Next Steps - Steering Committee Update
At the Congregational Meeting on October 18, Bob Thomason, Chair of the Name Change Steering Committee, gave a presentation on his group’s work to date. If you were not at the meeting, you can view a recording of it here. The key points of the presentation were:
- IF the church changes its name, nothing else will change except the name. Our polity, governance, Covenant, practices, affiliations, vision and values will remain as they always have.
- Only the Congregation can vote to change the name. It will not change without their approval. The Steering Committee just makes a recommendation which, if approved by the Board of Deacons, comes before the Congregation.
- While the Steering Committee has not yet made their formal recommendation to the Deacons, its members are unanimous in believing the church needs a new name that does not include the word “Baptist.”
- A new name recommendation will be informed by a new church-wide survey that will be based off of the 2022 online survey which narrowed a long list of suggested names to the top five or six most popular.
- It’s likely a Congregational vote on a name change will occur early next year.
Between now and year end, the Steering Committee wants to continue to get your input. Feel free to contact any of its members directly. Also, members of the Committee will be available in Heaton Hall at 9:15 am on Sunday November 12 and in the Parlor at 11:15 am on Sunday November 26 to answer questions and receive comments from any interested church members. There is no sign up, just come if you are interested.