Name the New Region: March Madness CCIW/CCMR-style
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I want to offer up the regional name of “Welcoming Waters.”
This encompasses two central tenets of our area. First is “waters” which highlights the Great Lakes, but also the many bodies of water in the IL, WI, and MI regions. As well as a nod toward Christ’s welcome to all through baptism. “Welcoming” is in reference to the Midwestern way in which we, as a people, readily welcome people into our fold. It also supports the idea that Christ welcomes ALL to the table and community. We are called to, and strive to, live like Christ in our welcome.
Love it, Eli!
Christian Church (DOC) of the Great Lakes (“Great Lakes Region”)
The states that make up the emerging region border four of the five Great Lakes.
My 2 cents
First, the ordering of initials I believe should be:
CCIMW … why? It’s alphabetical, it’s ordered by size (number of Congregations),
and it shows CCIW embracing CCMR
Secondly, the IMW initials could relate to “Incredibly Mighty Waters”
Here I agree with Elijah and Jose’s focus on water in the new name.
In the origins of state names, water was a dominant factor in the Indigenous people’s
naming of the areas:
Illinois: “The Illini tribe’s word is for men or warriors, but stay tuned …
Michigan: “The Algonquin words ‘Mishigamaw’ means Big Lake or Great Water”
Wisconsin: “The Miami Indian name ‘Meskonsing” means river running red, about
its principal river (Wisconsin) running near red sandstone cliffs and also meaning
wild rushing channel.”
All three states have major, mighty waters:
IL and WI’s western borders are defined by the Mississippi River, the Great River
IL has 87,110 miles of rivers, with the other major ones being the Illinois River in the center and the Wabash and Ohio further defining borders in the Eastern and Southern portions. 880 miles of its borders are defined by those 3 rivers.
MI has over 300 rivers, with the “most charming” being Au Sable, Manistee, Pere Marquette, Grand, Huron, and Muskegon.
WI’s key rivers also include the Wisconsin, St. Croix, Mukwonago, Namekagan, Kickapoo, Fox, White, Root, and Menominee. So much of this state’s rivers were glacier formed and “among the oldest river systems in the world.”
And, of course, the new region has ties to four of the five Great Lakes, which totally hold 21% of the Earth’s freshwater … pretty mighty!. (Would suggest, though, a new logo that incorporates all four of those lakes in its shading, as the current logo with just Lake Michigan is much too genitalic in appearance)
Herb,
Thanks for all the great waters information! And I agree that the 3 states should be in alphabetical order as in CCIMW.
Doris Beckerman
I submit the name: Gathering of Many Waters, symbolizing the unification and importance of water, representing a place where different tribes might gather. CCGMW…The unification of the many waters (different tribes/churches) gathered as the Christian Church. Dr. Susan Street-Beavers (I thought it might be nice to totally get away from the old pneumonic representing a new paradigm shift)
Illiwimi
Others we have received in the office:
New Dimensions Region
Heartland Region
Great Lakes Region
United Disciples Region
Ekklesia Region
Blazing Phoenix Region
Willigan Region
Great Basin Region
Heartland Waters Region
Crossroads Region
We’ve received the suggestion of Living Waters quite a few times.
Great Lakes Region. Various combinations of initials as an acronym reminds me that most acronyms were first seen in the military.
Northern Midwest Region
I love the name The Great Lakes Region
because all three states are connected by the Great Lakes!
I agree that it should be CCIMW, not only is it alphabetical, but shows how IL and WI have embraced MI into the region. I saw that Herb had the same idea.
I like Welcoming Waters Region and Living Waters Region.
Deann Balogh, I would like to suggest Great Waters Holyland.
Here are my reasons: Mishigamaw which means big lake or great water. Christian name for Wisconsin/Illinois is holyland. So I combined the 2 names. Just my thought.
My suggestion is “Waters In Motion Region” with the first letter of each of those words representing WI, IL, and MI. It would be easy to refer to it as the WIM Region and sometimes it’s nice to have acronyms for names that are easy to say quickly. The words are representative of the abundance of “Waters” and the U.S. watershed region (five) that each of these three states has in common. The word “In” signifies that we are in this region working together and “Motion” is representative of the process of moving forward together.
Thanks, all, for your suggestions. The Bracket is open at this post.
https://dev.cciwdisciples.org/2025/03/name-the-region-march-madness-voting-is-open/
I’m closing comments here.