Ministry Monday: Naming your Ministry

We are starting a new ministry at our church that combines the 5th-6th graders. Kids in this age group are very unique. They are marketed to as if they were teenagers but at home treated as if they are in early elementary. Schools don't really know what to do because so many of them do things differently. These kids don't drive and don't know if they really want too but like the idea of it. It is no wonder that many of these kids have an identity crisis. They don't know who they are or who they want to be.

Why do I tell you all of this? Because this is just some of the thought that should go into naming anything, especially a ministry. Did you know that I love to name things? I even have a naming/branding consulting company (very loose term) that I have fun with. There is a process that I go through every time to name a product, company, brand, or ministry. I love the research that goes into a name. I love the life that a name takes. I love the feeling you get when you hear a name. Call me weird but there is just something about the process of creativity that gets me fired up.

So with our new ministry to 5th-6th graders we needed a new name. There were many names that came out of the process but 2 of them made the finals. The first finalist is Freedom 56. The second finalist is Exit 56. Both are fairly unique but wanted to make sure and put the 56 in any name just for clarification purposes for parents and kids. With these two names I started asking people which one they liked better. It was amazing to me to see how many adults liked the name Exit 56 and didn't really care for Freedom 56. The opposite can be said though of the kids. It was overwhelming how many kids picked Freedom over Exit. Don't get me wrong, Freedom was picked because that is what every kid wants and craves but still. Most kids when told about Exit 56 thought of a door's exit and not a highway exit and therefore didn't really like it. Adults on the other hand immediately thought of the highway exit and some even went as far as saying they wish they could get off the busy highway of life. The other extreme was when one adult asked me if they had to exit this life at age 56. I found that a bit sad and a little funny at the same time.

What is the name of our new ministry going to be called? The kids win on this one. I like adults but they are not the ones inviting their friends to this ministry. They are not the ones identifying with the name. Freedom 56 it is. What do you think? Do you like it?

Now that we have a name we have to deliver a great experience. The name will only get us so far. The thing about a name though is if we have a horrible name it will hinder us but if we have a horrible experience it will stop us. Names are very important but they will never trump the product itself.

This blog post was inspired by Tony Morgan. You can see what he thinks about names and experiences here.