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What’s in a name?

The Mission Society is now TMS Global
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01.17.2017

I’m having Patagonian Toothfish for dinner this evening. Sound appetizing? If you aren’t so sure, you are not alone. Indeed, in 1977 a fish wholesaler named Lee Lantz discovered there was almost no market for this delicate cold water seafood. But Lantz believed that the problem was not the fish, but the name. He got permission to market Patagonian Toothfish as “Chilean Sea Bass,” and with its new name, the once slighted fish became a global best seller.

William Shakespeare has Juliet ask “What’s in a name?” But history teaches us that there is, in fact, a great deal in a name. While names can describe, they also have the power to help define a person, organization, or thing. Perhaps that is why Jesus was fond of giving His disciples new names. So as they begin to follow Jesus, Simon (which means “hearer” in Hebrew) becomes Peter (literally “Rocky”), while brothers James and John become Boanerges (Sons of Thunder). Later, in Revelation 2:17, Jesus says that ultimately He will give all the victorious ones “a white stone with a new name written on it.” Jesus seems to know that our names often affect who we become. He wants us each to know our true names, who He created us to be. One thing is clear: biblically speaking, names are important.

In 1984 a small group of mission minded United Methodists formed a new missionary society with the aim of providing an additional avenue of evangelistic and disciple-making mission work within the United Methodist Church. The new agency was named “The Mission Society for United Methodists.” After a couple of decades of faithfulness to the original purpose, however, the board of directors felt the promptings of the Holy Spirit suggesting that the agency was called to a broader mission. While providing a home for disciple-making United Methodists with a desire to serve cross-culturally in a traditional missionary calling remained a large part of the work, the agency desired to become intentionally interdenominational as well. Though maintaining its Wesleyan distinctive, the Society sought to work across denominational lines. As the scope of the mission changed, “for United Methodists” was dropped from the name and the agency became simply “The Mission Society.”

While the new name has served well for the last decade, it has also been problematic in some unforeseen ways. The Mission Society is often confused with another agency with a very similar name. On occasion we receive checks in the mail that were meant for the other organization. Even my own pastor introduced me recently and used the name of the other agency in his introduction. It is clear that the name creates some confusion.

On a much more serious level, the name has become problematic missiologically. The world is changing. Where once Christian “missionaries” could practically hang out a shingle to announce who they were and what they were doing, today doing so would be illegal in many places, dangerous in more places, and deadly in some. Even the term missionary is loaded with baggage these days, with the result that we now refer to all of our workers as cross-cultural witnesses, or CCWs. And we are not alone. A number of large, well known and highly respected agencies have recently renamed and rebranded for similar reasons. Campus Crusade for Christ is now CRU. The U.S. Center for World Mission is now Frontier Ventures. The General Baptist Conference is now Converge. And the list could go on and on.

In light of these and other realities, The Mission Society Board of Directors entered into a renaming process late last year. After a long season of prayer, consultation, and discernment, the board recently came to a consensus decision to rename the agency “TMS Global.” The “TMS” portion of our name will point backward towards our roots, while also encapsulating our process as an acronym for “train, mobilize, and serve.”

We have been known for years for the excellence of our training, both with our Western missionaries as they prepare for cross-cultural service and also with the literally thousands of indigenous believers around the world who have been a part of our International Mobilization Conferences. Likewise, our Church Ministries division is devoted to training and mobilizing local churches for mission. We remain committed to staying on the cutting edge of missiology and training, and making that training a central part of who we are.

Mobilizing the body of Christ to join Jesus in His mission is the central feature of The Mission Society’s mission statement. Facilitating the response of women and men of faith who desire to take seriously Jesus’ command to “go and make disciples of all nations” is the core of who we are. We remain committed to deploying a global team of cross-cultural witnesses.

Likewise, incarnational witness and servanthood are at the heart of our strategy. Our cross-cultural witnesses go out as learners, as partners, as ambassadors of Jesus Christ, and foremost as servants. We remain committed to serving Jesus, His Kingdom and the people of the world.

Finally, adding “Global” to our name reinforces our ongoing commitment to be engaged in gospel ministry around the world, and especially among the least-reached people. We will continue to go, even into the most challenging places, until the whole world knows the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Between 1969 and 1979 the Chevrolet Nova was one of the best selling cars in the United States. Efforts to introduce it in Mexico proved extremely disappointing, however, until someone pointed out that “no va” in Spanish means “it won’t go.” No one was really interested in buying a car called “it won’t go”! A name that had worked well locally wasn’t going to work globally. Here at TMS Global, we believe that our new name will not only work locally, but globally, and will serve a new generation of cross-cultural witnesses, who, unlike Chevy’s car, will go…and under the banner of TMS Global, will share the good news of Jesus’s love incarnationally around the globe.

Rev. Max Wilkins is the president and CEO of TMS Global.