By: Brian Lim, Deacon Board Chairperson
East Toronto Chinese Baptist Church (ETCBC) has been preparing to become an incorporated church for a number of years now, the primary reason being to improve our church governance. Another important reason is to provide protection for members from legal liability in church ministries.
As part of the process of incorporation, we need to decide on an English name as the official, legal church name.
So what’s in a name?
A name:
- Can describe who we are and where we come from – What is our race or culture? What is our location, whether geographical or social (e.g. social class, theological, gender, age)? What is our history, our origin story?
- Can represent our attitudes and orientation towards others – are we welcoming of others who come from different backgrounds and cultures?
- Can describe what we value and what we exist for – are we inward-focused, primarily taking care of those already in our community, or are we outward-focused, interested in learning from others, and seeking to bless others?
- Can be aspirational, a statement of who we hope to be, of what we dream we can be.
“Rebranding”?This is an excellent opportunity to reflect on who we are as a church, and what kind of community we are and hope to be. Certainly, a name change means very little if it is merely a superficial, cosmetic “re-branding” exercise (as if the life of a community seeking to follow Jesus were a commodity to buy and sell and market). Without the reality of a community of people that is genuinely making the effort to grow, to learn, and to live Kingdom life together, changing the name of a church is futile.
Who are we right now?
We are a primarily monoethnic (Chinese), but multicultural and multigenerational community – an English-speaking congregation consisting mostly of 2nd generation Canadians, a Cantonese-speaking congregation of mostly 1st generation Canadians, many of whom came to Canada over 15 years ago, a Mandarin-speaking congregation of more recently arrived immigrants, and a child and youth population (under 24 years of age) that make up over a quarter of our entire church population. We are a highly educated community, with many of us having post-high school education in the form of college or university or professional studies. Most of us reside in parts of the GTA outside of Scarborough – Markham, Richmond Hill, North York, the old City of Toronto.
Where are we?
We are located geographically in Victoria Village, the neighbourhood bounded by the Don River on the West, Victoria Park Avenue on the East, ranging north to south from Lawrence Avenue to just a few blocks south of Eglinton Avenue. In the City of Toronto’s 2016 neighbourhood survey, 53.5% of Victoria Village residents identify as immigrants, 9.9% identify as recent immigrants (vs. 7.0% for all of Toronto), and 59.1% (vs. 51.5%) identify as visible minorities. The median household income is considerably lower than that for Toronto ($51,867 vs. $65,829), and the unemployment rate is markedly higher (10.1% vs. 8.2%). Almost half of the residents (49%) speak a non-English mother tongue, with Arabic, Greek, Tagalog, Persian (Farsi), and Urdu being the top five.[1]
What do we value and who are we called to be?
Most of us are of Chinese heritage and recognize its importance in the many ways it has shaped us, not only in terms of language or food, but also in how we look at the world and live as followers of Jesus. ETCBC’s roots and culture as a Chinese church have been part of our formation as well.
But those of us who are 2nd generation Canadians have grown up, been educated, and become accustomed to working and socializing in the multi-ethnic, multicultural reality of Toronto. We seek to be a community that, like Jesus, welcomes and includes people of different ethnicities and cultures. We seek to be a community which blesses, but also learns from and is blessed by, the multi-ethnic and multicultural Victoria Village neighbourhood in which we are located.
With this vision in mind, the Deacon Board recommends that “Chinese” in the church name be substituted for a different word, while keeping the “ETCBC” initials and keeping the current Chinese name.
By doing this, we are removing possible perceptions that we are a community that consists only of, or welcomes only, people of Chinese background. While people will be attracted to ETCBC primarily by the way we seek to love and bless each other and others, if the name is a barrier to others feeling welcomed, if the name serves to exclude others, then we should change it.
As well, there are many possible words that may replace “Chinese” in the English name, which may better represent who we are and what we value. Some meaningful suggestions include “Community” – referring to our larger vision of reaching out to and blessing the local community, “Carnforth” – our geographical location, or “Covenant” – which refers to the faithful and committed love that God has for us, and that we strive to have with each other.
Why keep the ETCBC initials? Our community is often referred to, with a sense of affection, as “ETCBC” or “ET”, a place where we have grown up, or deepened our faith, or developed deep, supportive friendships and relationships. Some, particularly in the Chinese-language congregations, wish to honour our roots as a Chinese Baptist Church. These initials (and retaining the Chinese name) communicate continuity with our past and our origins as East Toronto Chinese Baptist Church, while the change in the full English name is about being forward-looking, growing to be a more welcoming, inclusive multicultural church. We seek to be a more inclusive and multicultural church because the gospel, the Good News, of God’s Kingdom is expansive – God so loved the cosmos (Greek: “kosmos” = “world”) and Jesus sent his followers out to make disciples of all ethnicities (Greek: “ethne” = “nations, people groups”).
What kind of community do you hope for and envision ETCBC becoming? Can the name “ETCBC” meaningfully connect where we come from with what we hope to be?
The Deacon Board welcomes your feedback! Is there a name you can think of that could better represent who we are and who we hope to be? Do you think it is important that the name connect our community heritage to the future? E-mail us at [email protected].
[1] City of Toronto 2016 Neighbourhood Profile of Victoria Village