Delta Groups

When my spouse and I lived in Boston, we attended a church there called The River. It was a great church, and if you're in the area, we encourage you to check it out. It was very welcoming to all kinds of individuals, and went out of its way to welcome every person individually from the moment they walked through the doors. We loved it there and were sorry to leave.

To keep consistency, one of the things they did was name each part (or meeting of different ages of people) after different bodies of water. Thus there was The River, The Harbor, etc. The young adult group decided to call themselves Delta (no "the" in front). We chose it for ourselves, and I love it on so many levels.


Delta Meanings:

• Officially, a river delta is where a river meets the ocean; in other words, a place where new people could come to get to know people from the church in a safe, friendly, relaxed environment. A place where the church and secular world could interface and dialogue.
• One of the first things I think of with the word Delta is a fraternity or sorority - in otherwords, brotherhood. Community. This is exactly what Christians are supposed to be, as a group. In the early church (see the book of Acts and Paul's letters), Christians prayed for Christians and churches in other areas, sent them money, and tried to uplift and encourage them in any areas of struggle. Sometimes they sent kind people to help out in any way needed. None of the denominational infighting we see today.
• Another thing I think of with the word Delta is the military. For some reason, at least in movies, the most elite military forces are always called Delta Force. I don't know why. But it made me feel like I was part of an elite group, the best of the best when it comes to skills or physical endurance or intelligence, chosen if you will. And Christ does choose each one of us...or rather, God is calling all of us, and the group is made of people who have accepted God's call. And I do think God calls us to be often better than we think we can be. (By the way, this is totally consistent with the Jedi...Jedi being elite warriors, probably equivalent to the military special forces today. Think about it - not just physical awesomeness but sent on missions, often to militarily impose or keep peace...)
• The last meaning of Delta is as a greek symbol. The lowercase delta looks like the lowercase letter "d", while the uppercase Delta is simply an equilateral triangle. So when I see the word Delta, a triangle also appears in my head. I only recently put together that the Trinity (God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is also three parts, and often represented by a triangle. So a group that worships and serves God would be very adequately served by using a triangle as their symbol.