|| UPDATE: I ended up choosing to not give a specific name to our high school ministry. Instead, we simply go by “Mission High School Ministry”, and I couldn’t be happier. I shorten it to MissionHS for our Twitter and Facebook. MISSION is the name of the church I work at. ||
I’ve been thinking about what I should name my new youth group lately. I probably won’t make the switch until next year, but I’m sure I want to.
I loved the name “Merge” when I was at Cornerstone. The definition “to combine or unite so as to become indistinguishable from one another” was a perfect match with Galatians 2:20 “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me“. When we said “Come to Merge!” we were inviting them to a place AND inviting them to come and join their lives with Christ. I could re-name my new group “Merge”, but that would be feisty because the original Merge is ten-minutes down the road. Only kidding…
I’ve been LOVING the word “Union” after reading Brennan Manning’s “The Furious Longing of God“. Check out what he said:
“That’s one of the most explosive words in my Christian vocabulary. The daring metaphor of Jesus as bridegroom suggests that the living God seeks more than an intimate relationship with us. The reckless, raging fury of Yahweh culminates, dare we say it, in a symbiotic fusion, a union so substantive that the Apostle Paul would write: ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.'”
The only thing stopping me is that I know of another ministry out there with that name… I’m torn. I like “Union”, but I’d also like to have a name that is a but more active. Something with a little more volume maybe. Or maybe I’ll just keep it lined up with the church’s name (The High School Ministry of Mission Community Church). Hmm…
If you grew up in the church, what was your youth ministry called?
What would YOU name one if you were a high school pastor?
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