Pastor Jacob Birch and 5 Tests for your Proposed New Church Name

Renaming your church? 

Going to embrace a Missional Name like Elevate? A geographical name like Church at the Hill? Or doing an "old school" theological rebranding of your church to something like Holy Spirit Church of Hyde Park?

Do these 5 name tests on each proposed name. 

Rank each name from 1 to 5 where 1 is "total failure" and 5 is "outstanding".

• Uniqueness Test - Is there another church/organization with that name or something close enough to it to confuse? It is attention grabbing?
  
  
• 1st Sentence Test - “Good morning and welcome to ____________. We are so glad to have you here this morning.” Can you stand to hear the new youth pastor shorten the name to your first descriptor and repeat it every Sunday for the 2.5 years he is there?
  
  
• Tied-to-the-Vision Test - Does it embody a significant aspect of our stated Vision using language, visual or tone?
  
  
• URL Test - Can the name have a preferred URL? Search Engine Optimization possibilities? Any internet search threats from word associations or word plays? (is porn going to appear if people search your church name?)
  
  
• Branding Test - Can just about every ministry in the church be “branded” with the first descriptor of your new name? Think: Virgin Mobile, Virgin Atlantic Airlines, Virgin Music, Virgin [insert business unit here]