Name Change FAQ

Saint Andrews Park Road Presbyterian Church

We anticipate people referring to our church by some abbreviated form of this.

• Saint Andrews
• Park Road Pres
• Park Road Presbyterian Church

Names have a way of sticking.  If you love the name St Andrews, continue to call it Saint Andrews or Saint Andrews Presbyterian Church.   However, if after reading this document you see the benefit of the words Park Road.  Feel free to call us “Park Road Presbyterian Church” or “Park Road Pres” for short.  Any version of the name will be fine.

As the Elders met, reflected, discussed and prayed (see question #4), we feel the Spirit’s leading to reach out more to our immediate surrounding community.  Here are ways we believe adding the words “Park Road” to our name communicate that.

1. We are located on Park Road and Park Road is well known in Hollywood, FL.  Our name now communicates where we are located.
2. We are on the same road as the park in Hollywood, TY Park.  We are across the street from the Hollywood Community Center known as David Park.  We are just up the road from Orange Brook Golf Course.  When people think of Park Road in Hollywood, all of these "Parks" come to mind.  This leads to the next point.
3. Parks are a place for community. They are a place where people congregate, recreate, and relax. Parks bring different types of people together.  They are a place for families. They are a place for enjoying God’s creation.  They are a place for multi-generational fellowship. Old and young break bread together at parks.  We want to be thought of as a place for gathering, fellowship, rest, and community, all with the purpose of glorifying our God.

Pastor TJ Campo summarizes it like this:

"We feel like St. Andrews has a lot to offer to our neighborhood, our community, our town, our region, and even other churches - that we can be a leader church among others.  So we want to grow and expand our reach into the community and we think this is going to be a real help in that direction."

Actually, this idea is not new.  When Rev. TJ Campo first came on staff at Saint Andrews, then Senior Pastor Paul Fowler brought it up and the Session considered and discussed it but felt the time was not yet right.  That was over 25 years ago.

The Elders had a Retreat in January to look at the current ministry of Saint Andrews and to see what God would have us do in the future. It was a time of prayer, thanksgiving, reflection, and planning.  We discussed what kind of church we are and what we want to be known for.  We shared our desire to broaden our influence into the surrounding community and to be a church that invites others into our doors, all for the Glory of God and for the spread of the Gospel.

As this discussion unfolded we discussed the name of the church and how this contributes to our Mission and our desire to invite visitors.  (See Question #6).  Through this discussion and much prayer, every Elder believed that God was leading us as a Session to change the name of our church.  Had we voted in January, it would have been unanimous.  But, we did not vote at that time.

We decided to continue to pray and discuss this in subsequent Session meetings.  We did in February, with the same results and no reservations.  We did not make the change in February.  In March the Deacons were brought into the discussion regarding our plans which was met with a similar response. It was at the end of March that we voted to change the name of Saint Andrews Presbyterian Church to Saint Andrews Park Road Presbyterian Church.  This is a change that really just adds to our existing name. It honors our heritage but adds to it as we look to the future of being more community minded.

During the Elder’s retreat and subsequent discussions, we all shared our experience of telling others the name of our church and the common responses.

• (Pause) Oh?
• Are you Catholic?
• Oh, you are in the PCUSA (the liberal Presbyterian Denomination)?
• You worship Saints?
• Are you Christian?

We asked former Pastors of Saint Andrews and they continue to run into these same difficulties.

One former Saint Andrews Pastor who lead one of our church plants tells his congregation that they were planted by “The Presbyterian Church in Hollywood,” because of the number of times he said Saint Andrews and had to answer questions of how he was planted by a Catholic Church.

Our former Youth Pastor of 10 years who is now a Campus Minister with RUF at Florida Gulf Coast University has the same experience. He goes around preaching at churches in Naples, Fort Meyers, and Marco Island. When people ask where he used to be a Pastor and he says Saint Andrews in Hollywood, FL, they either ask if he was at R.C. Sproul’s church or think he was a Catholic who converted.

As we look toward reaching out in our community, it is important that our name communicates who and what we are.  (see following questions for more on this)

Pastor TJ Campo summarizes it like this:

"Our target is to grow. We really want to grow as a church.  We feel like St. Andrews has a lot to offer to our neighborhood, our community, our town, our region, and even other churches - that we can be a leader church among others.  So we want to grow and expand our reach into the community and we think this is going to be a real help in that direction."

A name communicates who you are.  While we are certainly a Reformed Presbyterian Church and Saint Andrews communicates that to some reformed Presbyterians, the broader society and the culture we wish to reach has no context or understanding that is what Saint Andrews stands for.  Most people think it means we are Catholic.  So the name Saint Andrews today communicates to the surrounding world that we are Catholic.  Of course, we are not.

Many people in our church think that we are named for the Apostle Andrew.  We are not.  We are not St Andrew’s (with an apostrophe denoting ownership or possession). Our name was St Andrews (no apostrophe), which is a town in Scotland.  The town became a hub of reformed Protestantism, in particular Presbyterianism under John Knox.  While it is true that St Andrew is the patron saint of this town, when Protestant churches are named St Andrews it is a reference back to the town of Scotland, not the Apostle.

Did you know  that St Andrews was NOT the first name of this church?

The first meetings of this church were under the name Riverside Presbyterian Church.  The founding members of the church then changed the name to St Andrews Presbyterian Church.  They were good reformed protestants with an understanding and appreciation of their Presbyterian heritage and roots out of Scotland. (see question above about the history of the name St Andrews)

When we revised our logo 10 years ago, the "St" changed to the spelled out version "Saint."

Occasionally, yes.  However, this does not happen that frequently and when they find out we are not Catholic, while they are welcome here, they generally do not return.  The next question that usually comes up is that we should capitalize on this Catholic reference to attract Catholics.

Our response to that is 2-fold.

1. Do we really want to mislead people into coming here?
2. If the answer is yes, how is that going for you?  Are you inviting Catholic friends to services on Sundays?

While we may have had people attend who think this is a Catholic Church, we believe the benefit of changing the name will outweigh that of keeping it the way it is.

The elders did discuss this and recognize that name changes can be a difficult transition and that we have a near 60 year history as St Andrews.   We recognize that some members would like to remove St. Andrews from the name while others feel a deep connection to it.  So, we have chosen a name that honors the past while looking to the future.

Also, people visiting the area and snowbirds do search for us based on prior visits or word of mouth.  By keeping St. Andrews in the name, we are also helping past visitors know we are still the same church they have heard about.

We will be working on a logo and the all the logistics of a name change.  The new name and logo will be on the website and our other online presences as well as print publications.  We will be searchable and found by every variation of our name and Saint Andrews will still turn up for those searching for us.  Our domain names that will go to our website are:

• StAndrewspca.com (our existing website)
• ParkRoadPres.com
• ParkRoadPres.org
• ParkRoadPresbyterianChurch.com
• ParkRoadPresbyterianChurch.org