist that this type of personal conviction become the norm for our entire church body.
Including “Christ” in our name is designed to give new people a clear understanding that we are committed to Jesus and not these types of rules. I cannot tell you how important this is for our ability to engage with de-churched people. Many people have walked away from the church because of churches who harshly and dictatorially demand adherence to a set of rules they have created.
Exclusivity of Jesus. We want people who are not here yet to know that Christ is not just central to our worship, but also for our theology: He is the only way to heaven. Only Jesus saves because only Jesus died for your sins and rose from the dead.
Pluralism was all the rage when I was growing up. “You believe what you believe and I’ll believe what I believe. As long as you believe it sincerely, that’s all that matters.” This was the dominant narrative for decades in this country. Those still under the influence of this mentality need to know that we believe that this is wrong. Sincerity doesn’t save you because insincerity isn’t your problem. Your real problem is sinful rebellion before a Holy God who is justly going to punish humanity in everlasting hell. That is the real problem.
We want our new name to communicate that Jesus is the only way to escape the wrath of God because he took that wrath for us on the cross. We want people to know that Jesus is not optional, he is essential. He is not just one of many ways to God, He is the only way to God. Only Jesus can save because only Jesus took your punishment, rose from the dead and now intercedes for us.
But pluralism is less influential than it once was. It has been replaced by a new religion: social justice. Now let me be careful here: I believe that we should absolutely strive to live in a just society in which people are treated fairly. But this is not the real issue today. Today, more than ever people define justice not in God’s terms, but in secular, humanistic terms. They define justice in a way that, for example, eliminates the differences between men and women, saying that women should be able to do exactly what a man does. As a result, abortion has become the centralizing sacrament for the cultural left, as it ensures this assumed just equality of outcome. It is believed that if a man can walk away from a pregnancy, so must a woman. More recently, this view of justice has been pressed so far as to say that humans should be able to decide their own gender. The transgender movement believes this to the point that men should be able to play women’s sports.
We want our new name to communicate that real truth and justice are found in Jesus Christ. We want people to know that God did indeed make them male and female and that it is good. We want people to know that God made them for a purpose, a purpose that can only be recovered through repentance of sin and faith in Christ.
I don’t know what is coming after social justice. But amidst the ever changing mood of our cultural moment, we want people to know that Jesus doesn’t change. He offers everlasting life to all who trust in his name.
Hope in Jesus. Cynicism is at an all time high. Trust in institutions like the government or the media is correspondingly at an all time low. Dystopian novels and movies have become an entire genre, as people instinctively are drawn to depictions of the future that are bleak. The limitless options of a consumeristic life have not left us more fulfilled but actually more anxious as people constantly live with the fear of missing out (FOMO). Social media, while not evil in itself, is fueling this anxiety through constant false projections and crippling comparison.
Here is what ChatGPT had to say about mental health for Americans under 40:
Mental health among Americans under 40 is a growing concern, with rising rates of anxiety, depression, and stress-driven disorders. Factors like economic instability, social media pressure, and political uncertainty contribute to a sense of unease, particularly among millennials and Gen Z. Many young adults struggle with burnout, work-life balance, and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their social and emotional well-being. While awareness and openness about mental health have increased, access to affordable therapy and mental health care remains a barrier for many.
We want our proposed name to put forward to our community and the world that there is indeed hope to be found in Jesus Christ. Jesus has overcome this world and He is indeed returning to put everything right. I love the third verse of Joy to the World that depicts this:
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as the curse is found.
Jesus Christ will reverse the effects of sin as “far as the curse is found.” That is, He will undo, repair and restore every effect of sin in this world. Jesus Christ is returning to eliminate sin’s impact on our bodies, destroying things like cancer and dementia. Jesus Christ is returning to eliminate sin’s impact on our planet, banishing earthquakes and hurricanes. Jesus Christ is returning to eliminate sin’s impact on relationships, obliterating jealousy and hatred. Jesus Christ is returning to eliminate sin’s impact on our souls, ridding us of any hint of rebellion against God.
We want Christ to be the first word people associate with our church family so they know that hope can be found in Him alone. People can spend their entire lives looking for answers, trying to find hope. We want them to know that Jesus offers true, lasting hope because He is returning.
Christ Fellowship Church not only reflects who we are, it also attempts to communicate our identity to a waiting and watching world. Please continue to pray about the proposed name, Christ Fellowship Church.
INTERNAL FUNCTION
Our elders believe the name “Christ” is essential in our name, because we believe Christ is the goal and the means of our mission. He is both the destination we are trying to reach and He is the power that moves us there. Our mission as a church is guiding people to multiplying impact for Christ’s Kingdom. This mission statement was adopted by our church in 2018, and it has shaped every decision we have made in my seven years as senior pastor.
Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on the cross, rose from the dead, ascended to the Father, is currently interceding for His people, and one day will return. As we live between his ascension and return, we respond to his powerful interceding by participating in His mission in this world. “Multiplying impact for Christ’s kingdom” is language we use to describe our participation in the Great Commission work of making disciples. We want to see disciples make disciples who make disciples.
Christ’s kingdom breaks into this world every time a disciple is made. Every person who repents of sin and trusts Jesus experiences the inbreaking of the kingdom in their lives as the Spirit indwells them and Christ begins ruling and reigning from the inside out. We believe every member of our church can participate in this kingdom work by making disciples.
Our proposed name puts Christ first because our participation in His kingdom work is our aim. Simply put, we wanted our new name to declare the supremacy of Jesus in all things. In our worship, we long to exalt and experience Jesus. In our community, we long to be the hands and feet of Jesus to one another. In our outreach, we long to declare the good news that Jesus is Savior and Lord.
One particularly important point for me in having “Christ” in the name versus other words like “Gospel” or “Hope” or “Harvest,” is I wanted to make it clear that we don’t worship an idea or concept, but a person. There are absolutely things we believe about Jesus that are essential. Truths about his divinity, humanity, substitutionary death, bodily resurrection, imminent return and heavenly intercession are all critical to any discussion of “Christ.”
But we must never forget that we worship a living, breathing person. I guess what I’m saying is that one of the liabilities for people who are committed to all these truths about Jesus is that He becomes just an idea, a theory instead of a real person. Jesus is more than just a set of propositions we assent to. He is not less than that, but he is surely more. He is not just an idea to agree to, He is a person to be experienced.
We pray that if this new name is adopted, it will keep us focused on what really matters. Distraction and drift are constantly a danger for any church. I remember very challenging seasons we have walked through as a church, chief among them as COVID-19.
In the heat of that season, I preached a message on Vaccines. At the time I was going through the book of John, but felt the need to address the issue because of how divisive it was becoming. (CLICK HERE to view the sermon) Many wanted me to take a hard stance on vaccines, but instead I basically said this: Jesus is bigger than vaccines. I spoke about the need for prayerful consideration of it, but above all I challenged everyone to respect one another’s decision, in part because we agree on way more in Jesus than we may disagree on when it comes to vaccines.
This is a critical example of how during a challenging season, I watched us stay unified around Christ. We loved and served one another, even though we disagreed on an important issue. Why do we want Christ in our new name? Because it truly represents the heart-beat of our church.
Another angle through which the supremacy of Jesus has been cultivated in our church family is through our five values as a church. I know that many of you may not be able to recite these values, but they are felt every day in our church family. These are the “who we are commitments” that shape the “what we do decisions” day in and day out. Values are also one of the ways one church is distinct from another. As I walk through these, notice how each one connects to the supremacy of Christ.
Compassionate Conviction. We are committed to the truth but in a loving and compassionate way. I will fully admit that this is harder than ever, as culturally we are told that certain beliefs are de facto “dangerous” or “harmful” to people. Despite this, we are committed to connect rock solid commitment to the truth with gracious, loving compassion for all people, especially those who disagree. Why? We want them to know Jesus. We want them to experience Christ Jesus in the same way we have. We believe Christ being in our name puts up front our commitment to the truth about Jesus.
Missional Margin. We are committed to a space between available and committed time. On the one hand, this means we try to do fewer things well. We would like to do Worship, Life Groups and Outreach with excellence. But this value is also critical for the mission as margin creates opportunity for investment in people outside the church. We believe Christ being in our name reinforces our desire to see margin corporately and individually for gospel advance.
Connected Community. We are committed to open, authentic, vulnerable relationships. Human beings at their core are relational and Jesus Christ came to redeem these relationships. This means that we believe Jesus frees us to be authentic with Him vertically and horizontally with others. We believe Christ being in the name reflects the incredible importance of this value to our church (it also is hugely important for the word “Fellowship,” but more on that next week). We believe Christ being in our name emphasizes that He is the center of our relationships as a church.
Deliberate Discipleship. We are committed to thinking carefully and prayerfully about how people are shaped and formed in Christ. This deliberateness shows up in things like how we structure worship, the way we teach kids and students, and how we expect every leader to first be and make disciples. Healthy discipleship always moves from identity in Jesus to impact for Jesus. There is no real disciple-making unless it moves us to share the gospel with the lost. All of this is rooted in the belief that we best experience the person of Jesus through active participation in the mission of Jesus. Including “Christ” in our proposed name demonstrates our commitment to follow Jesus as disciples.
Kingdom Cooperation. We are committed to working with other churches to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yes, the task of getting the gospel to the nations is much too big for one church. But more than this, we believe we have a connection with other believers in other churches through Christ. This living, supernatural, spiritual connection to other brothers and sisters necessitates cooperation. Now, we have to be wise about how we cooperate, given different convictions and beliefs within different denominations. The main thrust of our cooperation is through two entities: the Southern Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist of Texas Convention. Because our cooperation is for Christ to be known all over the world, we wanted to see “Christ” in our proposed name.
EXTERNAL FUNCTION
We want the name “Christ Fellowship Church” to communicate who we are to those not here yet. Three specific groups we are targeting with this name change: De-Churched, New Residents, and the Lost. We hope the word “Christ” communicates the following things to these groups of people.
Centrality of Jesus. We want our new name to tell people that we are a people defined by Jesus Christ. Yes, we cooperate with our denomination, but our ultimate loyalty is to king Jesus. This means there very well could be elements of our denominational tradition that show up in worship or ministry we engage in (take for example VBS), but we hold everything in submission to Jesus Christ. If something doesn't exalt Jesus, we will not do it.
At times, tradition and “the way we’ve always done things” can be assumed to be the way of Jesus. For example, for many years there was a certain style of music in many SBC churches that was uniform across the country. Piano, organ and choir were the norm everyone followed. During the Jesus Revolution of the 60’s, this all began to change. The previous uniformity gave way to a great diversity of styles in worship, leading to what some called “the worship wars” in churches. Many churches divided because of “traditional” and “contemporary” worship styles. I actually believe this has mostly died down in most churches because of this simple fact: Christ-exalting music is the goal.
We want the word “Christ” to communicate to anyone open to attending worship that what they will find is not a commitment to a particular style or tradition but to Christ. Yes, our church family worships in a more modern, contemporary style. But it is important for all of us to remember that we are not committed to any one style as a defining mark of our church. We are committed to Christ being exalted and experienced in worship. We are committed to Christ being sung about, engaged with and declared with power and conviction.
But this kind of centrality is not important just for worship style. It’s also important for our theology as well. We believe our statement of faith, the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 (CLICK HERE to view), includes both core theological doctrines you must believe to be a Christian and beliefs essential to cooperation as a member of this church. The former category includes things like the divinity of Jesus, his death and resurrection and our need to respond in repentance and faith. The latter category includes our belief about the inerrancy of the Bible, gender as binary and baptism by immersion for believers only.
But know this: there are churches that include much more in that second category. To be a member of some churches, yes even churches with “Baptist” in the name, you must wear (or not wear) certain clothes, you must use a certain translation of the Bible, and you must school your children a certain way. For example, there are churches who believe women wearing pants is wrong. Oftentimes this belief is aggressively taught as THE truth. We want our members to exalt Jesus in what they wear, but we would never insist that this type of personal conviction become the norm for our entire church body.
Including “Christ” in our name is designed to give new people a clear understanding that we are committed to Jesus and not these types of rules. I cannot tell you how important this is for our ability to engage with de-churched people. Many people have walked away from the church because of churches who harshly and dictatorially demand adherence to a set of rules they have created.
Exclusivity of Jesus. We want people who are not here yet to know that Christ is not just central to our worship, but also for our theology: He is the only way to heaven. Only Jesus saves because only Jesus died for your sins and rose from the dead.
Pluralism was all the rage when I was growing up. “You believe what you believe and I’ll believe what I believe. As long as you believe it sincerely, that’s all that matters.” This was the dominant narrative for decades in this country. Those still under the influence of this mentality need to know that we believe that this is wrong. Sincerity doesn’t save you because insincerity isn’t your problem. Your real problem is sinful rebellion before a Holy God who is justly going to punish humanity in everlasting hell. That is the real problem.
We want our new name to communicate that Jesus is the only way to escape the wrath of God because he took that wrath for us on the cross. We want people to know that Jesus is not optional, he is essential. He is not just one of many ways to God, He is the only way to God. Only Jesus can save because only Jesus took your punishment, rose from the dead and now intercedes for us.
But pluralism is less influential than it once was. It has been replaced by a new religion: social justice. Now let me be careful here: I believe that we should absolutely strive to live in a just society in which people are treated fairly. But this is not the real issue today. Today, more than ever people define justice not in God’s terms, but in secular, humanistic terms. They define justice in a way that, for example, eliminates the differences between men and women, saying that women should be able to do exactly what a man does. As a result, abortion has become the centralizing sacrament for the cultural left, as it ensures this assumed just equality of outcome. It is believed that if a man can walk away from a pregnancy, so must a woman. More recently, this view of justice has been pressed so far as to say that humans should be able to decide their own gender. The transgender movement believes this to the point that men should be able to play women’s sports.
We want our new name to communicate that real truth and justice are found in Jesus Christ. We want people to know that God did indeed make them male and female and that it is good. We want people to know that God made them for a purpose, a purpose that can only be recovered through repentance of sin and faith in Christ.
I don’t know what is coming after social justice. But amidst the ever changing mood of our cultural moment, we want people to know that Jesus doesn’t change. He offers everlasting life to all who trust in his name.
Hope in Jesus. Cynicism is at an all time high. Trust in institutions like the government or the media is correspondingly at an all time low. Dystopian novels and movies have become an entire genre, as people instinctively are drawn to depictions of the future that are bleak. The limitless options of a consumeristic life have not left us more fulfilled but actually more anxious as people constantly live with the fear of missing out (FOMO). Social media, while not evil in itself, is fueling this anxiety through constant false projections and crippling comparison.
Here is what ChatGPT had to say about mental health for Americans under 40:
Mental health among Americans under 40 is a growing concern, with rising rates of anxiety, depression, and stress-driven disorders. Factors like economic instability, social media pressure, and political uncertainty contribute to a sense of unease, particularly among millennials and Gen Z. Many young adults struggle with burnout, work-life balance, and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their social and emotional well-being. While awareness and openness about mental health have increased, access to affordable therapy and mental health care remains a barrier for many.
We want our proposed name to put forward to our community and the world that there is indeed hope to be found in Jesus Christ. Jesus has overcome this world and He is indeed returning to put everything right. I love the third verse of Joy to the World that depicts this:
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as the curse is found.
Jesus Christ will reverse the effects of sin as “far as the curse is found.” That is, He will undo, repair and restore every effect of sin in this world. Jesus Christ is returning to eliminate sin’s impact on our bodies, destroying things like cancer and dementia. Jesus Christ is returning to eliminate sin’s impact on our planet, banishing earthquakes and hurricanes. Jesus Christ is returning to eliminate sin’s impact on relationships, obliterating jealousy and hatred. Jesus Christ is returning to eliminate sin’s impact on our souls, ridding us of any hint of rebellion against God.
We want Christ to be the first word people associate with our church family so they know that hope can be found in Him alone. People can spend their entire lives looking for answers, trying to find hope. We want them to know that Jesus offers true, lasting hope because He is returning.
Christ Fellowship Church not only reflects who we are, it also attempts to communicate our identity to a waiting and watching world. Please continue to pray about the proposed name, Christ Fellowship Church.
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