Over the past year, I’ve had a number of experiences that have led me to the belief that the name of our church does not communicate who we are to people learning about us, whether they be “far from God” or “church people”. I believe it’s time for a change.
Before we moved to Baltimore (during the season we were fasting & praying about what God was asking us to do), I was reading Psalm 107 and the description of God gathering people, healing people in verses 1-9, impacted me.
The following words jumped from the page at me, verse 7 “He led them straight to safety, to a city where they could live,” and verse 30 “What a blessing was that stillness as he brought them safely into harbor!”
That was the final moment of more than a year worth of prayer, assessment, and preparation, when I knew that we were to move to Baltimore City and start a church.
Rebecca reminded me that before I took the idea of the name CBC, we were talking about this idea of a “city” church (in the heart of the city) and a “harbor” church (safely receiving and sending people). It’s a geographic thing, yes. It’s also “home at last” resting in salvation. It’s certainly a “life on mission” identity.
After months of prayerful consideration and conversations with some of you, our elders, our parents, and our pastors in Portland, we’ve decided to change the name of our church to:
City Harbor Church …a safe place to find & follow Jesus.
The new logo, web site, etc. are in the works. I believe that you’re going to enjoy all of the new stuff. Please understand that this does not reflect any change in our beliefs, practices, values, or relationship with our home church. All of that is unchanged. Our pastors in Portland are thrilled with the change. This does not mean that we’re moving the location of the church, down to the harbor. No. Most of the homes built in our neighborhoods were built because of the harbor. The current web site “E-giving” Paypal still works, but from now on all checks will need to be written to City Harbor Church.
We believe that it is no accident that this announcement occurs during a season of such intense prayer and the week that we start our Celebrate Recovery (Wednesday nights 7pm in the Hampden Family Center) and the month that our recovery house “Aslan House” moves into the area where we have the most small groups. We are responding to our Lord and we will see miracles. I would love to hear your feedback and answer any questions.
Thank you for taking the time to read through this and your prayerful support.
Ben Malmin, Pastor
City Harbor Church
410.929.1619
Pastor Ben Malmin 