Gathering in South Jersey

Some time ago, I sent out a survey to people familiar with this new church community and asked them to choose from a list of possible names.

Lots of people responded to this survey--more than almost any other communication we've sent. Some of the top choices people liked included, "Fields of Grace," "Sojourn," and "Grace Vineyard."

But the name most people liked, more than any other--and the one Polly and the kids liked best, too--was Mercy Hill. (Click below to read more.)

So, we're naming the new church Mercy Hill Presbyterian Church. As confirmation of this prayerful decision, through some informal surveys we've done with various people in our area who don't go to church, or who say they might be interested in attending a church, we discovered that with them, too, name seems to resonate.

We love the concept of mercy and forgiveness: these are ideas that too often people forget, even people who profess to believe in them.

Of course, mercy isn't merely an idea: it is the very center of what we believe: while we deserve judgment for our sins, God has shown us mercy through Jesus Christ.

As for the "Hill" part of our name, Jesus hung on a cross on a "hill" called Calvary. God speaks to people throughout the Bible on "mountains" or "hills."

Plus, the Gloucester County part of South Jersey, still with farms and orchards and forests, has a "hill" character to it.

Ultimately, though, the name won't decide if the church is successful or not. It will be the people of the church--church means people, anyway--and their own experience of God's mercy, and how they show it to the people in their lives that don't yet know the mercy of God.

Here's how you can pray for us: pray we would so be changed by the experience of God's mercy in our lives through Jesus that God would use us to bring great change, and blessing, to the lost around us.