When Deacon Baxter shared his vision about a new church with me, he stated that he had a name but he was still waiting for divine confirmation. At that point, I didn’t care about what we would be called; I only wanted to get started.

Soon I came to realize that the name of our church was very important. Not only does the name identify us in a “corporate” way; it also says who we should be as a body of Christ. So, what does our name say?

 Freedom: 2 Corinthians 3:17(NIV) – Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

The Good News of the gospel is that Jesus Christ delivers from all bondage. He set us free from sin and its guilt and punishment, free from Satan and the spiritual forces of evil, free from the grip of the law that we could never hope to keep, free from the fear of spiritual death. He set us free to experience the complete freedom that comes when the Spirit lives within us.

The spirit calls us to a life of freedom from the burden of law. However, Paul warns us not to use our freedom to hurt others, nor to indulge in sin, for if we do we will discover that we have fallen back into slavery to sin. Ironically, freedom is found not in release from all restraint, but in submission to a new master – Jesus Christ. Freedom, in other words, goes only in one direction – that is serving Christ and serving others in love for the sake of Christ.

 Fellowship: 1 John 1:3(NIV) – We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

Fellowship is a concept in the Bible that speaks to the human need to share life with the Giver of life and with other human beings. Sin broke fellowship with God for Adam and Eve. Yet, throughout the Old Testament, God made this grace-filled promise: “I will be with you.” The coming of Jesus as God in human flesh resulted in an even closer fellowship with God. We can now have fellowship with God as Father, as Son, and as Holy Spirit.

The bonds that link us to Jesus also tie us to one another. Fellowship is described and proclaimed in the teachings of the apostles, exemplified in the early church, and symbolized in the Lord’s Supper. Christians can nurture fellowship by following the “one another” commands in the Bible. Romans 12:10(NIV) states “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.”

As a body, we must take great care not to confuse socializing with fellowship.

 Christian: John 3:3(NIV) – In reply Jesus declared “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”

To truly be a Christian one must be born again. This is necessary because we all where dead in sin. Spiritual rebirth occurs when we believe in Jesus, as Lord and Savior, and it results in salvation through Christ and new life through the Spirit. Once we have become Christians, there must be changes in our lives. In Romans 12, Paul urges us to no longer conform to the patterns of the world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. He states that we should properly use the gifts that God has given us, live a life of love, and not abuse our newfound Christian freedom. As Christian, we have the victory over our old sinful lifestyle and the assurance of eternal life.

 Church: Mt 16:18b(NIV) – And on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail.

Church refers primarily to local groups of believers, each having a definite organizational structure. More broadly, “church” refers to all local churches seen as one, or even to the company of all those who are saved, that is the one universal church. In spite of many individual churches, there is only one foundation, the Lord Jesus Christ.

In conclusion, as members of Freedom Fellowship Christian Church, our challenge is to individually and collectively live according to our name and to God’s Word.