(Juliet) “’Tis but thy name that is my enemy; Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! What’s in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name, And for that name which is no part of thee Take all myself.”

–  William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet ca.1600

The First Baptist Church of Atwood is affiliated with, and works in friendly cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention! Every Southern Baptist Church is an autonomous (self-governing) body that voluntarily partners with the 42,000 other autonomous churches that make up the SBC.

The Southern Baptist Convention was born in 1845 amid the national controversy over slavery which led sixteen years later to the civil war. Unfortunately, the Baptist churches located in the South took the side of their states and their culture in this controversy. They have long ago publicly confessed this as sin and apologized to the Nation for this shameful past and for the many years of supporting those in the South who espoused segregation and opposed equal rights for African-Americans.

Over the past century, the Southern Baptist Convention has come to have churches and missionaries in every State of the Union and in over one hundred and eighty Countries around the world! In a very real way, the name “Southern” does not accurately describe these believers, who have now come to be the largest non-Catholic denomination in the world.

For several years now, there has been some discussion among Southern Baptists about attempting to find a new name for the denomination that better describes who they are now rather than just who they have always been. Few things have caused more emotionally charged talk than the idea of changing the name of the denomination!

At the Southern Baptist annual Convention this past summer, SBC President Bryant Wright appointed a task force to discuss this matter and bring a recommendation to the 2012 annual convention for discussion and vote. The Task Force recently completed their work and will bring their proposed recommendation at a meeting of the Executive Committee in February.

There is not much drama here. Since almost everyone on the Task Force is from the Southeastern states, I would be stunned if they bring a recommendation to take their beloved, “Southern” out of the name! (And even if they did, it would never pass.) By the way, they have already publicly stated they will not recommend taking “Baptist” out of the name.

I pastored the First “Southern” Baptist Church in Waukegan, Illinois for seven years. The Lord blessed the church with exciting growth over those years, but almost all of the growth was from people with either Southern Baptist or at least Southern backgrounds. I have already publicly stated that it is my personal opinion from this experience that having “Southern” in the name of a church in the Midwest is a real hindrance.

I believe it is a moot point. As I said earlier, I would be stunned if the Task Force recommended taking “Southern” out of the name of the denomination; and, I would be even more stunned if it was passed at the Convention in 2012.

And, what if they did? Would changing the name change the character of the denomination in any meaningful way? Probably not; but, it would help to remove an unnecessary barrier to those living outside of the south when they are seeking a church.