In the world of business, it is common for companies to rebrand themselves. Logos that may have once captured what the company stands for may now look stodgy and dull, and slogans may become stale. The product and service being offered may be the same, but it is time for a refreshed look so that customers will know what they stand for and serve as incentive to seek their services. I have a daughter and a son-in-law in the graphic design field, and I understand that rebranding keeps them very busy.

Now, the church is not a business, but what about the way we present ourselves to our communities? We don’t have a common logo, like the Christian Reformed Church, for example, but we do have a common name, “Canadian Reformed Church.” That name was chosen with care, to communicate the desire to be a Christian church in Canada, faithful to the riches rediscov­ered in the great Reformation that took place in the sixteenth century. After some seventy years since being established in Canada, this continues to remain the desire. The question is whether the name communicates what we hope it does, namely, of being a church rooted in Scripture, proclaiming the gospel of being saved by grace, through faith in Christ, seeking the glory of God in all we do.

What does our name communicate?⤒🔗

I ask whether it communicates this now, but the question is whether it ever did what was hoped for. I will illustrate with two events in my life, one that took place in the seventies and one that took place just this past year. Back in the seventies, I was dating the young lady who by now has been my wife for forty years. She was not of Dutch background, so I bravely explained to her father that I was a member of the Canadian Reformed Church. Without really skipping a beat, he said, “Oh, the Dutch church.” I suspect that others from that time will have had similar experiences when they talked to someone about belonging to a Canadian Reformed Church. It would have been true for Christian Reformed people, too. If the name “Reformed” was connected with the word “church,” it was understood as “Dutch.”

Fast forward more than forty years, to 2021. In the spring, we were on a walk with my daughter and three little grandsons, when we ended up talking with a man about his well-cared for gardens. Before long, we learned he was of Mennonite back­ground, and he learned we were of Reformed background. Without skipping a beat he said, “Oh, the Dutch church,” even though I had used the word “Canadian.” The word “Reformed” gave it away, as he had known people who belonged to various Reformed churches. Other adjectives like “Free” or “United” or “Christian” didn’t really make any difference. It appears, then, that the name “Canadian Reformed” may be very meaningful to us, but for those who know anything about churches, you might as well call it “Dutch Reformed,” along with other denominations that have the word “Reformed” in their name.

“Reformed”←⤒🔗

As for those who know next to nothing about churches, my experience is that you are bound to be confronted with a confused stare as the name tells them nothing about the church, except that it is a church. The word “Reformed” is easi­ly misunderstood as “Reform.” For some time, that gave the impression of being associated with a political party (the Reform Party of Canada). As the word “reform” is also applied to efforts to rehabilitate prisoners, it does not bring up a positive image. If someone is willing to listen for a few minutes, I might try to put it in historical context, but you usually lose them when you talk about the Reformation of the sixteenth century and try to sketch what happened. All that accomplishes is that they know you are not Roman Catholic. If they listen long enough, they will discover you are Protestant, with a Dutch connection. So, we are back again to the Dutch church. In the spirit of multiculturalism, others will see us as the Dutch part of the Canadian mosaic, even though by now we have fifth generation descendants of immigrants and many members of different ethnic backgrounds.

As we reflect on the name “Canadian Reformed Church,” then we realize it was meaningful internally. It gave an indication of how the first generation of immigrants saw itself and what it wanted to be in Canada. We can only commend them for not wanting to come across as an ethnic church. As the years have gone by, though, it is evident that it did not really accomplish what it was meant to do. The word “Reformed” does not evoke in the minds of others what it does in our own.

What name?←⤒🔗

Is it then, perhaps, time to think about rebranding? It is not that the message has changed; at least, let’s hope not. Of course, that begs the question, “What name?” Perhaps in an ideal situ­ation, we should just call ourselves “Church,” since that word is associated with the Christian faith. We actually did that for our website. If you type in Orangevillechurch.ca, you will see our webpage. Regrettably, the word “church” is too generic, as it is used by a wide variety of groups with a diversity of interpret­ations of the gospel. It would be like a car dealer advertising they sell cars. People want to know what brand. There is a need for some adjective.

I don’t have a name to suggest. That wouldn’t be helpful anyway, for any suggestion would have to come from one of the churches and receive widespread exposure and input from the churches by going via classis and regional synod. My point is to make us think about how transparent we want our name to be. Is it important, or are we content to feel good about the name internally, with our only concern to distinguish ourselves from other Reformed churches? If that is so, well, that is the end of the conversation. If there is a desire to let the name by which we call ourselves be meaningful in our society, how then can we, collectively, rebrand, so the first thing others think of when they hear the name is the gospel?