The celebratory ceremony was held at the church premises, situated at 37 Henry Nettmann Street, just off Sheba Street next to Gateway Combined Christian School.

Explaining the reasons behind the name change during the service, Past Tim Watson said they wanted to bring an end to the name confusion.

Prior to the start of the service, a thanksgiving family service was held at the church hall.

“Firstly, as Barberton Christian Church, we were widely known as BCC. However, about 500 metres from us, also on Henry Nettmann Street, there is another church called Baptist Community Church, also BCC,” explained Watson.

“Secondly, we wanted a name that described more of who we are and what we are about and one that is more relevant to the times. We also realised that even though we had been in existence for 23 years, few people in the Barberton community knew who we were. We started looking for a name that would be catchy, easy to remember and describe us accurately,” continued Watson.

He said from its inception, the name for Barberton Christian Church had been a lighthouse to the nations.

“We wanted to keep the lighthouse as a symbol and have the word ‘light’ in the name. The elders started with the process by brainstorming names with ‘light’ in them. At one stage we had 27 names on our list. Through a process of prayer, consultation and elimination, by the time we had our yearly planning, we had narrowed the choice down to three names. The elders decided on Hislight as we believe it best meets all the criteria,” added Watson.

He said the church was about Jesus, thus the word His.

Watson said they are a church that loves, lives in and lives out, and shares His light.

“The new name was first introduced to the congregation at our church camp in January. Acceptance of the name change and the choice of name has been unanimous. We as a congregation look forward to entering this new season as Hislight with great excitement,” concluded Watson.

At the end of the event, Watson prayed with those who needed prayer.

Tea, coffee and muffins were also provided at the church’s Cafe Connect inside the building.