Recently my church’s youth group changed names from Tribe youth to Ville youth, as in Kelly-ville. As someone who has grown up with tribe at Kellyville Anglican I was very, and I mean very upset by this. But why was I so upset it’s just a name change. It’s still the same people, the same place, a slightly different program, and best of all we now get merch! But I think that’s just bribery to get us youth to like the name.
Why is the name changing? Well, my youth leaders have said the name change is a visual refresh for youth but also as a way for Kellyville Anglican’s youth programs to be distinct in the wider community and hopefully reach more people. Apparently, there are lots of youths with the name Tribe youth so the leaders wanted a new name that would stand out and be unique. This change was also made to hopefully encourage kids to continue going to youth when they move from the year 5-6 program to the years 7-12 program, as the names are the same so surely that fixes everything.
When this name change was announced one of the first things many people read the name change as was vile instead of ville. Which obviously isn’t good if kids are running around saying ‘I go to vile youth because kids are vile’. I don’t know if the change upset me just because tribe was no more or if it was because I really don’t like the name they chose. I mean really, we have a marketing team, there is no way no one saw the name and went ‘Hey kids might read this wrong and give our church a bad name’. Personally, I think this is a really bad name choice; it could have changed to anything absolutely anything and they chose Ville?
As a senior youth who has been at Kellyville Anglican for 7 years I grew really attached to tribe and the community. I think the reason I was actually really upset at this name change is because it reminded me that I’m growing up and the chapter of me being a youth kid is nearly over. Yes, I am only 17 but the real world of adulthood feels like it is rapidly approaching me. This name change from Tribe to Ville just highlighted to me that I’m not a little kid anymore. Tribe meant so much to me; it got me through hard times and was always a place I could be me. I met some great people and have a very strong group of friends that I met through tribe. Even though Ville is technically the same as Tribe it feels as if I’m letting go a part of my childhood. I had a real attachment to the name Tribe because of what came along with it so the name change feels like a part of me is being left behind.
The name Tribe meant something to us senior youth. The attachment we have to the name is why we are so upset by the name change. But after a lot of thinking and talking about the name change with my leaders, I will take on the name change and somewhat proudly say ‘I go to Ville Youth’.
