There have been two version of this name nominated:
St Clare’s Open Baptist Church
St Clare’s Online Baptist Church
No promotional pitch was provided by either of the people who nominated this name. However, way back when it was first suggested, the following comment was shared:
Churches are often named in honour of saints, and St Clare of Assisi is the patron saint of TV or computer screens, due to a legend that says that while she was confined to her room due to serious illness, a projection-like image of the Eucharist being celebrated in the neighbouring church would appear on her wall to enable her to participate “online”. It is a very appropriate connection for us, but it is not something that would mean anything to anyone until it is explained, so it has little missional value. (I’d love to have the acronym SCNDL [scandal], and St Clare would work with that, but I haven’t managed to come up with an NDL that wasn’t ridiculous!)
For domain names, stclares.church is not available (it has been recently registered but is not yet in use), but surprisingly stclares.com.au, stclares.net.au and stclares.online are all available.
An acceptable name , understood why suggested, but suspect it has meaning only to we who have been at SYCBC for a long time .
Agree, it’s obscure
It is funny how an older style name like this sounds a bit stone-and-mortar, and so ends up having to be qualified with “online”. I’m one who would prefer to not have “online” in the name, but I agree that somehow this one needs it.
I think that could create an intriguing contrast, the more traditional and high church style name with online and Baptist
I think I prefer the traditional sound of this over a more aspirational name which not everyone will agree with and which could come across as smug or self-righteous. St Clare’s feels sturdier, by being less specific it feels more likely to last, rather than to feel like it no longer fits as the church changes.
I like the symbolism, that it isn’t immediately obvious what it means, but that it has good symbolic resonances for those in the know- both the specifics of St Clare and more generally our Bapto-Catholic style. Hopefully it would invite curiosity. It’s punchy and easily shortened. Borderless, but we can specify ‘online’, which might be more intriguing with the contrast of a more traditional Saint name.
A less well known, slightly obscure name has a lot of resonance for me as I feel it’s definitely a part of our identity as a church, even within the Baptist tradition.
I don’t feel it’s necessary for people to know immediately the history behind St Clare, after all they can easily look it up. Who would know that St Jude (an Anglican Church in Carlton) was the patron saint of lost causes and hopeless cases?
Having said this, I do really like the link to St Clare being a follower of St Francis and in particular the link to environmentalism.
This feels to me like a Saints name picked out of thin air. I don’t like that it has to be explained. It feels too mundane & doesn’t feel like us to me.
A bit too esoteric?
All online references to St Clares tend to relate to bodies within the Catholic system – primary schools, secondary colleges and pre-schools, as well as a retirement village in Kew. To work for us, the inclusion of ‘Baptist” would be essential.
Once I knew the significance, I liked this name.