Why 'Ebenezer'?

When as a new church we bought the Ebenezer Chapel buildings in 2023, a number of friends encouraged us not to use the old name because it sounds too strange to modern ears. That would have been tricky, since the name is cut into the stone on the front of the Chapel, but we have also kept it because we love its meaning. 

The word 'Ebenezer' does not come from Ebenezer Scrooge, the unattractive figure in Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. The word is much older than Dickens. In the ancient Hebrew language it means 'stone of helping'. 

When God delivered his people from their enemies the Philistines, the prophet Samuel declared, 'Thus far the LORD has helped us' (1 Samuel 7:12).  He set up a stone as a memorial and called it 'Ebenezer', which is the Hebrew for 'stone of help'.

Like that stone, the word 'Ebenezer' in our name is a wonderful reminder that the Lord is our compassionate and gracious helper, indeed the only one who can help us in the face of our own sin, suffering, death, and coming judgement.