Gospel rescue missions arose a century and a half ago to help urban men who were jobless, homeless and hopeless. Now, the Colorado Springs-based national association for hundreds of these ministries has dropped the words “Gospel” and “rescue” from its name as it prepares for a new era.

Citygate Network is the newest name for a group with a long history. The National Federation of Gospel Missions was founded in 1906. It was renamed the International Union of Gospel Missions in 1913 and changed its name to the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions in 1990.

President John Ashmen says it was past time for an update. Most of the association’s 300 members do not call themselves rescue missions, even though member ministries in the Springs, Denver and Pueblo still do so.

“This has been happening all around us,” says Ashmen, who led the effort for the past year. “We’re just giving it permission to happen.”

The Albuquerque Rescue Mission had changed its name to Steelbridge Ministries, and the Bakersfield, Calif., Rescue Mission is now called The Mission at Kern County.

Ashmen says the move will help the association connect with other ministries involved in “life transformation,” including housing, life and job skills training, and addiction recovery.

“We have a long history in North America with much to celebrate, but our identity has prevented us from aligning with ministries who would never see themselves as rescue missions,” he said.

The name game

Ashmen prepared members for the change with a series of papers, videos and a presentation at the group’s annual convention, while a branding company worked on new names.

In one paper he asked, “So, how does a ministry know when it’s time to rebrand?” and cited examples of ministries that had changed their brands.

The Springs-based ministry HCJB changed its name to Reach Beyond in 2014 because it had grown beyond its original name, which came from the call letters of an Ecuador radio station.

In 2011, Campus Crusade for Christ changed its name to Cru because its work was no longer restricted to college campuses and because of concerns about negative connotations of the word “crusade.”

Rescue missions have faced confusion and image problems for years. The Miami Rescue Mission has received distress calls from stranded sailors, and concerned citizens once took a bird with a broken wing to the San Fernando Valley Rescue Mission.

The word “rescue” raised additional concerns.

“We’re not superheroes flying in to pluck people out of misery and fix them,” Ashmen said. “We’re not rescuing them, we’re doing Gospel-based life transformation, and the name change gives us more opportunities to engage others who are doing similar work.”

Ashmen insists the association remains committed to Christian ministry, even after the removal of the word “Gospel.”

“Government does a great job of handling people’s physical poverty, but it takes the Gospel to deal with the spiritual and relational poverty that may have led to the physical poverty in the first place,” he said.

Moving forward

The Citygate name evokes biblical passages about an area of ancient cities where meetings took place and business was conducted. “That space served as a combination of town hall, ad hoc law court, Hyde Park Corner, marketplace and park bench,” said an archaeology article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

Larry Yonker, CEO of Springs Rescue Mission and a Citygate Network board member, praised the name change.

“This is a huge step in the right direction and will help make the association’s net a little bigger so that it can work with local ministries like Mary’s Home, Dream Centers of Colorado Springs, and Teen Challenge Colorado Springs,” he said.

Yonker says his organization will keep the Springs Rescue Mission name because “it is a strong brand in our city.” But SRM will use the Citygate name soon when it launches a new program.

Citygate Motors, which just received its auto dealership license, will make donated cars available to alumni of SRM’s addiction recover program who have difficulty finding affordable and reliable transportation.