Last year we voted to change our name to Faith Manhattan Church at our March 23, 2023 Congregational Meeting. The motion passed 77-1. Since then, we have been using a D.B.A. (Doing Business As) approach to our name usage. This means that in all of our official business and legal interactions, we have continued to use our old name, Faith Evangelical Free Church. To officially change our name requires that we amend our constitution. Here is the relevant section of the constitution that addresses amendments to the constitution: 
 

ARTICLE X - AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION
SECTION I: Amendments to this Constitution may be made at the annual business meeting of the church, by a two-thirds majority of votes cast, provided said proposed amendments have been presented and discussed at a business meeting at least three months prior to the time of the annual meeting.  Further, a copy of the proposed amendments shall be delivered personally or by mail to the membership at least thirty (30) days before the date of the annual meeting.

In light of the process that is outlined for amending our constitution, the elders presented the following proposal at the meeting last year: 

Proposal:  The elders of Faith propose that we amend Article 1 of our constitution to say, “The corporate name of this church shall be Faith Manhattan Church.” Additionally, in every place where Faith Evangelical Free Church appears in the constitution to amend the name to Faith Manhattan Church.

Since this proposal was “presented and discussed” at the meeting last year, we are now ready to present the proposal for a vote at the upcoming meeting. The elders will be asking you to approve this proposal to officially change our name in our constitution allowing us to use our new name in all of our legal and business interactions.

A Proposed Name-Modification for Faith

This past Sunday, Pastor Brian gave an update about a proposed name-modification for Faith that the leadership of Faith is proposing. If you missed the service on Sunday, we wanted to make sure you were informed about this important issue.

When rightly understood, our current name has a rich meaning. Unfortunately, it is not rightly understood by many people. For many people our name is simply confusing. It is long and hard to remember. For some, when they hear the term, "evangelical” they only hear political and cultural connotations, which can create a barrier that keeps them from checking out our church and thus checking out Jesus.

Our mission as a church is to make disciples of Jesus. We want to help people who do not yet know Jesus come into a saving relationship with him and then develop as disciples of Jesus who love God, one another, and our neighbors. And because this is so, we want to do what we can to remove any unnecessary barriers that might keep someone from visiting our church including our name.

For those who have been a part of Faith for some time, you know that this is a discussion we have been having for some time (see History of Name-Change @ Faith). As the leadership of Faith has been seeking God on this issue, we believe the time is right to make this change. We believe there is broad consensus to make this change and that there has been for many years.

At our March 23 congregational meeting, we are going to ask the members of Faith to affirm a name-modification to Faith Manhattan Church. This name retains “Faith,” which is how we are known, and it roots us in the community that we are seeking to reach.

We want to assure you that this proposed name-change does not reflect a desire to distance ourselves from the Evangelical Free Church of America. We continue to deeply appreciate our affiliation with the EFCA movement. Our affiliation with the EFCA will be transparent on our website so that people who come to town looking for an EFCA church will still be able to find us. 

If you have questions about the name or this process, the elders invite you to reach out to us. As well, we want to let you know that on Sunday, March 5, we will have open meetings between services (9-9:30am and 10:30-11am) that you can stop by and learn more about this change and ask questions.

Sincerely,

Faith’s Elder Team
Jim Kenworthy (chairman), Brian Anderson, Brooke Beyer, Brandon Clark, Steve Frank, Nick Long, David Pauls, Steve Ratliff