Many Christians have gravitated toward the thrill of naming or renaming themselves. This mimics a trend in business and society. Maybe it started when domain names began growing scarce. Suddenly obscure and invented words became cool. Whether in business or religion, the times are changing (faster than ever).  We are challenged to have an identity that will fit and take us into the future. But my question is: Does a focus on choosing names distract from the more important issue of who we really are? Can a new name really provide a new identity? Could this focus increase the tendency to change on the surface or fake a new identity?

The disciples were first called Christians, and later they started using that name for themselves. As gatherings, some were called followers of the Way. Others were called by the house where they met (the group that meets in Joe’s house). Just descriptive terms. What if people gathering to follow Jesus together stopped naming themselves anything but lived out something real and waited for others to identify them?

Ever heard of people buying cool domain names and then trying to make a business model to fit them? Is that what it’s like when we give new churches hip names and then try to grow up into them?

I love names, really. But names seem to be part of the virtual reality I’ve gotten used to.