Your group needs a name. You can’t call it “that-group-that-meets-on-Sunday-afternoon-at-5 p.m.-for-any-young-person-who-goes-to-this-church-or-wants-to-find-out-about-Jesus” for very long. (I guess you can shorten it to GTMOSAFAYPWGTCWFOAJ, but that’s awkward.) For obvious reasons, you need some sort of tag that helps give the group an identity and something to refer to when speaking about it.
While some groups self-refer “youth” or “youth group” (fine by me), others try to be clever. This is where they stumble a bit.
The first problem is when we try to choose a name that we think will give our group an identity that it really shouldn’t have. For example, in our desire to be attractive to the world, we go for names that reflect the spirit of this age rather than the things of Christ. There are numerous groups with names such as Rampage, Rage, Bomb Squad, Mob, etc. Spend a moment and look up the definitions of these words. Or, see if these words occur in the Bible. You’ll find that none of these words carries with it a positive connotation. The rationale given for using these names is that the group is “trying to be attractive to today’s youth,” or “This was the name the kids came up with.” Regardless of origin, these names rarely indicate who we are as Christians. Too often, they indicate the opposite.
The second mistake is a name that is simply inappropriate. More often than not, these groups are acronyms which may look good at first; but upon closer examination they are found lacking: Youth Under Christ or Y.U.C. Good try, bad outcome. Or, there is Sunday Night Youth Fellowship (SNYF). Sniffing is not really an attractive thing. I’ve met some people who sniff a lot; it has never occurred to me to name my youth group after them. All things considered, I draw the line at naming my group after a bodily function!
There is nothing wrong with clever names, but we need to be careful that the names of our groups promote our cause and don’t work against us.
Any name that is the slightest bit suspect should be rejected. Recently, a church with the name of St. Peter’s called its youth group SPEW (for St. Paul’s Evening Worship). If this name tempts you, do a word study on what the Bible says about the word spew (See
It is unwise and unhelpful to name your group after something Jesus detests. Seriously, would a newcomer be attracted to a group called “Spew”?
Naming Your Group
The rule is simple. Give your group a name that reflects who you are and/or what you do. You can choose a generic term, such as “Youth Group,” or go for something that is Christian and catchy: Alpha, Reality, Axis, U-turn, Exalt or G2C (Glory to Christ). In the end, choose a name that is simple and conveys what you are trying to do.
I’ll let you in on a little secret: In some ways, the name of the group is quite irrelevant. The local young people won’t come to a group with the best of names if the program doesn’t take them anywhere and the leaders don’t love them. Work on developing a program that helps young people walk closely with Christ and go for a name that is simple, positive and Christian.
