God Messengers, Rebranding & Easter

Wow! Praise be to God! Your response to serve as “God Messengers” as we plan, prepare and host all of our Holy Week activities, climaxing with five exiting life changing Easter Worship Celebrations was tremendous! Our cup runneth over with blessing. I continue to be in awe of your commitment to the mission and extremely grateful to be one of your ministry partners. Every weekend God is allowing us to witness life change among both the lost and the found. God’s favor is obviously upon us so I thank God for his blessing but I thank you for your commitment to the mission.


In the past few weeks you have heard a little about the session’s prayer led decision to begin a process that would lead to us embracing a new name. A rebranding team was created last fall for the purpose of helping us develop and work through a process that would allow us to seek and discern God’s revelation for the name. Understandably, there are many questions and emotions surrounding such a bold decision. Please allow me to answer a few of those questions as we continue to process, dialogue and together seek God’s revelation.

Why are we changing our name?

The short answer is a different name will allow us to reach people for Jesus who for various reasons when hearing of or seeing our name, quickly decide without knowing our DNA that we are another irrelevant institutional church. Our name alone, without chance of a lengthy conversation, has little if any appeal to the lost, unchurched or younger families new to the area.

I thought we were doing pretty well. Are we trying to be a mega church?

We are trying to be obedient to the biblical mandate of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) and our purpose statement. God has been good to us. By his grace, your hard work and generosity, we have witnessed a bountiful harvest, but as Jesus left the 99 to seek after the one, we feel compelled to do the same. We are to be ever pushing to be a mission outpost, a mash unit on the battlefield of life for people who do not know Jesus and or who have been hurt or turned off by institutional religion.

Isn’t rebranding expensive?

Signage, vans, business cards and letterhead are expensive, but regardless of the name change, we will soon be spending money on these items and others anyway. Our signs are tired, ineffective, dated and need to be relocated. Our vans are on their last leg and the bus logo is fading. Letterhead and business cards are cyclical and we are coming up the restocking cycle for each of these disposable items. And yes, communicating to the public who knows the name St. Matthew Cumberland Presbyterian church will require expenditures, but mission work is always messy, exhausting and expensive.

Will I get a vote? What is the process? When is all of this going to happen?

According to our church government, the only “local” church wide vote is for the elders and deacons who are charged with leading the body in the fulfillment of the mission in accordance with our denominational polity and theology. There is no set time frame. We are very early in the process and want to give you time to catch up mentally, emotionally and spiritually. The smaller the plane, the smaller runway needed to get the aircraft off the ground. This is a big plane, so the run way will be lengthy. I anticipate after Easter and throughout the summer there will be more opportunities for church wide conversations with the session and rebranding team. A consistent communication plan to the body is being designed as well as a way to receive your suggested names. The Rebranding Team will create focus groups from non St. Matthew worshippers to give us feedback on our current and proposed names. Eventually the Rebranding Team will propose a short list to the body and the session. The session will vote on a name and then take our request to Presbytery for approval.

Are we leaving the denomination?

There are no plans or intentions to leave the denomination.

I want to know more. I want to help. I want to share my thoughts and feelings. How do I do that?

By Monday, March 4th, there will be Rebranding Link on the front page of the website listing contact info for the Rebranding Team and the Session. You may also contact me or any other staff member. This is a huge change and we want to help you process anyway we can.

I am going to set aside my focus on this endeavor for a few weeks so I can zero in on Holy Week and Easter. I urge you to do the same. The Holy Spirit is moving and we have a tremendous opportunity forthcoming to reach many for Christ. I look forward to working side by side with you now and for years to come as together we strive to…. “glorify God by sharing the love and grace of Jesus with as many people as we can.”

Your session is praying for you. Please pray for your session.

Peace,

Rick

I Love Our Church Name But.........

I love our church name “St. Matthew,” but it is not about me! On December 6, 2011, our session made and unanimously passed a recommendation to change our name so that we might better fulfill our purpose; “Glorify God by sharing the love and grace of Jesus Christ with as many people as we can.”

I love our church name “St. Mathew, “but it is not about me! Our session has been discussing this idea for many years so I was not surprised by the recommendation and vote but I was surprised by my surfacing emotions. I spoke for the recommendation but immediately began to grieve the forth coming loss of a name that marks some of the most important experiences in my life; my first full time pastorate, the site of my ordination, where our children were raised, baptized and professed their faith. Under the name “St. Mathew” I have presided at scores of marriages, baptisms, and funerals. At “St. Mathew” I learned how to be a godly man, husband and father. At “St. Matthew” friendships were built that will last a life time and at “St. Matthew” I have been a part of a family that has impacted the world for Christ in our own backyard and across the seas.

I love our church name “St. Matthew,” but it is not about me! For many reasons, to be shared in a future blog, the full name “St. Matthew Cumberland Presbyterian Church” carries numerous connotations that are a stumbling block to those we are trying to reach, the unchurched and those who do know Jesus. Witnesses inside and outside the church prove this to be true so your session formed a Rebranding Team in August 2012 to begin the renaming process.

I love our church name “St. Matthew”, but it is not about me! After processing with several groups of people my grief has passed and I am excited about the prospects of our new name. I am convinced that it is God’s timing, God’s idea and God’s favor that has led us to this season in our journey.

Soon the Rebranding Team made up of Jeff Ogden chair, Arlen Fuhlendorf, Sherri Sechrist, Will Johnson, Liz Mitchell, Bill Whatley, Lana Horadam, Cheyenne Davis, Josh Fortney and Nedra Lamar will be inviting you into the conversation and discernment process. Together, joined in prayer and stimulating conversation, we will seek God’s name for His Church so we might fulfill the mission he has placed before us. How long will the process take? Only God knows. What will be the process be? Will be shared in a forth coming blog.

Yes, I love our church name, but more than loving the name “St. Matthew “ I love who we are, our DNA, our identity, our heart, our passion and our mission for reaching the lost. And I am eager to move into this next season of our existence so that future generations will be even more effective at fulfilling our purpose; “Glorify God, by sharing the love and grace of Jesus Christ with as many people as we can!”

I love our church name, but it is not about me, it is not about you, it is about God's mission placed before us.

I am praying for you. Please pray for me. And pray for our Rebranding Team and Session as they lead us through us this season of exciting change and possibility.

Peace,

Rick