It took me just a few weeks to figure out that the name of the church with no name was, "The Assembly".
That is what everyone involved constantly called it. They criticized people for leaving "The Assembly". They rejoiced when someone committed themselves to fellowship in, "The Assembly" and so on.
I always thought it was a little nutty.
Then there were the mini-workshops on what to say on outreach when people asked the name of your church. Such long, complicated conversations. "Just Christians." (Right...)
Or the problem of what to call your parade float/entry. Annandale was called " Christians in Annandale", or C.I.A.,
, when in the fall Harvest (not Halloween) Parade. That banner always drew grins from the crowd.
One of the liveliest Test. to Jesus workshops I remember centered on the churches taking a name debate. A brother who left not too long after that was defending a nearby (large and growing) church saying it did all the same things we did- worship, prayer, outreach, etc., but they had a name.
The consensus from leadership was "that's a shame" as if it were a compromise. Hardly.
Yes, a little nutty sounds about right.
Becky
