What's in a name?

A lot apparently. This is an actual conversation I had on Facebook regarding the announcement of a new church plant called Grace Reformed Baptist Fellowship. Below are the comments, names removed....

Responder 1 Fellowship?
about an hour ago • Like
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Author not a constituted church yet. Will be GRBC or something like it.
about an hour ago • Like
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Responder 2 Will you change the name when that happens?
about an hour ago • Like
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Arthur Sido Does it make it more official if you put "church" in the name?
15 minutes ago • Like
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Responder 2 Makes it more biblical.
10 minutes ago via • Like
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Arthur Sido Seriously? There is a more Biblical naming covenant for a local church gathering where the word "church" is preferable to "fellowship" (you know like the church devoted itself to the fellowship Acts 2:42)?
5 minutes ago • Like

So there you have it (I didn't get a response to my comment FYI). If you give a name to the group you meet with, which I have mixed feelings about (mostly negative), and you use "church" instead of "fellowship", it is somehow more Biblical.

Picking a name for a church is an emotional issue and what you choose or heaven forbid if you change it, can splinter Christians. The whole thing is very strange because of the four words in the name of this group, Grace Reformed Baptist Fellowship, "Fellowship" is the only one that I think is even vaguely applicable. Grace is what we receive but as a name? Reformed is something meaningful only since the 16th century. Baptist as a designation for a church is also a relatively recent invention. We just don't see churches with names to differentiate themselves from other local churches in the Bible.

We do see reference to the church in a city or area (the church in Rome, the church in Corinth, etc.). We also see the church noted as meeting in particular homes (Phil 1:2; Col 4:15; 1 Cor 16:19; Romans 16:5). We don’t see any letters aimed at churches based on particular designations: First Baptist Church of Corinth, Grace Presbyterian Church of Philippi, etc.

It is amazing the things that we think are “biblical” that have no implication  or a mention in the Bible. I am far more concerned with whether a church is engaged in mutual edification when it meets and is focused on the Great Commission than I am in what the name on the building says or which confession they use. That hasn’t always been true of me but it certainly is now. I am seeing more and more that a lot of the things we fuss and feud over are silly and our constant arguing is borderline sinful.