Most Popular PCA Church Names

This text is a part of a collection analyzing and contemplating statistical knowledge concerning the Presbyterian Church in America. 

Anybody who has ever been a part of the earliest levels of a church plant can let you know that deciding on a reputation appears like a weighty resolution. With brevity, a church identify communicates what it values theologically, geographically, and when it comes to ecclesiological affiliation. 

Each church chooses its identify with a distinct level of emphasis:

• • Some church buildings select a theological emphasis with names like Covenant, Trinity, or Grace. 
  • Different church buildings select a geographical emphasis by together with a reference to its location (ex: Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church) or its place locally (ex: First Presbyterian Church). 
  • A much less outstanding selection is an emphasis on church historical past by naming the church after an apostle or historic determine.  

Most church buildings function with a reputation that was chosen generations in the past and infrequently change them. Whereas the influence of church names is skilled primarily on the degree of the native congregation, it’s fascinating to have a look at the names of church buildings throughout our complete denomination to see what tendencies emerge.

Listed below are just a few tendencies in relation to church names within the PCA:

• • About 60% of the church buildings in our denomination have a biblical or theological reference of their identify. 
  • About 40% embody a geographic reference of their identify. 
  • Simply over 10% mix each a theological and geographic reference, resembling Resurrection Oakland or Christ Church Katy. 
  • And underneath 5% have a numeral designation (e.g. First Presbyterian). 

For those who seek for the commonest phrases in PCA church names, unsurprisingly, “Church” and “Presbyterian” cleared the path by a large margin. “Church ”is in roughly 90% of names and “Presbyterian” is included about 65% of the time. 

For those who exclude these two phrases, there are 10 phrases that seem within the names of greater than 50 church buildings within the denomination: 

What can we study from this record? It actually displays a few of our denomination’s theological distinctives, particularly our emphasis on salvation by grace, Christ-centered preaching and ministry, and a covenantal understanding of scripture. “Neighborhood” and “Fellowship” are generally substituted for the time period “church,” resembling New Metropolis Fellowship. 

As a result of the phrases on the record above will be mixed in varied methods, if you happen to search for the commonest full church names, there are 10 names which are utilized by at the least 20 totally different church buildings within the PCA: 

The commonest identify, First Presbyterian Church, is a reminder of the various well-established congregations within the denomination, lots of which date again to the 19th century.  

Westminster Presbyterian Church is the opposite identify that stands out, a church historical past reference highlighting the confessional requirements of our denomination. 

Along with the Redeemer Presbyterian church buildings on the record, there are additionally one other 11 church buildings that go by Redeemer Church. And along with people who go by Christ Presbyterian Church and Christ Church, there are additionally 17 church buildings that go by Christ Neighborhood Church. Christ Church is the one one of many high 10 to not embody “Presbyterian” within the identify. 

After all, this evaluation highlights English church names. There are church buildings in our denomination with Spanish, Chinese language, and Korean names, amongst different languages. 

Your church’s identify finally turns into synonymous along with your church’s status locally. However your identify is not going to finally decide how folks in your city take into consideration your church. As an alternative, your church’s status is constructed by what folks expertise after they go to and the reviews they hear from others.