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State GARBC association, Michigan Association of Regular Baptist Churches, has changed its name to "Bridge Fellowship:"
Interesting discussion on possible motivations for dropping the Baptist name:
"Regarding the name change, it could be meaningless marketing--a name change to catch the ear and maybe make the group seem more appealing--or it could be running away from some institutional sins for which the 'old name' is known. A great portion of the time, when a Baptist church foregoes the name 'Baptist', it's the latter. . . . A certain number of Baptists have foregone the name not because of the sins of their church per se, but rather because others have stunk up the name, e.g. the KJVO/Trail of Blood crowd)."
"Also of note is that where I grew up, a church called 'Fairhaven Baptist Church' made a stench of itself in my community to the point where people openly commented on people being 'deprogrammed' after having been there. . . . There's also a portion where the Baptist name gets sullied by sinful behavior, things like rulesism/legalism, KJVO arguments, and the like. And that's where those who change the name really need to ask themselves why."
"To me 'Bridge' just sounds like a contemporary 'next fad' name. It speaks nothing to the association. This is a bit weird."
Interesting discussion on possible motivations for dropping the Baptist name:
"Regarding the name change, it could be meaningless marketing--a name change to catch the ear and maybe make the group seem more appealing--or it could be running away from some institutional sins for which the 'old name' is known. A great portion of the time, when a Baptist church foregoes the name 'Baptist', it's the latter. . . . A certain number of Baptists have foregone the name not because of the sins of their church per se, but rather because others have stunk up the name, e.g. the KJVO/Trail of Blood crowd)."
"Also of note is that where I grew up, a church called 'Fairhaven Baptist Church' made a stench of itself in my community to the point where people openly commented on people being 'deprogrammed' after having been there. . . . There's also a portion where the Baptist name gets sullied by sinful behavior, things like rulesism/legalism, KJVO arguments, and the like. And that's where those who change the name really need to ask themselves why."
"To me 'Bridge' just sounds like a contemporary 'next fad' name. It speaks nothing to the association. This is a bit weird."