Churches Are Increasingly Avoiding the Word "Church" in Order to be Inclusive

Will they next change the name of Christ to “Chris” in order to make our Lord more relatable to the everyday man?

The Church of England is increasingly dropping the word “church” in favour of “relevant and modern-sounding” descriptions such as “community”.

And they are typically avoiding the word “church” when launching new, er, churches.

The UK’s Centre for Church Planting Theology and Research looked at the language used by 11 dioceses to describe new churches.

The report found that leaders of exactly none of the 900 new churches started in the past decade had used the phrase “church plant” as the primary way to describe what they were doing.

Instead, they advertised that they were starting a “congregation”, or “community”, or place of “worship”.

Researches concluded, after interviews with church leaders, that the apparent reluctance to use the word “church” reflected …

“A misplaced desire to be relevant and modern-sounding”

Would someone please tell the Church of England that watering down its identity in a bid to be more inclusive won’t bring in more members. It will only leave them without an identity.

Pentecostals, who traditionally despise tradition while craving relevance, might also take note. But I digress.

The geniuses at the Something of England are increasingly avoiding the word “church” when describing themselves, preferring “congregation” and “community”.

Rather than getting rid of the word “church”, may I respectfully suggest they instead get rid of …