SBC name change

[Blake]

[Neil Heath]

Wish BL.com had a "Like" button. Great humor, with more than a dash of truth, Blake. Thanks!

[Alan Carter]

How about these:

Biblical Convention of America
Biblical View of Men Convention of America
Heterosexual Convention of America
Non-Gay Convention of America
Non-Democrat Convention of America
Republican-Biblical Convention of America
Tithers Convention of America
Non-bloggers Convention of America
Old Folks Convention
Non-Liberal Convention

[Blake]

Evangelical Baptist Convention of America hasn't been taken. That actually doesn't sound too bad. In fact that's the best I've heard. I doubt we'd be confused with the Evangelical Baptist Convention of India or the Ukrainian Evangelical Baptist Convention of Canada.

[Haruo]

Some folks up North might assume EBCA was a liberal Lutheran immersionist splinter group...

[Blake]

How about Convention of Evangelical Baptists? Convention of American Evangelical Baptists? American Evangelical Baptist Convention? Assembly/Assemblies of Evangelical Baptists? I think I like assembly instead of convention. It feels less formal and less business-like and more representative of our free church ecclesiology at its various levels.

[Dave Roberts]

The discussion about renaming the SBC has been bounced around, even in SBC annual conventions, since the late 1960's or early 1970's, So far, the idea has never gained much traction. I'm not expecting this effort to gain a lot of ground either.

[Ed Pettibone]

[Haruo]

Some of us think the biggest problem with all of your (Blake's) "Evangelical" suggestions is that it would do the same damage to that term that the SBC has already done to "Baptist".

[William Thornton]

This is 'old' news, as Dave notes. The only thing new this go around is that bloggers have seized it by the throat and are attempting to throttle even the suggestion of an idea of even thinking about it.

Look for an insightful and scintillating blog by moi tomorrow at .

Thoughts:
It will be a cold day in gehenna when 'Baptist' is dropped.
'Evangelical' is DOA, since it carries some baggage and we like to distinguish ourselves from the pack.
'Southern' is the current snarl word that causes some of the brethren to do serious handwringing. I don't know of a decent substitute.

[Haruo]

[William Thornton]

[Big Daddy Weaver]

[Neil Heath]

[Blake]

[Sandy]

I wouldn't have ever thought there would be a Baptist group that would self-identify as "Converge" so I won't speculate on the liklihood that the SBC will change its name. I'm not sure what the purpose would be, since there are Southern Baptist churches in all 50 states, and around the world. The name "Southern" is more a historical reference than it is a geographic or even cultural indicator. Southern Baptists in Pittsburgh are more likely to worship in an ethnic or language congregation than in a traditional setting. In the rural areas of Western PA, the churches don't have anything specific that would distinguish them from the other Baptist churches unless you happen to recognize the logo on the sign, or they use Lifeway material in Sunday School, which a lot of non-SBC churches up here also use.

The SBC is very likely one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse denominations in the country. What would a name change do for it at this point?

[ET]

[Ed Pettibone]

[Alan Carter]

I thought about "Saved Baptist Convention" but then realized it wouldn't include all our church members.

Thought about "Blood Washed Baptist Convention" but then realized it would offend the liberals.

Thought about "Bible Believing Baptist Convention" but then realized we wouldn't have any members in Waco.

Thought about "Non-Argumentative Baptist Convention" but then realized that would be an outright lie.

Thought about "Mega Church Baptist Convention" but then realized we already have too many of those.

So I guess we'll have to be content with what we have.......

[Jerry_B]

I may change my name to Suzy and buy a new wardrobe but that doesn't change who I really am. The same applies to the SBC, they can change the name to a generic name with no meaning or history, it really doesn't matter, they are and will be the SBC. Unless Jerry has surgery to remove and add some things, Jerry will never be Suzy. Same applies to the SBC, unless they have some serious surgery to add and remove some things they will always be the SBC.

[William Thornton]

[rfuss]

What about the Conservative Baptist Convention. Since the conservative resurgence, this might be more descriptive. Or maybe some other Baptist group already has that name.

[Ed Pettibone]

[rfuss]

[Ed Pettibone]