Cloud of Voices evokes lots of Biblical images of God’s mysterious presence and images of our valuing of the multitude of voices in our liturgies and in our decision making. It also alludes to our interactive online reality.
In terms of the five criteria we have been playing with, Cloud of Voices Baptist Church is:
- Inviting curiosity – it makes it clear that it is a Baptist church, and it contains hints that it may be online and/or may be a bit into mysticism, but it doesn’t spell any of that out definitively.
- Punchy – reasonably short, easy to say, no need for abbreviation.
- Borderless – no reference to any geographical place, but an allusion to online space.
- 50:50 on ‘Digital’ language – “The cloud” is now a common indicator of online space, but since it can also have other meanings in church, it is not fully explicit. Thus it avoids necessarily putting off people who think they hate online worship, but it also won’t leave anyone feeling that the name promised a physically gathered group.
- Symbolic – Lots of symbolic references with this one:
- Cloud can symbolise online space
- Cloud can refer to the Pillar of Cloud that guides God’s people in the wilderness (Exodus 13:21-22; Numbers 9:15-22)
- Cloud can refer to God’s protection (eg. Psalm 105:39 & 1Corinthians 10:1)
- Cloud can refer to the cloud of incense billowing from God’s presence in the temple (1Kings 8:10-11; Ezekiel 8:10, 10:3-4; Isaiah 6:4)
- Love is compared to a cloud in Hosea 6:4
- Jesus rises in a cloud at his ascension (Acts 1:9). So do some of God’s people (Revelation 11:12)
- Clouds often feature in the Bible and in Christian mysticism as a symbol of God’s mysterious presence, and of our entry into that mysterious presence.
- God’s voice speaks to Moses from the cloud on the mountain top (Exodus 19:9 & 24:15-18)
- God’s voice affirms Jesus from the cloud on the mountain of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:5), and at his baptism
- Cloud of Voices could be the Cloud of Witnesses (testifying voices) (Hebrews 12:1)
- A cloud of voices can also symbolise our highly participatory, all voices welcome, approach to both liturgy and decision making
- A cloud of voices could also symbolise our online singing of the liturgy and other hymns/songs.
Other Criteria:
- Domain Name Availability – CloudOfVoices.church and several other variations are available as an internet domain name.
- Good double meanings – I like it when names can have two or more meanings if all those meanings are appropriate. It allows the name to say more without getting long and complicated.
- Ambiguous genre – Church names usually fall into one of three categories: Saints’ names, place names, or modern value statements. This name has most in common with the third category, but it is still quite different from the usual pattern of that category. That will make it stand out. And actually, the association of Cloud of Voices with Cloud of Witnesses almost makes it an equivalent of “All Saints”, one of the common church names in the saints’ names category.
- Acronym – It is short enough that it probably wouldn’t be reduced to an acronym, but if it were it would start to sound a bit like covid which would be amusing given that it was covid that led to us becoming an online church. But others have observed that COV made them think of COVENANTING, rather than covid.
Does this sufficiently show a church in action, or simply imply joining together to pray/sing?
Comment has been made before – this image might not be helpful for some people who struggle with mental health.
I remember that comment being made in reference to “Many Voices”. To me, the danger feels less with this version.
I think this name has a lot of strengths. The double meaning works, and the range of Biblical imagery that it potentially evokes keeps it interesting and relevant.
I asked ChatGPT for some comments on this name focused on how it may land with insiders, other Christians, and people with no church background. This is what it returned:
That’s a good point about how it may come across to those burned by authoritarian structures. it does sound safe and participatory, if a little crowded!
This name is up there as one of the strongest for me.
Clouds are by their nature mystical and symbolise directly the presence of God, especially in the Old Testament. I really like the symbolism attached – both modern and ancient.
This is a strong name for our church for all of the reasons already mentioned.
I particularly like the biblical symbolism of the Cloud.
Comment was previously made regarding the name “Many Voices” that it might not be helpful for some people who struggle with mental health, but I don’t get that feeling with “Cloud of Voices”.
The name is unique, as we as a church are unique.
Given that we were all comfortable with SYCBaps, I think this name has the best acronym, as in-house, we could be COVBaps (Covenanting Baptists) and I would be comfortable with that.
I think this name is likely to be referred to by acronym, for me the COV sounding or looking like Covid is a negative.
I wonder whether it really would? I’m a bit of an acronyms person, but this doesn’t seem like one I’d feel any need to reduce to an acronym. I wonder whether many people would.
I think names tend to get reduced to acronyms when they have too many syllables. South Yarra Community is 7 syllables so it becomes SYC. Cloud of Voices is only 3 syllables. Probably less likely to be cut down.
I don’t like this name at all. To my mind it conjires up fluffiness and nebulousnessn, easily driven in many directions by the wind and subject to wind changes.
Didn’t Jesus say that as those who are born of the Spirit, we will be blown wherever the Spirit chooses (John 3:8)? You might have added another Biblical allusion to this names list!