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 below). 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

History of Name-Change @ Faith

1987
Faith was established with the name The Evangelical Free Church of Manhattan.

1997
There was a growing vision to plant another EFCA church in Manhattan. Our name at the time suggested that we were the only EFCA church in town. Due to our vision for outreach, we changed our name to “Faith Evangelical Free Church” when we built and moved into our current building.

May 21, 2012 – Congregational Meeting
The elders communicated that the topic of a name change, which had been brought up in the past, had surfaced again and that we wanted to start a discussion about it. There was no determination about whether we would or not at the time. The heart behind considering a name change was to have a name that communicates well with the community and is welcoming to everyone.

November 26, 2012 - Congregational Meeting
The elders reported that they had received a lot of feedback on the name change idea. Elders visited life groups to get feedback, etc. They communicated that there was no desire to move away from the EFCA. Due to MR1 and the new construction, decided that 2013 would be the time for bringing a name to the membership for a vote.

March 4, 2013 - Congregational Meeting
The elders reported that they had been thinking, praying, and discussing the topic and believe that in terms of effectiveness and outreach it makes a lot of sense to change our name. A subcommittee was formed with the goal to bring a proposed name to the members at the May congregational meeting.

May 20, 2013 – Congregational Meeting
The elder reported that they were not ready to bring a proposed new name for vote yet.

Aug. 19, 2013 – Congregational Meeting
The elders announced that the decision had been made to not change our name due to no clarity on what the new name should be. Though the name did not officially change, we did decide to begin the practice of simply using the name “Faith.”

Late 2018 – Early 2019
There were some people in the church who once again encouraged leadership to consider changing our name. As had been the case in previous discussions about this, the main motivating reason was outreach. Our name is confusing to many, the term “evangelical” is often wrongly associated only with political positions, etc.

February-May 2019
The elders began to pray about this and eventually agreed that it was time to purse a name change. The elders tasked Logan Lindahl with putting together a task force to work on coming up with name options.

June – September 2019
Regardless of what the name would become, the task force determined that it was best to keep “Faith” as part of our name. The task force came up with several suggestions of possible new names. Eventually this was narrowed down to two names: “Faith Church” and “Faith Church Manhattan.” After further input and discussions, the elders landed on “Faith Church.” The plan at the time was to bring the name for a vote of affirmation at the November congregational meeting.

Nov. 2019
Due to some disruption to our church unity, the elders decided to postpone the discussion and vote on the name-change until we could do it in a more visionary, united setting.

March 2020
COVID hit and the name change discussion/process stopped.

Early 2021
In the context of work that the pastoral team was doing to revise our mission statement they began having discussions again about the need to change our name.

Fall 2021
Steve re-initiated the name-change discussion with the elder board. He communicated that he believed that it is time to make the change to a new name that would serve us better. The elders were in unanimous agreement that a name-change was wise. The elder board asked the pastoral team to move the process forward.

January – November 2022
The elders determined that it would be wise and helpful to work with an agency to determine a new name as well as to develop a new logo and design elements for our website, social media, print materials, etc. With Steve gone on sabbatical during the summer there was a 3 month pause. In the fall, it was decided to secure New Boston from here in Manhattan to assist in the process.

November – December 2022
A team was put together to work with New Boston (Steve Ratliff, Brian Anderson, Logan Lindahl, Amy Lindahl, and Faryn Schulte). A decision was made to go with “Faith Manhattan Church” as our new name. The elders unanimously approved this proposed name at their December meeting.