The elders present the following names for discussion and feedback. We believe the following names best met the criteria of simplicity, consistency with mission and vision, clarity in communicating mission and vision, longevity, easy to say and easy to use.

Mission: To generationally pursue the presence, power, and purposes of God.

Please review each option and supporting evidence and feel free to submit your comments below or by writing in to the church via our drop boxes or by emailing your comments to one of the elders.

Option 1: Encounter Church

Encounter Church. Why Encounter Church? Because we want people to pursue the presence, power, and purposes of God so we should be a church where people can encounter God. The name is simple and easy to say and use. We could then define each current service and additional services by telling people they can come to the 10:30am Encounter or the 6:00pm Encounter. Once you encounter Christ’s presence, power, and purposes, you will never be the same. The name of the church would then be an opportunity to invite people into an encounter with God and to differentiate between the various “encounters” that we offer. 

Option 2: One Church

One Church is a name to consistently reinforce that we are not to be a church, but to be the church -- His church. We are not an institution set up to steal people, grow for our own sake or market ourselves like a consumer business; we are to be a people seeking the one true God, with one spirit, one mind and one mission: to generationally pursue His power, presence and purpose. We are partners in Kingdom building: not divided, but united as one, for revealing the mind of Christ, acting as His body and hosting Heaven here on earth.

Its brevity is simple without concern for spelling or ambiguity. Since it is geographically independent, it could be extended, should the congregation ever spread beyond the city limits. 

It could potentially be viewed as condescending to any other ministry, who could infer that the name is set to attack or disregard other churches; though that's not the case. It acts as a reminder, as stated earlier, that we are all one church.

Option 3: Pursuit Church

No matter the age, culture, nationality or spirituality of a person, everyone is pursuing something. Many pursue success, fame, wealth, acceptance and other things of this world; however, you cannot love the world and love God. Matthew 6:33 tells us to seek His kingdom first, and James 4:8 promises that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. The mission of this church is to generationally pursue the presence, power and purposes of God. This is a body of believers who chooses to pursue Him above everything else, knowing that He will, in turn, pursue us. The name, “Pursuit,” refers to this true pursuit for which we were created. It is short, simple, and easy to say and use. It is also easy to understand and commonly used in language today, but is sophisticated enough to endure time. In twenty years, answering the phone with, “Pursuit Church, How may I help you?” won’t sound strange. The name comes directly from the mission, vision and purpose of the church, and summarizes, in one word, what we are all about. 

That way when someone asks why we are named “Pursuit Church,” we can say, “Because we are a church whose mission is to generationally pursue the presence, power and purposes of God; this is a place where we lay down our vain pursuits of this world and get caught up at the point where our pursuit of God meets His pursuit of us.”  

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