Name Change Transition

This church, this community of faith, this body of Christ has been responding from our very beginning to the Great Commandment—to love God, and to love our neighbors.

Yet it's become more clear in recent years — now more than ever in light of George Floyd's killing — that the name "Colonial" bears a legacy that's painful for neighbors we're seeking to know, love, and partner alongside.

When we originally chose this name, we were moved by the best parts of the first Pilgrims: a deep love for Jesus, unrelenting belief that God speaks through Scripture, and loving commitment to the good of our neighbors.

But now, we're acknowledging that the word "Colonial" doesn't mean to our neighbors what it did to our original community. Because the word also evokes the worst parts of our history as Americans, our history of colonialism, the domination, exploitation, and destruction primarily of Native American and African people and their cultures.

This isn't Jesus, who became human to reconcile us to God in one body, creating peace in response to hostility (Ephesians 2:14-16). This isn't what we're about as Jesus' followers, either.

As a result, the Church Council, in conversation with lay leadership, approved a motion in June to recommend changing our congregation's name.

Beginning on Sunday, July 26th, we'd like to start a conversation as a community about our name. In the coming days, we'll be doing the same thing we've always done for the last 75 years: sharing, listening, praying, and discerning the Spirit of God's next invitation to us.

We're praying that engaging in this process will help us embrace the best parts of our Congregational heritage while moving us closer to our Core Values, creating a community where we can welcome all our neighbors as God's beloved and courageously wrestling with tensions in God's world.

After introducing the process for considering changing our name, our Moderators gave an update to clarify a few things.

To read more about that update, click here.

This name change process takes lots of conversation, sharing our stories, and discerning where God’s Spirit is leading us next.⁠

That's why we made space for all those things in our first round of Courtyard Conversations. For more on what and why behind our summer Courtyard Conversations, click here.

Throughout Fall 2020, we engaged in a comprehensive process to understand the reasons behind changing and not changing our name from Colonial Church. Across multiple mediums, our congregation brought their whole selves into discerning where Jesus is inviting us next as we look toward our Congregational Vote in January 2021, where members will decide whether to affirm or reject the motion to change our name from Colonial Church.

For more on all that took place during that season, click here.

Since we initiated the process to discern whether we ought to change our name from Colonial Church, we are deeply grateful for how you’ve engaged in the journey alongside us.

You’ve read a position paper outlining the reasons to consider the change. You’ve attended four Town Hall Meetings and thirteen Courtyard Conversations. You’ve weighed over a dozen community commentaries from both sides, not to mention all the countless times and places where you sought to discern God’s Spirit in prayer or conversation with a friend. The Congregational Way is alive and shining, and you all bear witness to it.

In December 2020 and January 2021, members cast their vote to affirm or reject changing the name from Colonial Church. Our Moderators sent out a letter via USPS detailing how members would cast their vote affirming or rejecting the decision to change our name from Colonial Church. Click here to read that letter.

611 members voted to affirm or reject Council's recommendation to change our name. With 375 "Yes" votes and 236 "No" votes, this vote does not meet the two-thirds majority passing requirements to change our name.

For more on the results and responses from Leadership, click here.

Following the results of the vote, the Church Council and Pastoral Team shared an update regarding the next season of our life together. Click here to read it.

114 Church members submitted a request for a Special Church Meeting to vote on a resolution to launch a Task Force with the ultimate goal of recommending a new name to vote on. Click here to learn more about the request and the resolution.

On May 23rd, we held a Special Church Meeting to consider and vote on the following resolution brought forward by Colonial Church members:

“Resolved, the Colonial Church Council is hereby authorized and directed to establish a task force, subject to Council oversight, that is charged with leading a process that has its goal to recommend a new name for Colonial Church. In fulfilling the intent of this resolution, the Council will: determine the number of task force members; select the chair and other task force members that, collectively, is demographically diverse; receive and approve an implementation plan from the task force within a reasonable period of time after the task force is formed; and, assure that the congregation will receive two interim reports from the task force and have at least two opportunities for congregation input in public meetings prior to the task force making its final recommendation. In addition, the task force shall be asked to recommend ways to permanently record and honor the history and legacy of our Church over the last 75 years.”

The vote was tallied 166-27 in favor of passing the resolution. The resolution required a simple majority to pass; therefore, this vote successfully met the requirements to authorize the Council to establish a task force with the ultimate goal of recommending a new name to vote on at a later date.

In an interim report, the Name Change Task Force explained their process, shared the criteria they established for evaluating names, and called on members to share their specific recommendations. Read more about it here.

After reviewing over 100 unique names, the Task Force identified five concepts that connected many of them. Read more about it here.

After a nearly 4-month process, the Name Change Task Force recommended Meetinghouse Church to be the next name for our community. Read more about it here.

On December 5th, 2021, we held a Special Church Meeting and over 86-percent of our congregation voted to change our name to Meetinghouse Church. ⁠