“...who formerly were not a people but now are the people of God.”

Sometimes we’re asked what our actual name is,
because we seem such a “no name” movement.

 

Because we’re trying to follow God's word with whatever we do, we look to the scriptures to see if Christ’s people had a name they went by in the days of the apostles.  We find that they didn’t denominate themselves — that is, exclusively use one name over another — so we aim to do the same.  We realise that could be confusing to many of the general public, so this page aims to clear up that confusion.  We certainly don’t want to be confused with institutional religion, as we don't belong to any denomination.

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We don’t want to be a particular “brand” of Christian, as Christ calls people to just follow him as one.  That's why we just want to be Christians—followers of Christ.  So any term which the scriptures use to describe followers of Jesus Christ, collectively or individually, is fine with us, and we’re happy to use it.  So, what are we called?  Have a look at these options in the scriptures, and take your pick:

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• the church (or assembly, congregation, group)  (e.g. Col 1:18,24)

• Matthew 16:18 opens up a variety of descriptions, depending on how we denote the one speaking: the Lord’s church, Christ’s church, the church of Christ, the church of the Messiah, and so on.

• the church in/at _________ [a locality.]  (Acts 13:1; Rom 16:1; Rev 1–3)

• the church in—, the church which meets in [a meeting place]  (1 Cor 16:19; Col 4:15; Phm 2)

• the church of the Lord and God  (Acts 20:28, if you're reading the majority text)

• the churches of Christ  (Rom 16:16)  (hence, separately, a church of Christ)

• the church of God (1 Cor 15:9; Gal 1:13; 2 Thess 1:4; 1 Tim 3:5)

• the church of the living God (1 Tim 3:15)

• the churches of the saints  (1 Cor 14:33)  (hence, separately, a church of the saints)

• the churches of [insert region or country]  For example, the churches of Victoria, a Victorian church (1 Cor 16:1,19; 2 Cor 8:1; Gal 1:2)

• the churches in Christ  (Gal 1:22; Eph 3:21; 1 Thess 1:1; 2:14)

• church of the firstborn ones  (Heb 12:23)

• the body, the body of Christ  (Col 1:18,24; 1 Cor 12; Eph 4:24)

• the household of God  (Eph 2:19)

• the household of faith  (Gal 6:10) (or “family of faith”, “family of believers” in some translations)

• the temple of God  (1 Cor 3:16; Eph 2:21-22)

• the Israel of God  (Gal 6:16)

• the people of God  (1 Peter 2:10; 2 Cor 6:16; Heb 4:9)

 

So don’t be confused if you notice that we call ourselves different things.  We’re just trying to follow God’s word.  It's a "Way" thing.

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