A NEW NAME FOR A NEW TIME

This editorial by Messenger editor Fletcher Farrar appeared in the July 1999 issue of the Messenger.

I've been experimenting with changing my name. All my life I have been called Bud, while I have reserved my real name, Fletcher, for my byline and signature. Fletcher was my father's name, and I was Fletcher, Jr. He's been gone a few years now, and I've started claiming Fletcher as my own, actually having people call me that. It's been gradual and hesitant to be sure. Friends must surely think I'm strange when I call myself one name one time and something different the next. But I feel something inside moving me toward Fletcher. I've entered a new phase of my life, started a new job, and turned 50. I'm ready to get strong and serious for the long haul. I can shape the meaning of Fletcher, and the name can shape me. I'm ready for a new name.

"A name is a precious part of our identity," said Donna Ritchey Martin when she addressed Standing Committee in 1992. She reflected on her own name changes, from her childhood name, to her married name, to "Mommy." "Each of those names has reflected who I am at a given time of life and what my relationships are," she said. "A name reflects both identity and relationship."

Ritchey Martin made these remarks as a member of a "pre-committee" study committee that did groundbreaking work on the issue of a new name for the Church of the Brethren. But after Standing Committee received the pre-committee's report in 1993, it essentially dropped the matter, albeit "with the knowledge that the discussion will continue." In the past six years there hasn't been much discussion. But now Womaen's Caucus has taken the lead in reviving it by devoting a recent edition of its newsletter, "Femailings," to the name issue. Noting that the issue had been swept under the rug, "Femailings" editor Carissa Fralin writes, "After much discussion and prayer, the [Womaen's Caucus] Steering Committee has decided to lift up the rug. Let me make clear, however, that we cannot do this alone. It will be a short-lived project if we find no support."

Here's some support. A new name could be a positive and attractive identity tool that describes both who we are and who we want to be. Jay Gibble, the former director of the Association of Brethren Caregivers, has given the matter considerable thought. "A good name should say where we've been. What are the concepts that have defined us as a people?" He proposes "peace" as a defining concept for our church. And he proposes "covenant," which he says captures the idea that we are a "community of the book." "We covenant to live in peace, to follow the way of peace." His proposal: Covenant Peace Church.

"The name works at mission," Gibble says. "It says what we're about. Peacemaking is something we can do and do well. Those who are interested in peace will join us. In a society of violence, what is more needed?"

We have grown fond of telling people who we are by repeating the lines, "Continuing the work of Jesus. Peacefully. Simply. Together." Wouldn't it be nice if the name of the church also helped to tell our story?

Church of the Brethren has a proud history, and nothing is going to erase that. But it is important to understand that that name did not come up out of the water with the "five brethren and three sisters" who were baptized in 1708. In fact this group's spiritual descendants didn't even have an official name until they adopted "Fraternity of German Baptists" in 1836. That became "German Baptist Brethren" in 1871, but by the turn of the century the name no longer included everyone – not all were German. And the name confused outsiders because, although most services were not conducted in German, the name implied that they were. As Brother T. T. Myers said at the 1905 Annual Meeting: "I have no prejudice against the name German Baptist Brethren, but it is a name that we cannot use. We cannot use it in city work. We cannot use it in mission work. What we would like is a name we can universally use all around."

In 1905 the Gospel Messenger invited members to write in their opinions on a name change, and a vigorous discussion ensued. In 1908, the church's bicentennial year, Annual Conference adopted the name "Church of the Brethren" by a vote of 289 to 103. Not all were pleased, of course. Albert C. Wieand, of Bethany Bible School in Chicago, wrote in the Gospel Messenger in 1908: "Brethren is masculine, and a body of our sisters cannot say, –if a group of other ladies should say to them, 'We are Presbyterians, what are you?"– 'We are Brethren,' because the humor of the situation would be too much."

After nearly a hundred years, the humor is wearing thin. Our church should work to have a new name by the 300th anniversary in 2008–a name that not only doesn't offend, but one that invites others and challenges our own.
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