My wife and I traveled to Hawaii a few weeks ago for a co-worker’s wedding. We stayed over an extra day and attended a church service in downtown Honolulu with a friend of many years who had just moved to Hawaii. The community she is a part of is called Bluewater Mission, a newer church plant by a Stanford and University of Chicago grad with roots in the Presbyterian Church and the Vineyard Church (what a combo!).
Aside from the refreshing collective of diverse people, gathered in a noisy community center to worship and learn from the Word, what struck me most was their name.
Bluewater Mission
Not Bluewater Church.
Bluewater Mission.
Mission.
I think I like it.
The word “mission” conjures up all sorts of things in my mind, including:
- Intentionality and focus
- A task or duty to be completed
- Sending out or being sent
- A haven and refuge
- A spiritual place
In other words, mission sounds a lot like church!
Bluewater Mission in Hawaii is not avoiding the word ‘church’–their materials use the word often–but they certainly seem to be helping to define or redefine church a bit more.
I’m not suggesting that the word “church” be eliminated, but in some contexts, cities or communities, I think the use of the word “church” needs greater clarity.
Jim
August 29, 2009
a friend of mine said that when they went through a transition that they went from being a stuffy church to a mission.
Mark
August 30, 2009
Or they could be borrowing from the old Spanish outposts..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_missions_in_California
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_missions_in_Texas
=] makes me think of Zorro.
Jonas
August 30, 2009
I think thats not bad.
My church is named “Stadtmission Eickel” thats mean Citymission Eickel.
Paul in Canada
August 31, 2009
I like it as well, but I know people who fret words like mission or crusade because of the militaristic overtones. Sometimes, however, a word just needs a break and then it’s ripe for a comeback.
Steve"The Czar" Patton
September 3, 2009
Funny, in urban areas anything ending in “mission” is probably a shelter for the homeless. But hey, whatever works…
C3 Trev
September 11, 2009
We just went through a global branding process. The journey was from Christian City Church to CCC to C3 and finally now to C3 Church. The branding firm (a secular firm in Australia) did a bunch of research and found out that people really didn’t know C3 was a church and they wanted to be upfront about that to avoid the feeling of being tricked. We are now C3 Church.