There is a trend across America for churches to change their names.

There are probably a lot of good reasons for this.

Churches that have been around for decades may have had a turnover in the congregation and a new name would be more reflective of the new parishioners. Other churches may have moved to a new building and the old name was more indicative of their geography.

Some churches, desperate to draw in young people, change their names to dispel a sense of being old-fashioned.

Memorial Bible Church was started at Memorial Drive and 4th Place. Hence the name. After a few years, the church moved to 8720 E. 61st St and later changed the name to Mingo Valley Bible Fellowship. This was partly an effort to associate with Mingo Valley Christian School, which shared the facilities. Now, the school has moved to a South Tulsa location and the church has relocated to Jenks and changed to Jenks Bible Church.

That pretty much makes sense.

A few years ago, Evangelistic Temple changed its name to SpiritLife Church. This was after many decades.  First Assembly of God in Broken Arrow slimmed down to The Assembly.

Park Plaza Church of Christ sold their building at 51st Street and Sheridan Road and moved to 96th Street and Garnett Road (which used to house Grace Church) and was renamed, The Park Church of Christ.

Sheridan Christian Center, which employed people like Pastor Vep Ellis, Kenneth Copeland and the late Pastor Billy Joe Daugherty, is now Sheridan Church. It is still located near Admiral Boulevard on Sheridan Road.

Sheridan Road Baptist Church turned into TurningPoint Church in 2015.

Liberty Baptist Church, on Garnett Road south of 71st Street, years ago became Liberty Church and recently, Liberty Church and The Gathering Church merged to become Anthem Church.

Audacity Church is near Tulsa University and seems to be targeted to young couples.

After 37 years as Word of Life Church in Sand Springs, about a year ago that church became Reach Church.

Calvary Baptist Church, on Admiral Boulevard at 74th East Avenue, merged with First Baptist Church of Owasso and is now called Calvary Campus.

In 2003, Dr. Alex Himaya and the congregation of Gracemont Church in Tulsa switched to The Church at Battle Creek. Now, that church has five new campus locations and is known as thechurch.at.

Pastor Craig Groeschel and a few others started Life Covenant Church in his garage in 1996. It turned into Life.Church with more than 30 campuses, including those in Tulsa. That church is based in Edmond.

The Bridge Church in Bixby is now The Bridge. (A bridge could be pretty handy in Bixby when the Arkansas River leaves its banks).

Evergreen Baptist Church is now Evergreen Church (a Southern Baptist Church).

I know there are a lot of other churches in Tulsa that have changed their names but it’s hard to do any research. I looked up several churches that had changed their names but there were no details about the switch.

There are some names that churches should avoid. For example, you don’t want a church to be named after a person (unless maybe it’s an Apostle). Freddie’s Community Church is not appropriate even if Freddie gave the church a boatload of money. And churches shouldn’t change their names to accommodate a business sponsor. The Lucky Star Casino House of Worship or Marlboro Church of the Open Flame are over the top.

Around the nation, some of the oddest church names are:

  • Little Hope Baptist Church
  • Run for Your Life International Chapel
  • Coward Church of God
  • The First Church of Awesome Works
  • Half Way Baptist Church
  • Accident Baptist Church (no Calvinists in this congregation).
  • First Presbyterian Armenian Church (this is confusing).
  • Greater Second Baptist Church
  • Boring Seventh Day Adventist Church
  • Battle Ground Baptist Church
  • Waterproof Baptist Church (Louisiana)
  • James Bond United Community Church (Toronto)
  • Lovers’ Lane Episcopal Church
  • First United Separated Baptist Church
  • Country Club Christian Church
  • The Exciting Singing Hills Baptist Church

Of course, the babylonbee.com Christian sarcasm site had to add to the list with “awesome church name ideas,” including:

  • Holy Grounds Coffee Shop and Tavern
  • Journeylifevisiohope Community Church
  • Jiffy Church (we have to get out of here in 15 minutes or less)
  • Any Greek At all + Fellowship
  • The Church That’s All About You

Here’s the bottom line. The Church isn’t the building – it’s the people. It is probably a good idea to saddle a church with a name that tells potential visitors a little bit about what that church believes.

But at the rate we are going, every church will eventually bow to the marketeers and change their names to fit the times.