Name of "The Church in Brattleboro"

If you've ever had children, you know that deciding on the name of your child can be quite an ordeal, especially if you're married and both you and your spouse had strong opinions and different tastes.  Round one yields no results as the spouse with a flare for trendy names resorts to creating new names after traditional-name-spouse shoots down possibilities for objects and cities that might sound cool.  The result is perusing baby name websites for hours on end, traditional-name-spouse suggesting the ridiculous in jest and the two resulting at a relative impasse between the two to five names that made the final round. The decision feels so big because names are important, and names last forever.

So what about naming a local church? Where do you start? What biblical concepts should be included? Should it be different than most other churches, or should we name it something similar to other churches we know of because we value the things mentioned in the name? Do you go with the name of your town (i.e. “Flippin Church of God” in Arkansas or “Half Way Baptist Church” in Missouri)?

In all seriousness, we believed that God had a name for this church that He’s called us to plant, and we really wanted Him to be the one to name it (which we have been creatively calling “the church in Brattleboro”).

We've prayed and thought through the name of this church plant, we acquired the conviction that the name should be something that the town could identify with and also represented the town in the name, much like "the church at Philippi" or "the church at Ephesus". Because Brattleboro is situated on the Connecticut River, I was praying through incorporating "River" into the name of the church.  I also liked the idea of including "Town" since we are being planted by Valley Town Church. As I was praying through it, I came across a webpage committed to the town's history, which said, "Brattleboro is a river town, rich in history". That was all the confirmation I needed. This body of believers that the Lord will raise up for the advancement of His kingdom in Brattleboro, New England, and among all nations will be called RIVER TOWN CHURCH.

Keep an eye out for future posts on the Mission, Vision, and Values that God has given us for this body of believers He is raising up in Brattleboro.