It’s always a tragedy when evangelical Christians fall out, and the example of the Gideons seems particularly distressing.
As en reports, what everyone previously knew as ‘GideonsUK’ has just changed its name to Good News for Everyone (GNE). It was a change forced upon it after the US-based Gideons International won a trademark dispute.
GideonsUK – now GNE – were expelled by the international branch in 2018 for allowing full membership to women. Late last year, it was ruled that they could not use the label ‘GideonsUK,’ and they were forced to pay costs. The new name is the inevitable concomitant of that legal decision.
If any dispute ever seemed pointless, it is this one. It’s not as if GideonsUK had embraced heresy; nor, as they are not a church, are questions relating to the theology of men and women by any means essential. They were just quietly getting on with their brilliantly effective work in a slightly different way from other branches.
Rebranding exercises can be difficult. Many may remember Royal Mail’s bizarre attempt to rename itself Consignia. And Standard Life Aberdeen’s decision to rebrand as abrdn earlier this year is beyond surreal.
Good News for Everyone at least does what it says on the tin. Switching from the name Gideon to that of another Old Testament judge might have proved tricky: anyone for the Ehuds? Or the Jephthahs? Perhaps not. And the Deborahs would have implied women only.
But whatever the challenges the name change brings, part of the point of the OT story is that God is not bound by human limitations. Ten thousand men? Too many. Three hundred, lapping? That will do.
We welcome Good News for Everyone, wish them well, and pray for the Lord’s blessing upon them.
