Hog Mountain Baptist Church has decided to get a new name. Reading about the whole process of their decision-making made me think about our mission.
For 150 years the church has been know by that venerable name. It’s not the most unusual name I’ve seen for a church. There’s the Jesus Lives Here Methodist Church in Roan Mountain, Tennessee. And in Campbell, Alabama, you’ll find the Witch Creek Baptist Church. There’s the Happy Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, or the Welcome Home Baptist Church in Mount Airy, Georgia (Great Hills Baptist Church can loan them some of their bumper stickers). I’m a little curious about why some churches chose their names: Rising Daughter Church in Camden County, South Carolina, or the Hanging Dog Baptist Church in North Carolina.
Hog Mountain Baptist Church was simply named after its community of Hog Mountain, an area in eastern Gwinnett County, Georgia. According to the article, “It was a high place on the ridge of the Eastern Continental Divide, where, the story goes, men would stop overnight while herding hogs to market. White settlers were there before the War of 1812. The Hog Mountain community saw Gwinnett's first courthouse and jail.” For decades, business signs adorned with large porkers proudly proclaimed Hog Mountain this or that.
But in recent years, Gwinnett County has developed considerably, including an upscale golf community. More and more, the area is known as Hamilton Mill. Long-established businesses have dropped “Hog Mountain” from their names in favor of “Hamilton Mill” this or that.
But when members voted to change their 150-year-old church from Hog Mountain Baptist Church to Hamilton Mill Baptist Church, it wasn’t without controversy.
“I think it's a shame to change the name,” said 49-year-old Claudette Miller, who has been a member since she was 12.
That’s what 65-year-old Charles Warbington said, too. “All the old people around here, their hearts are broken. What’re they going to do with the historic marker? Change it?” Not that he’s a member there anymore. According to the article, he’s been in a megachurch up the road for years. But it’s been my experience that moving one’s membership doesn’t keep someone from opining about what their former church ought to be doing.
Even the Gwinnett Historical Society weighed in on the name change. They wrote to the deacons at Hog Mountain Baptist, asking them to reconsider. But the vote passed on December 10.
As I said, reading about the whole event got me to thinking about a church’s mission. I can feel for those long-time members who saw that dropping the name “Hog Mountain” from their church was an act of disloyalty to their community heritage. But I’m on the side of the majority of the members whose eyes were on the future, not the past. Fewer and fewer people moving into the community saw it as Hog Mountain anymore. To them, it was Hamilton Mill. Even most business owners recognized this, and changed the name of long-established businesses.
Ironically, by changing the name, the church was keeping the mission they had known for 150 years. For nearly two centuries, they have ministered to the community known by most residents as Hog Mountain. They’re still ministering to the same community: it’s just that now the community--and the church--is known as Hamilton Mill.
The whole debate in this little church revolved around whether to preserve the church as a museum of past memories or position the church as a mission outpost to the community that has grown up around it.
When I served as pastor of the 175-year-old First Baptist Church in Eastland, Texas, I enjoyed leading worship in their new worship center. Twelve years before my arrival, a visionary pastor had led them to demolish the 1920s-era building so that a new worship center could be built on the site. The architect directed that the Tiffany-style stained glass windows be carefully removed from the old structure and incorporated into the overall design of the new building.
Ten minutes away in a First Baptist Church of another town, the members got a historical marker for their sanctuary.
H-m-m: a historical marker for a building that could never be changed, or a new worship center incorporating the beautiful stained glass of the old building into the fresh design of a new building for a new generation. I think the Eastland church got the better deal.
Do you make you church decisions based upon what will preserve the church’s memories . . . or what will propel the church’s mission?
(This article was sent to all subscribers of LeaderLines, my weekly e-newsletter to ministry leaders. If you want to subscribe to LeaderLines, click here.)
5 comments:
As a member of a family that has lived in and near the Hog Mountain community for multiple generations and a former member of the church previously known as Hog Mountain Baptist, I wanted to take a moment to respond to your blog.
As you know, the recent change of Hog Mountain Baptist Church's name has received quite a bit of publicity and attention. You recognized that the motive of some individuals is to maintain the historic name of the church as a means of holding on to the past, but I hope that you will also recognize the heart of others who opposed the name change.
Unfortunately, the dissension within this body of believers is much like the one described by Paul in Galatians 5. The recent battle over the name is merely a symptom of pride and selfish ambition which has given root to dissension and factions. Since the arguments and disagreements within the body have not been resolved, they have now spilled over into the community. The church and its leaders have the freedom to change the name as they see fit, but it seems that some are "us[ing their] freedom to indulge the sinful nature"(v.11).
As a pastor, I hope you will join me in praying specifically for Barney Williams (the pastor of Hamilton Mill Baptist, formerly Hog Mtn. Baptist) to "live by the Spirit." Then he will bear the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control) and lead his congregation toward the same goal.
As we both know, the name of one church is "not of any value. The only thing that matters is faith expressing itself through love" (v.6b). Please join me in praying for the congregation in accordance with Colossians 1:9-12, "asking God to fill [them] with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that [they] may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that [they] may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified [them] to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light."
I appreciate your comments that change is sometimes necessary to promote the mission of The Church, but hope that you will recognize the underlying cause of dissension in this instance and join me as I battle in prayer.
Thanks for the note, Lorie. I'm sure there's more to the story than what the AP presented (as an offbeat news item). It's heartbreaking that this proposed change could not be discussed without dissention in the ranks. While I'm a stranger to all the personalities involved, I'd suggest caution about giving the pastor all the credit or the blame for this matter. After all, the brothers and sisters had a democratic vote, according to what I've read, and the majority of the church family said, "Let's make the change." Thanks for your reply to my journal entry, and I will join you in prayer as requested.
Mr. Goodman,
I'm currently an ACTIVE member of Hamillton Mill Baptist Church, and we haven't paid attention to the bad comments against the church. For we know that the big problem is that WHEN we grow, the old building will have to go to allow more parking and seating. As a member I would like to say that we are praying for those few people who are causing problems. Have a great day!
God Bless
Thanks for your note. Blessings on your ministry to your mission field by whatever name the residents give it.
I am another resident of Hog Mountain and I am disgusted by the name change and the plans to tear down the lovely historic building in the name of "progress". I have lived in this area long enough to watch it go from a lovely pastoral Christian based community to a community whose only concern seems to be to preserve the "upper class" image of the local Hamilton Mill Golf Course Community.
What? How could we possible attend a church with such a humble name as Hog Mountain? Let's name our church after a Golf Church and tear down the very foundation of that which we are claiming to grow?
Sadly, what the media and those who support the name change are failing to mention is that Hamilton Mill is NOT the name of the community where the church in question is located. Hamilton Mill is the name of the monster upscale subdivision in which you can find the Hamilton Mill Golf Course. Those of us who live in subdivisions outside of Hamilton Mill subdivision are being forced into accepting this monster community obliterating our history and our former way of life.
Suffice it to say, I find it abhorrent that golf supercedes history in this particular argument. I pray that those who wish to turn our community into a playground for the rich and decadent find humility before God teaches them what is more important than golf!
Post a Comment