Names for Churches
When we started a church a few years ago, we did a market survey before beginning any work. One of the questions dealt with names. We provided 6 potential names for the new church and asked people whether they would be interested in attending a church with that name. In this area, names which included the denomination were rated the lowest. Names with the words "Community" or "Fellowship" rated high.
For years we have dealt with people in our denomination who believed the denominational name had to be part of the church name or you were not really part of the denomination. This survey showed that in this area the denominational label hurt rather than helped. BTW, no one in this area had ever heard of our denomination.
Tips:
- Keep the name 8 syllables or fewer.
- Do not include the location in the name because the church may move some day or the street name may change.
- The denominational name should be in small type under the church name--if this is a concern in a particular community.
- Most common new name: Community. Example: Toronto Community Church (since the city name is unlikely to change).
Lyle Schaller wrote an entire article about church names in the June 1997 Net Results. Plus in his article in the June 1994 issue, he also included a variety of comments