Pastor Mike's Blog

Name Change Discussion Update/Decision

Before Easter, I shared in my  blog and spoke with you during one of the worship services about some discussions that were ongoing regarding the possibility of changing the name of our church.  More than 30 people shared their comments with me and the leadership team and I want to express my thanks to each of you who took the time to write to me.  Your comments were very good and helped our leadership team as they worked through the process of considering whether this is something we should pursue at this time. 

On April 15, our Elders  and Management Oversight Team met in separate meetings and decided that we would not pursue changing our church’s name at this time.  While there were a lot of good comments made in favor of changing the name and our leaders believed there would be some value in changing the name, there was a sense after praying about it more and considering everything that would be involved with changing our name that it wasn’t something we should do at this time. 

From my perspective, the name change discussion has been very insightful.  It reminded me again that the most effective way of helping people learn about Otterbein Church is through the personal interactions we have with people who already attend Otterbein.  In other words, people will draw their conclusions about the kind of church Otterbein is and what is important to us more through what they hear those of us who attend Otterbein say and how we act than they will through what the name of the church might be.  As such, I want to encourage you to share with others what you like about Otterbein Church and what Otterbein Church means to you.  As you do it will help those not familiar with Otterbein to have a more accurate picture of Otterbein Church.

The other thing I took away from the whole discussion was there will always be a group of people (and I believe this group is growing as more and more people move into the area) that don’t have any association with anyone who attends Otterbein and they tend to draw their own conclusions about Otterbein based solely on our name.  It is for this group that we have events like the Green Thumb Extravaganza and Expo and sponsor soccer and little league teams in hopes that we will have the opportunity to introduce ourselves to people in the community.   In the months ahead, we will be looking at additional ways we can better introduce Otterbein Church to this group of people in our quest to help them have an accurate understanding of who we are and what is important to us.   If you have some ideas of ways we could better introduce ourselves to those who have no association with anyone who attends Otterbein, please feel free to share your thoughts with me.

Name Change Discussion Follow Up

I just wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who has been sharing their thoughts and comments about changing our name.  If you would like to be able to see all the comments, please click here and it will take you to the comments.  I have included all the comments that have come in -- even those who came through the website or through email or letters to me.  I wanted you to be able to see all the comments people have shared.

If you would like to share your thoughts, it is not too late.  We don't really have a timeline for when any kind of decision might be made, so there is still opportunity for you to share your thoughts.  For me, your comments have helped me in shaping my thoughts about the name change.  I will probably share some of my thoughts next week sometime in my blog post.

See you tomorrow at church!  It is going to be a great day!!!!

Name Change Discussion/Comments Added

Since Sunday, we have had quite a few people comment on the name change issue that we talked about briefly on Sunday.  The comments have been very good and I appreciate the way people have communicated their thoughts.  A few minutes ago, I added the comments to the blog post that came to us by email.  I wanted you to be able to see them.  Click here to read all the comments that have been submitted so far. 

One thing I wanted to mention in response to the comments of several regarding the expense of new signage, stationary, etc.  These are good concerns and ones that we have been discussing ourselves.  In fact, it is one of the reasons we are dealing with the issue now.  Our signage at Otterbein is in need of updates and hasn't been done for some time.  We were planning to move forward with it, but wanted to make sure we didn't start doing something that would require us to make additional changes in the next few months if we decided to change our name.  Likewise, envelopes, stationary, etc. would need to be changed as our need arises for them and we want to make sure that we have stategically thought this all out to make sure we didn't waste our money.   As I already said, these concerns about the cost are things we too have been thinking about and I assure you we would be sensitive about this issue if we decide to move forward with any name change.

Feel free to add additional comments.  They will help our leadership team with any decision we decide to make about this.

Name Change Discussion

At Church today (March 22), I brought up the issue about the possibility of us changing our church name from Otterbein to something different. Let me summarize again (in case you were not at church today or I didn't make it clear when I was presenting it) some of the reasons why this is even being discussed. 

1. Because of the number of Otterbein Churches in the area, there is often confusion when communicating about events as to which Otterbein Church it is being held at.  There is an Otterbein Church in Greencastle, one in Quincy, and one in Hagerstown.  There are also other Otterbein Churches in the area beyond those three.  Just recently, a local architect sent out information about a building addition being added to Otterbein Church, 801 Park Street, Waynesboro, PA.  That is our address and the name of our church, but we are not planning an addition to our church.  When we contacted them, they told us they messed up and it was really a church in Newburg, PA.  Lately, this kind of confusion has been happening a lot in correspondence, emails, and other ways with our church.
2. When people not familiar with our church hear the name Otterbein, they often have all kinds of questions and associations in their mind about who we must be and what kind of church we are.  For example, since many of the churches whose name is Otterbein are United Methodist churches, people often think we must be a United Methodist congregation. As you know, we are not affiliated with any denomination.  Just last week, someone asked where I was the pastor and I told them Otterbein Church.  Their response was that we must be a German congregation with a name like Otterbein.  Others simply ask, What is an OTTERBEIN?  Since it is not a common name, it conjures up all kinds of images.  My guess is that for many people, Otterbein sounds like we are a very "formal" and have a "high church" worship style.  The point is simply that it seems the name Otterbein raises images in people's minds that are not really reflective of who we are as a church. 

3. Some have suggested that a better time to change our name might be when we relocate to Welty Road. For me, I have thought this was probably true and when the idea of changing our name has come up in the past, we have generally said we would revisit the idea when we move.  Recently however, someone raised what I think is a very good point.  They said that they believed that changing our name when we move would be a bad idea and if we are going to change it, we should do it before we move.  Here was their rationale:  When we move to Welty Road, we don't want to give the idea that we are some new church in the community or that we are reinventing ourselves when we move.  That simply will not be true.  While our worship auditorium and building will certainly look different, we are not planning major ministry program changes when we move.  We will be the same church -- just at a different location.  If a name change is associated with the move, it may add extra confusion and get in the way of us reaching our to our community.  Personally, I think that is a pretty good argument for not changing the name when we move and going ahead and changing it now if we think a name change is something we should do.  

Those are just three of the most common reasons that have been discussed lately for even considering changing our name.  You may have others and we would like to hear them. For me, THE BIGGEST ISSUE IS SIMPLY THIS -- I believe God wants us to do whatever needs to be done (as long as it does not violate Scripture) to remove barriers and hindrances for people coming to Otterbein.  If our name is getting in the way of reaching out to our unchurched community and not helping us reach people for Christ AND if changing our name would help us have a greater impact, then I believe we should do it. There is nothing sacred about the name Otterbein.  Frankly, I don't know if our name is an issue or not and that is why I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts to see what you think and are hearing from others.

There are a couple of other things I want to mention about the name change discussion. First, no decision has been made about whether we should change our name or not.  Ultimately, our Elders and Management Oversight Team will make the final decision.  It was the desire of the staff, Elders, and Management Oversight Team to hear what the congregation thinks about this and that is why we are seeking the congregation's input.

Secondly, we don't have a name picked out.  If, after hearing what others think about the possibility of changing the name, we move forward with a name change, we will have to figure out what the name of our church should be called.  I am sure our leadership team will welcome suggestions from the congregation if we decide to move forward with a name change.

Thirdly, any name change will take place over a period of time.  If you are familiar with the cellular service now called ATT, you know it once was called Cingular.  I believe they are a great model for how to change the name of a business or organization.  It took place over the course of at least one year so people got used to it and if we change our name, we will probably follow a similar model.

Lastly, for most of us who have been here at Otterbein a long time, "Otterbein Church" will always be "Otterbein Church" no matter what the new name is.  Someone reminded me lately that it doesn't matter what the name of the tavern/bar is beside the church, to them it will always be the Golden Goose.  That was the name they used for many years and when you start using a name, you often refer to it even if they start using a new name and have new owners.  The point is this.  For many of us, even if we change our name, it will still be Otterbein Church to us because that is what we have always called it and that is where we got married, dedicated our kids, went to funerals, made our decision to follow Christ, and much more.  As long as we are on Park Street, our cornerstone and engraved sign on the side of our church toward Park street will always say Otterbein.  That will not change.  Changing our name is not going to change our memories or even change who we are as a church.  That is not the point of considering the name change. Rather, the whole discussion and the question that is driving this discussion is simply an attempt to determine if changing our name would help us better reach our community for Christ. 

I realize this blog post is lengthy, but I hope it gives you some insight about why we are even talking about this.  PLEASE FEEL FREE TO LEAVE COMMENTS TO THIS POST.   In your comments, include your name, whether you think it is a good idea or not change the name of our church, and your rationale for your opinion.  I also encourage you to check back on my blog to read the comments that people have left as well as updates I will post about the name change.