Growing up as a kid, I’d hear my parents describing people who ‘had a good name.’ With a bit of maturity and understanding, awareness as to what it really meant to have a good name, dawned on me.
They weren’t referring of course to a person just having a ‘nice’ name bestowed upon them from birth. Parents, or a family, decide upon names given in various ways; perhaps to reflect an aspirational quality envisaged for a child, or perhaps it’s a reflection of the newborn’s physical appearance, or maybe a family name gets passed on. In some cultural traditions, surnames came from a father’s trade or occupation. A man who was a ‘carpenter’ might be called John Carpenter and because sons often followed a father’s occupation, the surname stuck. Lots of familial names follow the trade they originated from… Potter, Cooper, Tailor, Weaver, Thatcher, Slater, Miller, Baker, Cook, Fisher, Shepherd, Carter, Skinner, Gardener …and so on. My “Smith” surname links potentially to many trades – blacksmiths, tinsmiths, goldsmiths, silversmiths without necessarily implying familial relationship.
Murray Smith
Anyway, that said, when someone’s spoken of as having ‘a good name’ it’s not that their name has a nice ring to it. Rather, they’ve earned a reputation for kindness, truthfulness, honesty, being above reproach, consistently displaying respect, decency and integrity… the things that display character.
Proven consistent track record determines the ‘name’ or reputation people end up with – actually, the same measure applies to anything… from products to businesses in hospitality, consulting, manufacturing, retailing, or to sports clubs, schools, care providers, administrative bodies and much more.
It also applies to churches. And it’s here that a great deal of wariness and bewilderment reigns in the minds of multitudes since while you might expect all churches to invariably be straight-up and trustworthy, not all are. I’ve cringed with embarrassment hearing of another scandalous failure within a church reported by the media, or some loopy group getting outed for its weird, dangerous or at times even illegal practice.
It raises questions and frustratingly, leaves the credibility and reputation of all churches, across the board tarnished, labelled as self-righteous ‘hypocrites’, to be avoided at all costs. Sadly while that’s valid in too many cases, there’s plenty of exceptions.
It’s not my aim to defend the church. I’ve already acknowledged some are more imperfect than others. That’s why it’s important to exercise discernment about who really is the real deal. Because many aren’t flawed, sticking faithfully to the truths of the Bible that Jesus taught about God’s love and salvation and His power to transform a person’s life. Examples abound of churches doing great things – they’re not just following religious dogma, but pursuing a life of true freedom, caring and genuinely loving people, not controlling them, meeting their practical needs, displaying true servanthood the way you’d expect someone who was an authentic follower of Jesus should.
Maybe you’re someone who’s had a painful, disappointing church experience… perhaps things happened that left you feeling turned off. If so, that saddens me greatly. My prayer is that you would remain open to finding a church with a good name… a genuinely Christian church to support you in discovering your best life!
Praising in a church. Photo: Josh Sorenson, pexels.com
