"Baptist" when is it right to drop the name?

[ItinerantPreacher]

A lot of seeker-sensitive Southern Baptist churches in my town are no longer calling themselves Baptist even though they still completely are at a doctrinal level.  The church leadership will many times say that Baptist turns away non-believers who need to hear the Gospel because of the stigma associated with it.  It comes down to your belief on the role of the church to begin with.

Do you take the approach that the Sunday morning church service should primarily be aimed at bringing in the unsaved to hear the Gospel?  Or is it primarily for the saved and therefore the church likely has a soul winning ministry in which they go out door to door sharing the Gospel.  If the church's mission is to bring in the world to proclaim the Gospel to them, then if something simple like a church name is a stumbling block to bringing them in, it would be right to drop it.  If its primarily for the saved, then absolutely not because denominations will really help people narrow down the search to find a church that believes similar to how they do.  Though even today there is a wide range of beliefs within the Baptist church, when a church calls itself Baptist for the most part you know where they stand on the fundamentals of the faith.

Church is primarily for the saved period, no matter which service. The AM service has certainly been used for evangelism, and I am ok with that, but church is for the saved.

The gospel is to be taken to people, not people to the gospel. That doesnt mean you shouldn't preach the gospel at church or that people won't get saved at church, but the local church is a called out  assembly of baptized believers and they gather for edification.

 

[Bruh]

Is it ever right to drop the name from your church?
If not, why not?
If so, why?

I believe it is always right to drop a mans name.  Like, Calvinism, talk about promoting a man.  smh

Or Finney, or Hyles, or Rice, or Sunday,.........

Yes, I agree 100%.

I didn't know there were whole religions doctrinal statements and all named after these guys. 

I was only aware of John Calvin, hmmm.

out of the four, Finney lead the way for future legalist/Fundamentalist. FInney, denied original sin, also believed that sanctification was from mans works, not from God, He influenced Sunday and a whole sort of fundamentalist.

Just like John Calvin influenced a whole religion ie. Calvinism, talk about man worshiping people to accept a mans name as their religion.  smh

 

[subllibrm]

Is it ever right to drop the name from your church?
If not, why not?
If so, why?

I believe it is always right to drop a mans name.  Like, Calvinism, talk about promoting a man.  smh

Or Finney, or Hyles, or Rice, or Sunday,.........

Or Frag!

Oh wait.

Um, never mind.

 

[subllibrm]

I don't think denominations are necessarily a bad thing. They make it a little easier for us to find compatible churches.

Yeah, which is why I tend to avoid churches named "Legalist Pharisee Bastages Church".  The name is a clue that I just won't fit in. 

Seriously, if only some churches had honest names like that...

That would be helpful, wouldn't it?

Actually when i lived in Virginia, many churches would emphasize on their signs or yellow pages section,( remember using the yellow pages to find things?) as Fundamentalist;Militant;Patriotic.

Now if that doesn't draw you like a moth to a flame, you have serious problems.  :

 

[subllibrm]

Is it ever right to drop the name from your church?
If not, why not?
If so, why?

I believe it is always right to drop a mans name.  Like, Calvinism, talk about promoting a man.  smh

Or Finney, or Hyles, or Rice, or Sunday,.........

Yes, I agree 100%.

I didn't know there were whole religions doctrinal statements and all named after these guys. 

I was only aware of John Calvin, hmmm.

and that Arminius guy.

 

[Bruh]

Is it ever right to drop the name from your church?
If not, why not?
If so, why?

I believe it is always right to drop a mans name.  Like, Calvinism, talk about promoting a man.  smh

Or Finney, or Hyles, or Rice, or Sunday,.........

Yes, I agree 100%.

I didn't know there were whole religions doctrinal statements and all named after these guys. 

I was only aware of John Calvin, hmmm.

and that Arminius guy.

Yes, the Baptist did not choose the name, they were given a name.  Unlike Calvinism a religion based on a mans name.  smh 

 

[subllibrm]

Just like John Calvin influenced a whole religion ie. Calvinism, talk about man worshiping people to accept a mans name as their religion.  smh

That works if your assumptions hold.

I am calvinistic to a degree (not even close to "reformed" per the idea of covenant theology) because I refuse to put God's sovereignty below my free will. Even so, I am very much a Baptist. I believe strongly in baptism of confessed believers via immersion in water. I believe that the idea of denominational hierarchy is contrary to the biblical norm for the local church. And I could go on but feel no need to defend the obvious.

All that to say that when asked, I refer to myself as a Christian. If pressed, I will note that I attend a baptist church. If pressed further I will admit that I am fully confident that there is no contradiction between "whosoever will" and "chosen before the foundation of the world" when understood in proper context. Does that make me a Calvinist? I don't think so and I certainly do not identify as such.

And FWIW, the intent is, as has been pointed out, to describe the position(s) of the church. Not to "worship" the name used descriptively.

 

[Bruh]

Just like John Calvin influenced a whole religion ie. Calvinism, talk about man worshiping people to accept a mans name as their religion.  smh

That works if your assumptions hold.

I am calvinistic to a degree (not even close to "reformed" per the idea of covenant theology) because I refuse to put God's sovereignty below my free will. Even so, I am very much a Baptist. I believe strongly in baptism of confessed believers via immersion in water. I believe that the idea of denominational hierarchy is contrary to the biblical norm for the local church. And I could go on but feel no need to defend the obvious.

All that to say that when asked, I refer to myself as a Christian. If pressed, I will note that I attend a baptist church. If pressed further I will admit that I am fully confident that there is no contradiction between "whosoever will" and "chosen before the foundation of the world" when understood in proper context. Does that make me a Calvinist? I don't think so and I certainly do not identify as such.

And FWIW, the intent is, as has been pointed out, to describe the position(s) of the church. Not to "worship" the name used descriptively.

This pretty much sums up my belief as well.  Good post. 

 

[Izdaari]

I am calvinistic to a degree (not even close to "reformed" per the idea of covenant theology) because I refuse to put God's sovereignty below my free will. Even so, I am very much a Baptist. I believe strongly in baptism of confessed believers via immersion in water. I believe that the idea of denominational hierarchy is contrary to the biblical norm for the local church. And I could go on but feel no need to defend the obvious.

All that to say that when asked, I refer to myself as a Christian. If pressed, I will note that I attend a baptist church. If pressed further I will admit that I am fully confident that there is no contradiction between "whosoever will" and "chosen before the foundation of the world" when understood in proper context. Does that make me a Calvinist? I don't think so and I certainly do not identify as such.

And FWIW, the intent is, as has been pointed out, to describe the position(s) of the church. Not to "worship" the name used descriptively.

I like that. It's generally my attitude as well, with some differences in the specifics. If asked I'll say I'm a Christian or I might say a Christ-follower. If pressed for a denomination, I'll say I attend a church that's both Episcopalian and Lutheran. If asked about Calvinism vs. Arminianism, I'll say neither, Lutheran. If they ask Protestant or Catholic, I'll say neither, Anglican. And if they're really into theological buzz words? Then I might say I'm a creedally orthodox charismissional Episcopalutheran Anglo-Catholic.  :-*

 

[The Rogue Tomato]

I am calvinistic to a degree (not even close to "reformed" per the idea of covenant theology) because I refuse to put God's sovereignty below my free will. Even so, I am very much a Baptist. I believe strongly in baptism of confessed believers via immersion in water. I believe that the idea of denominational hierarchy is contrary to the biblical norm for the local church. And I could go on but feel no need to defend the obvious.

All that to say that when asked, I refer to myself as a Christian. If pressed, I will note that I attend a baptist church. If pressed further I will admit that I am fully confident that there is no contradiction between "whosoever will" and "chosen before the foundation of the world" when understood in proper context. Does that make me a Calvinist? I don't think so and I certainly do not identify as such.

And FWIW, the intent is, as has been pointed out, to describe the position(s) of the church. Not to "worship" the name used descriptively.

I like that. It's generally my attitude as well, with some differences in the specifics. If asked I'll say I'm a Christian or I might say a Christ-follower. If pressed for a denomination, I'll say I attend a church that's both Episcopalian and Lutheran. If asked about Calvinism vs. Arminianism, I'll say neither, Lutheran. If they ask Protestant or Catholic, I'll say neither, Anglican. And if they're really into theological buzz words? Then I might say I'm a creedally orthodox charismissional Episcopalutheran Anglo-Catholic.  :-*

If I'm pressed for a denomination, I usually say thousand dollar bills will do fine, thank you. 

 

[subllibrm]

If I'm pressed for a denomination, I usually say thousand dollar bills will do fine, thank you.

I'm good with the twenty. A very large congregation of them is even better.

 

[bgwilkinson]

I could go with multiple called out assemblies of 100 each of those 20s. 
100 bundles would keep me going for a while. 

 

[prophet]

Is it ever right to drop the name from your church?
If not, why not?
If so, why?

I believe it is always right to drop a mans name.  Like, Calvinism, talk about promoting a man.  smh

Or Finney, or Hyles, or Rice, or Sunday,.........

Yes, I agree 100%.

I didn't know there were whole religions doctrinal statements and all named after these guys. 

I was only aware of John Calvin, hmmm.

out of the four, Finney lead the way for future legalist/Fundamentalist. FInney, denied original sin, also believed that sanctification was from mans works, not from God, He influenced Sunday and a whole sort of fundamentalist.

Yup.  Started the doo-doo rolling down hill, did that imposter, Finney.