Remember when denominational names were en vogue? Remember when you could figure out which denominational church came to the city first: First Methodist; First Baptist; First Presbyterian? Remember when you could tell two churches that split: Harmony Baptist Church and Greater Harmony Baptist Church?

Those days are gone. But what has not changed is that many churches have commonalities in names. In their attempts to be different, they have become common. I went to social media and to Church Answers to learn from my community about church names. Their responses were both fascinating and funny.

• "Point" has become ubiquitous. LifePoint. CrossPoint. Add an "e" to be fancy: GracePointe; LifePointe; CrossPointe.
• "Life" has a new life: Life Church; Real Life; New Life; LifePoint or LifePointe (see above).
• Tim Keller put Redeemer back into vogue. Both Redeemer and Redemption get a lot of love.
• City Church, usually with another name in front of it. These churches can be found in the city, suburbs and the country.
• Christ Church. It's simple and popular.
• Five biggies the past ten years: Journey, Bridge, Foundry, Mosaic and Generation.
• Cross has made a surge. Cross Church. Cross Fellowship. Cross Roads. CrossPoint or CrossPointe (see above).
• Simple Church. Sorry, that was a book (available at LifeWay.com).
• Meaningful names. Impact. Potential. Epic. Transformation. Renovation. Innovate.
• Fellowship can be found in almost any town. It usually has other words, but sometimes it's just Fellowship Church.
• Grace. Especially in the Reformed churches.
• Many churches like the new factor: New Life. New Hope. New Song. New Now (I made up that one). NewPoint. NewPointe (see above).
• Moving on up. Elevate. Vertical. Summit.
• Not English. Pick a Greek or Latin name you remember from seminary. Eklessia. Ecclessia. Koinonia. Agape. Many others.

What are some contemporary church names you could add? Got any funny examples? Let me hear from you.

Thom S. Rainer is the president of LifeWay Christian Resources.

This article originally appeared at thomrainer.com.

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