GCN Is Getting a New Name

Global Commerce Network is getting a new name! After thirty years of service, we think it’s time to update our nonprofit organization’s name to something that better reflects our current and future work.

Why make the change?

Let’s be honest: The current name is confusing. The word global still applies because we continue to work in Europe, Brazil, and the US, and our scriptural study guides and books are distributed around the world. However, the word commerce is vague and it no longer encompasses the full range of our work. (More on that below.) And, as for the word network, it has never been a great fit because, despite multiple attempts, we haven’t been able to form a formal network.

What is the new name?

Premise Forum. This name has a deep spiritual meaning, and it fits with our history, our mission, and our future direction. Take a quick look at the meaning of both words.

Premise

The word’s origins express a relationship between a belief and a hope. Premise (the underlying belief or assumption) is related to the word promise. If the premise is true, then the promise (outcome) is more certain. Our premises directly affect our values, our decisions, and the outcomes of our lives.

Here’s a simple way of understanding why our premises are so important for practical, daily life. Imagine going on a hike in a place where you’ve never been before. You have a trail map. If the map, which is like a premise, is a true portrayal of the physical reality, you will be more likely to reach your destination. If it is not a true depiction of the real world, you are likely to get lost in the woods. You must choose whether to trust the map. This means you need good reasons to believe it. (Was it published by the US Geological Survey or some guy with a podcast?) Assuming you conclude the map is trustworthy, then you will decide to take the first step of faith and start hiking. At that point forward, you are living with hope that the map is accurate; that is, that the premise will result in the promise.

In the same way, the premises we have about God will influence everything in life. As we align our premises about him with the truth that he has revealed, we can then begin to live accordingly by faith and in hope that we will experience the promises of God. By contrast, when people base life on false premises about God, the downstream impacts can be quite painful. For example, in Romans 1:18 to the end of the chapter, Paul describes what happens when a society “exchanges the truth of God for a lie.” (Maybe spend some time with that chapter.)

The point we want to emphasize here is that a premise affects the outcome of everything else. For this reason, our mission has always been to “help people align their lives with Scriptural truth.” This is why we’ve chosen to use the word premise in our new name.

Forum

The word forum conveys listening, dialogue, learning, study, and intellectual rigor. Forums are not manipulative; they are opportunities to think. If you visit the Divinity School at Oxford University (built in 1483), or look up a photo of it online, you’ll see a physical model of a forum for learning, intellectual rigor, discussion, personal growth, and friendship. We don’t have a beautiful, light-filled architectural wonder like that place, but we can replicate what occurred there.

Premise Forum will continue to provide opportunities to learn, think well, and grow. We do this through seminars, teaching, publishing scriptural study guides and books, and personal discipleship. To maintain a relational approach, we intentionally avoid ambitions to become a large organization. To preserve time for people, we will maintain a lean structure with a low overhead.

Looking Ahead

When we put both words together, Premise Forum accurately expresses how the scope of our work is expanding. We will continue to help people think about the scriptural premises for work, workplace relationships, and economics, but in recent years we have been expanding beyond those topics.

Our new director, Darrell Dooyema, who has a doctoral degree in Christian philosophy, gives us a wonderful capacity to help people with the bigger questions of life. Are there sound reasons for belief in God? Who are we as humans and why are we here? Is there a foundation for morals, or is everything relative? If God is love, why is there so much suffering in the world? Everyone struggles with these types of questions, but people rarely have opportunities (or forums) to think carefully about them in a relational, well-reasoned way.

Serving people on this level is vital. Extensive research shows that a majority of young people are abandoning the Christian faith in which they were raised, or they are not giving it any consideration at all, because they rarely find thoughtful opportunities to address these types of important questions.

To help fill this need, Premise Forum will emphasize what we call discipleship of the mind. This is related to scriptural command to "love God with all your mind." Philippians 4:5 and 8 adds this: “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. . . . Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Paul encouraged his friends, in Romans 12:1-2, to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

What changes can I expect to see?

Some organizations spend a lot of time and money on “rebranding.” Not us. Everything will be inexpensive and simple. The public name will be Premise Forum. We’ll be launching a new website at premiseforum.org. The changes will also require zero effort for those who support us financially. No one will need to make any changes at all.

We will continue to keep you informed as we go through the changes. If you have any questions, feel free to send an email to: glenn@globalcommercenetwork.com.