Myers Park Baptist Church, the tall, steepled landmark near Queens Road, is getting a new name. The congregation has voted to move forward as Myers Park Covenant Church, ending more than 80 years under its old banner. Church leaders say dropping the word "Baptist" is about honesty, arguing the label no longer matches a congregation that fully welcomes women and LGBTQ+ people into leadership. The move caps a years long internal debate over how a historic church should present itself in a fast changing Charlotte.
Congregation approves new name
Members formally adopted the new name earlier this month after a congregational vote, according to reporting from WCCB. The station noted that the church has long had a reputation for socially progressive stances and for promoting women and LGBTQ+ members into visible leadership roles, a posture that already set it apart from many traditional Baptist congregations.
How the change unfolded
The church’s renaming committee says this was not a spur of the moment rebrand. It followed a multiyear identity review that included a 2024 vote indicating support for removing "Baptist" from the name, then picked up speed after the Board of Deacons created a formal committee in February 2026. That group organized listening sessions, reached out to community leaders and eventually suggested "Myers Park Covenant Church" as the new identity. The deacons signed off and the congregation followed with its own vote, according to the church’s account. The full timeline and explanation are laid out in a statement on the church website: Myers Park Baptist Church.
Historic identity and past fights
This is not the first time the congregation has stepped away from the broader Baptist world. It broke with the Southern Baptist Convention in 1998 and was later removed from the North Carolina Baptist Convention after affirming LGBTQ leadership, according to the Baptist Standard. Those clashes helped turn the church into a recurring reference point in Charlotte debates over faith, politics and inclusion.
Governance stays intact
Despite the new branding, church leaders emphasize that the internal machinery of the congregation will look exactly the same. "Nothing will change in our governance," the renaming committee wrote, explaining that both the church’s polity and its legal status will remain untouched. The committee describes the new name as a messaging cleanup rather than a theological or structural overhaul, according to the church’s statement: Myers Park Baptist Church.
What this could mean for Charlotte
For most Charlotte residents and would be members, the shift may feel largely symbolic, one loaded word removed from the sign out front. But church leaders see it as clearing away a barrier that past outreach work suggested could keep newcomers at arm’s length. The name change is also likely to reignite local conversations about how legacy institutions of all kinds try to connect with younger and more diverse neighbors. Earlier coverage of the church’s identity work described a consultant led audit and "mystery shopper" style feedback that nudged leaders toward change, according to the Charlotte Observer.
