MennoNet.com

i'm not certain attempting to separate from noisy politics thru change of words is worth the effort.
altho irritating, the shelf-life of worldly matters is short, it might be best to out-live it.

The CMC's original name was born out of political naming conventions. So really things have just come full circle.

ohio jones wrote: Since "Biblical" is already taken, we could consider "Christocentric Mennonite Conference." Wouldn't even have to change the initials.

I like that one OJ.

I just hope we don't get saddled with a newly synthesized label fabricated by a marketing consultant.

"Contemporary Missional Confab" - its got all the right stuff...it speaks of hip off-the-wall music, skinny jeans, coffee shop in the lobby, cool outreach opportunities, theater seating and lighting, no windows, and best of all - no Mennonite/Anabaptist/Evangelical entanglements. Plus, we can still use the CMC moniker.

I'm being a facetious - I love the CMC - but I do think the short-lived contemporary generic models within the group may represent a threat to identity/message.

I think just go with the name you already have and don't over think it. The Republican/Tea Party connotations are a matter of confusing the political with the spiritual.

There are always going to be matters of misunderstanding with people who are looking in from the outside, new ones will arise as the culture changes and pursuing the perfect name is like chasing a moving target.

It also rubs me the wrong way when Christians want to reject a perfectly good, descriptive name just to avoid stigma.

Interesting on how churches are changing their names. Our church wanted to drop the Mennonite Brethren from the name as it thought this was not very inviting to non-Mennonites but they kept 'Fellowship' and the 'MB' which represented Mennonite Brethren' to the name of a new subdivision across the street called 'Meadow Brook'. So, it was named Meadow Brook Fellowship' and I recall the debate to call it 'Meadow Brook Bible Fellowship' which lost out. So, we still were referred to as 'MBF' which made many happy. Then during my absence over the last few years they changed the 'Fellowship' to 'Church' and now it is referred to as 'MBC' - 'Meadow Brook Church'. We still remain as Mennonite Brethren but you would not know until you came in or looked up the website.

Just down the road, the Pentecostal church I grew up in was originally called 'Full Gospel Tabernacle' or 'FGT'. They changed their name to 'Full Gospel Family Church' and lately dropped the 'Full Gospel' and is now the 'LakePoint Family Church' (I guess because we are closest to the most southern point in Canada - Point Pelee National Park), although the church is a few miles away from both the lake and park entrance. So, now it is referred to as 'LPC'.

Seems the trend is toward just calling places of worship a 'Church'.