Churches: Wooing faithful using names

By LILLIAN ALUANGA

Some are named after saints. Others take on the aura of dogma or tradition. Yet another group leaves little doubt of expectations, with promises of miracles and victory.

Whether it’s the ‘traditional’ church, with its wooden pews, organ, stained glass windows and robed choir members, or the more flamboyant charismatic congregations, with shiny instruments and fiery sermons, churches, it appears, are holding nothing back in setting themselves apart.

And it has everything to do with names. It starts with the more ‘traditional’ labels, which evoke memories of saints, and biblical places, to the one-word ‘hippier’ versions, and those that give a glimpse into the core beliefs of a congregation.

Variety is not in short supply.

Among the African Instituted churches names such as Israel Silimbika International Church Kenya, African Israel Nineveh Church, Dini ya Roho, Mafuta Pole ya Afrika, The Church of Prophets, African Interior Church, Mercy and Holy Ghost Church and Roho Revelation Church reinforce attempts to remain fiercely protective of their roots.

But just what is in a church name?

Plenty, at least according to the men of the cloth and scholars of religious studies.

"A name shows identity and in some ways the values embodied by a congregation," says St Peter’s Methodist Church, Lang’ata, youth pastor Joseph Obwanda.

According to the pastor, church names, in many cases embody experiences some of the founders have gone through, as exemplified by the ‘Methodist’ and ‘Quaker’ movements. ‘Quakers’, which means to tremble in the ways of God, also known as the ‘Friends’ Church, traces its name to the great persecution of the movement’s founders in the 17th century.

Friends’ evolution

"They were often charged with causing a disturbance. Despite this, the group grew and got more ‘Friends’, who identified with their beliefs and were even willing to be jailed for this," says Mr Obwanda.

Then there are the Methodists, whose name is linked to the ‘methodical’ approach to scripture and Christian living exhibited by its early followers.

"The term was given to a group of students at the Oxford University, who regularly met for fellowship," says Obwanda. The group is said to have regularly fasted, received Holy Communion and abstained from luxury, preferring instead to visit the sick, the poor and those in prison.

While it is true most of the names borne by mainstream churches such as the Anglicans, Catholics, Presbyterians, and Lutherans are more informed by a long history of liturgical practices, the same cannot be said of the new wave of evangelical movements or independent churches.

Evangelical churches

"It is true that the evangelical churches are ‘more creative’ in the kind of names they come up with, but there is no prescribed formula in coming up with a name so long as its scripturally based," says Evangelical Alliance of Kenya (EAK) General Secretary Wellington Mutiso. Church names, in most cases, Dr Mutiso says, take on the form of a memorial to saints, Biblical places or events.

"There are groups that name their churches according to their mission or vision, for example those with words such as Apostolic, Evangelistic or Healing," he says.

Mutiso however says there was a break from the ‘traditional’ names adopted by churches in the 1980’s, which gained popularity when registration of churches in the country was halted.

"People started finding different ways of registering their movements and took on the name ‘ministry’, which in effect meant churches could be registered as NGOs, which provided other services apart from spiritual nourishment," Mutiso says.

Thus marked the entry of churches with appendages such as ‘Hope or Life Centre ministries’, which offered other services such as feeding orphans and sheltering the homeless.

"Evangelical churches came up with ‘trade names’ which differentiated them from the mainstream churches founded by missionaries. It was a way of reaching out to more people and making everyone, regardless of their denomination, feel welcome," Mutiso says.

But despite these good intentions, there are those who feel some churches quest for uniqueness has gone overboard.

"Some of them (names) are poorly thought out and hardly make sense to anyone outside the congregation. Others have a negative effect other than what was intended," says University of Nairobi lecturer Stephen Akaranga.

Dr Akaranga says practicality, a story or mythological aspect, doctrinal philosophy, and ethical aspects are important aspects to be considered when coming up with church names.

The lecturer at the department of Religious Studies says the mythological aspect emphasises the church’s sound propagation of its values from one generation to the next. Many churches springing up nowadays, he says, lack this foundation.

"Some names have no bearing at all on what the church embodies," he says.

Akaranga says the naming of churches has a long history dating back to the New Testament’s apostles and disciples, which changed over the years.

"As the church expanded, it took on names of places and later those of important personalities, founders and even occasions," he says. Mutiso cites a link between the names chosen by evangelical movements, and the growth registered among its members, who are drawn by labels that bear no baggage of the mainstream movements. Currently, the EAK has about 58,000 congregations spread across the country.

But he also cautions churches against being over enthusiastic in crafting names.

"Some are too long and cannot even fit on a letterhead," he says.

Obwanda cites ‘marketing’ or ‘branding’ to attract groups such like the youth, as another reason that could inform many a church’s decision when settling on a name.

"We live in a secular system, where youth are more attracted to fashion fads, and ‘hip’ sounding names," he says.

He cites the example of the youth wing in his church which prefers to be identified as ‘SPYC’ (St Peter’s Youth Church) and Kayo ( the Kenya Anglican Youth Organisation), as names which sound more exciting than the ‘mother’ labels. The pastor however says the quest for uniqueness among churches should be exercised with caution.

"The challenge, for churches, lies in finding balance between the pursuit of relevance and pursuit of acceptance," he says.

"The church should guard against compromising, in order to be more acceptable, but in the end lose out on being relevant to society," Obwanda adds.