Church name caused confusion because people would think that the church was free from evangelicals

At first I thought this was a satire article. Church members are ditching their ecclesiastical heritage for foolishness. There is nothing about the Gospel that is attractive to a pagan world. Changing the name won’t do anything meaningful. Theology matters.

Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.

The rationalization for this name change (“the old name would cause some confusion because people would think that the church was free from evangelicals”) is, quite literally, as stupid as a Baptist church changing it’s name “because we don’t want people think we drown anybody here!”

The free church tradition is historic and Biblical. These people are being incredibly foolish, and shame on their leadership for steering them towards this decision. This is ridiculous. This trend to dump historic and Biblical distinctions in favor of bland, generic anonymity is appalling and sad.

Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.

This might be a better link to review this church and it’s name change. When I went to the one provided (above), I was accosted by a picture of a very well-endowed young woman of ill-repute, complete with a caption advertising “hot Russian ladies.”

Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.

….they could have renamed themselves the “Scandinavian Baptists”, because historically, that is what they are. I love the E free movement—they were my refuge after a really nasty experience with a “wannabe KJVO” church. On the flip side, they seem to be going as a movement to “big church”, “seeker sensitive”, and even “multicampus video church”, all of which make it VERY difficult to minister to people.

In light of all that, I’m not all that worked up about the abandonment of the name “Free Church”, as what it means historically is that they were independent of the government. Centuries later, most people don’t remember that, so it’s meaningless at best.

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.

I had a friend that went to Faith Evangelical Free Church. I joked that it was “Faith Free” Evangelical Church… Too easy!

Yes, you will find some “Free Baptists” in Great Britain. It means unaffiliated, like “Independent Baptists” in USA.

G. N. Barkman