Equmenia, the Swedish free-church children's and youth organisation, has narrowed the question of a possible new name to a single option: “Equmenia ung” — Equmenia Young. Delegates will discuss the arguments for and against the name at the organisation's Boost festival conference, to be held on 20–22 November at Borgenkyrkan in Tierp. Equmenia's board will decide only after those conversations whether to put a name-change proposal to the national assembly in 2027. No decision on a new name will be taken at Boost itself.
The question has been live since February, when Sändaren reported that the similarity between the names Equmenia and Equmeniakyrkan causes regular confusion. A 2025 survey of 440 respondents found that 62 per cent believed the two names are always or often mixed up, and 72 per cent said a clearer name would make things easier for their local association or congregation. General secretary Marcus Lind said at the time that an addition to the name could make the youth organisation's identity clearer without distancing it from the church.
“Because Equmenia is the smaller of the two organisations, it is Equmeniakyrkan, as the larger one, that can be perceived as being Equmenia. The consequence is that we become invisible,” Lind said. Under a possible change, Equmenia would become the umbrella name for the shared movement, with Equmenia ung and Equmeniakyrkan as its two parts. Equmenia stresses that a national name change would not automatically require local associations to change their own names.
(Originally published in Swedish. Summary translated by CC / Connexion.)
Source: Equmeniakyrkan / Sändaren — sandaren.se
