Dear Church Family,

Over the past several months, your Session has been prayerfully considering the advisability of changing the name of our church to Christ Presbyterian Church. At the September Session meeting we voted unanimously in favor of recommending this change. The decision to recommend a change to the name of our church begins with the Session, but the whole congregation will have the opportunity to vote on this matter at our next congregational meeting. 

The Session has not yet set the date of this congregational meeting and vote because we desire first to visit every adult Sunday School class to share with and hear from you, the congregation. We look forward to discussing the proposal with you in detail and answering your questions. There will also be a time for church members who do not regularly attend a Sunday morning class to meet with a team from the Session during the Sunday School hour on an upcoming Sunday. With that said, our plan is to vote on the name change at the same congregational meeting in which we elect our 2023 Officer Nominating Committee. This congregational meeting will likely be in November, and we will give you plenty of advance notice for the congregational meeting. 

Changing the name of our church to Christ Presbyterian Church obviously means we would no longer include “Evangelical” in our name. Why would the Session vote to make this change? 

Importantly, this proposed name change does not mean we desire to be any less evangelical as a church. We have not and will not change our commitment to affirming the Bible as God’s holy, inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word. We have not and will not change our commitment to share the good news of Jesus Christ with our neighbors in our many ministries. As a local church, we are not any less evangelical than we have ever been. However, the following are our three main reasons for this name change. 

1. We are no longer a church in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) denomination, and our current name is confusing and misleading. 

We knew a future name change might be indicated when in 2019 our body took up the question of moving out of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) denomination and joining the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) denomination. However, we did not want to cloud the important and compelling rationale for making that denominational change with discussions regarding our name. We now feel the name has proven to be confusing and misleading for others. There are two Presbyterian denominations with “evangelical” in their names, the EPC and the Evangelical Covenant Order (ECO), and although we have many friends in those denominations, our church is not a member of those denominations because of our biblical convictions on important doctrinal issues. 

2. The term “evangelical” means too many different things to many different people. 

There is nothing wrong with the term “evangelical” when understood in its true, traditional meaning, and to reiterate, we are not becoming any less evangelical than we have always been. However, the connotation of the term “evangelical” has morphed; it has come to mean too many different things to many different people. 

Unfortunately, many outside the church today associate corruption, unfaithfulness, narrowness, racism, indifference to social needs, lusting for political power, and general foolishness with the term “evangelical” and with the movement of evangelicalism broadly today.

Even within the contemporary church there are those claiming and using the word “evangelical” while advocating extra-biblical and doctrinally spurious views that clash with the foundational understandings that our teaching elders (pastors) and ruling elders subscribe to, and have vowed to protect and defend. 

There was a relatively brief period of time, decades ago, when most people agreed on what was meant by “evangelical.” However, today there is so much disagreement and confusion regarding the term that we no longer believe the term is beneficial in the name of our church. 

3. We believe Christ Presbyterian Church is a wonderful name. It is available, and its adoption would not require a significant rebranding effort.

In the long history of our church, Christ Presbyterian Church has almost become our new name multiple times. It is a wonderfully simple name, which preserves the focus on Christ in the name of our church. In God’s providence, at the state and county level, the name “Christ Presbyterian Church” is currently available for us to claim, and we may readily adopt it in the event the congregation agrees with the unanimous vote of the Session to make the change. We believe making this particular name change connects us with our history of faithful ministry in Houston, and it would not be difficult to rebrand our church as Christ Presbyterian Church. 

We look forward to sharing with and hearing from you in the weeks to come. Richard Harris and a team from the Session will begin visiting Sunday School classes October 9 to answer any questions you might have.

In service of Christ,

Your Session