The Name

My Vision for Our Name

Why we are called by the name,

I remember coining the phrase when we started our efforts back in September of 2007. It rolled out of head and onto my tongue so quickly! I I believe that this is because of a work of the Spirit of God through the Scriptures has matured my vision for and view of the local church and universal church. The coining of this name has roots. And I want to share those roots with you here in hopes that they adequately express out of my brief experience and observation what I am truly committed to, and therefore what I want our local fellowship to be committed to.


1. I want to reclaim the word and meaning and expression of “church”.


First, as far as I can tell, government, marriage and the church are the only three institutions in all of Scripture which God has Himself established and ordained. This is significant. How often do we attempt to attach some divine sense of responsibility for things which God has neither ordained, instituted, nor promised to bless. Out of the three, the church is the only institution God has ordained which has been inseparably attached to the person and work of Jesus Christ, and therefore that has an eternal destiny


Second, the church is the “institution” God ordained to bring about the reconciliation of the world to King Jesus. Ephesians, the theology book on the church, teaches us that from eternity past God’s “unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure” (1:5). That unchanging plan was a secret before, but “has now been revealed to us; it is a plan centered on Christ, designed long ago according to his good pleasure” (v. 9). That plan is this: “At the right time he will bring everything under the authority of Christ – everything in heaven and on earth” (v. 10). What is more, the very reason why God raised Jesus from the dead was to elevate Him, “far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else in this world or in the world to come” (v. 21). This has the effect and consequence of God putting “all things under the authority of Christ,” giving King Jesus “this authority for the benefit of the church” (v. 22). What an incredible privilege then to discover that “the CHURCH is his body; it is filled by Christ who fills everything everywhere with his presence” (v. 23)! God accomplished and continues to accomplish this by means of reconciling sinners to Himself.
But this “secret plan” had another facet which was to unify reconciled sinners to each other, “together as one body…by means of his death” (2:16). The purpose behind this part of the plan was “to show his wisdom in all its rich variety to all the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms” (3:10). And the world, and all its rulers and authorities, will see God’s wisdom in all its rich variety “when Jews and Gentiles are joined together in his church” (v. 10).


Toward this end, God has given leaders to His Son’s body as gifts to “the church, the body of Christ” (4:12) toward one aim: “until we come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ” (4:13). It is under the direction of “Christ, who is the head of his body, the church” (v. 15), that “the whole body is fitted together perfectly” (v. 16). So the focus of God reconciling sinners to Himself is to unify them together in the church so that in that context they will mature and conform to the image of His Son, King Jesus, the ruler of the world through the church. The word “church” in our name, then, confesses and professes everything we believe and live for.


Third, the church is the “living color” expression of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The church interprets the gospel by how it lives and breathes…among each other and within the community and around the world.


Therefore, it is my conviction that no greater word confesses what we believe and professes who we follow than this word, “church.” It belongs to those who are truly followers of King Jesus and embrace His life and death and resurrection for themselves.


2. I am desperate and therefore passionate for true, Christian unity.


First, it becomes almost impossible in our day and time to avoid in local churches a sectarian spirit which constantly tends towards separation from others, even if they are in unity with us on the essentials of the gospel. In every person there is a natural tendency to express our individualism, especially in our 21st century westernized, American culture. But consider the language and mindset of the Scriptures.


· There is still only “ONE body” and “we have the SAME Spirit, and we have all been called to the SAME glorious future” (Ephesians 4:4). Further, “there is only ONE Lord, ONE faith, ONE baptism, and there is only ONE God and Father, who is over us ALL and in us ALL and living through us ALL” (Eph. 4:5-6).

· Though we each have different gifts and even distinctives, “it is the SAME Holy Spirit who is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service in the church, but it is the SAME Lord we are serving. There are different ways God works in our lives, but it is the SAME God who does the work through us all…The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up only ONE body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into CHRIST’S body by ONE Spirit, and we have all received the SAME Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3-6, 12-13).

· It is out of the reality of this unity, despite our denominational differences, that Jesus prays, “My prayer for all of them is that they will be ONE, just as you and I are one, Father – that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me. I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are – I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one. Then the world will know that you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me” (John 17:21-23).
The single reason why Jesus prays that His church would have the kind of unity that He and the Father enjoyed is so that the world would believe in King Jesus. Unity is the single most important, yet oft-neglected means of evangelization. And it is my opinion that Church in the Boro most accurately reflects for our group the prayer and desire of Jesus to evangelize the community by communicating from the beginning that we are simply a “church,” – a group of sinners whom God has unified to Himself through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and unified together to worship and enjoy Him.


Second, given the subculture in which we live – in the southern part of a southern state – sectarianism is more often than not displayed in the very names with which churches take on themselves. We can all relate to standing bewildered, scratching our heads, staring at a church sign, while wondering what in the world a Holiness Evangelical Deliverance Tabernacle of God really is? Sometimes, names do mean something, and in cases like these, they are confusing and scary.
Third, that said, the subculture is rooted in a sectarianism which divides camps between larger groups Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, and wierdos. Beyond that, whatever other names may be attached to “Baptist” or “Methodist” are largely ignored. Sometimes then, names don’t mean anything at all.


Therefore, if I’m out to recapture the word “church” and infuse it with its rich, biblical meaning it is better off unrelated to or unassociated with any denomination or religious sect. This means that those who see “Church in the Boro” will be far less likely to begin the normal mental associations that go with having anything else in a church name. It will provide the generic concept which be less likely to “turn off” those who do think like this, yet at the same time providing the generic concept that will invite visitors to find out who we really are and what we’re really about.


3. I’m desperate to display the humility of Jesus Christ in who we are and what we become as a local church fellowship.


First, it seems this can best be accomplished by dispensing with denominational or sectarian names or connotations. There will be and always will be distinctive in our theologies. But these ought only to be markers which differentiate us and never separate us. As it stands now in America, and especially in the south, denominational names separate more than they differentiate. As a result, they continue to elicit pride in the hearts of those who care more about such things than King Jesus, and they continue to unnecessarily divide the body of Christ from each other when there is so much work to do. More often than not, pride is the root which lies beneath denominationalism and sectarianism. Humility wants only to cling to Jesus Christ and Him crucified.


Second, the church’s best and most fitting starting point is humility. We are taking our simple place in God’s kingdom, in a little town of 25,000 people, among many other local churches…in a state of 4.6 million people, among many other cities…in a big country of 301 billion people, among many other states…on a big planet of 6.6 billion people. Where God has ordained and established us right now, we are focusing on the accomplishment of the work God has ordained for a “church” to do…in Statesboro, Georgia.


Summary and Conclusion


As a result of these three points, I am convinced that despite what reputation may precede us a fellowship, the name “Church in the Boro” will eventually communicate the three things above that I hope, and pray and lead towards as being true of us. Let the community see our confession of a true, biblical gospel and our profession of King Jesus as the Head of the Church and His people unified together under His rule. Let them see it embodied so that the word “church” slowly takes on its intended meaning as a unified gathering of reconciled sinners. And let them see it displayed in the humility which says we are simply a local church in a little town following the orders of King Jesus. We are nothing more, and nothing less.

May the Church in the Boro prosper in its commitment to simplicity and humility, both defined by and expressed in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Rob