what's in a name?

today it was announced that our church is changing its name from mckinney fellowship to christ fellowship. and while i have heard there are some folks not happy - or at least reticent - about the name change... i love it!

i love that the new name says we are not about a city, but about a savior. and i love that by removing the word mckinney we may extend as far reaching as God chooses to send us. it says we are not bound by geography but rather freed to share the gospel to the ends of the earth (we were free to do so before, but now the name represents that).

and i love that christ comes first. he should! not just in the title but in our lives and the way we represent ourselves and in our thoughts and habits. christ comes first.

yeh. i like that. i like it a lot.

we used to have the full name 'mckinney fellowship bible church'. and i think one of the harder transitions for some people is that the word 'bible' is no longer in the name for we are to be simply: christ fellowship.

my bible reading this weekend took me to john 5:39 where Jesus says...

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me

the bible is merely what points to or bears witness about christ. it is christ we are all about; the bible is a means to him. and so with christ in the name, we have all we need. (not to mention that christ is The Word).

and so i believe that this is a good change. a smart change. a change that tells people what we are about with no boundaries.

me likey.