Certain images and words conjure up specific feelings and reactions due to years of exposure and conditioning from companies that are gunning for your business. When I use the words, “Golden Arches” you immediately think of McDonald’s. When I show you a picture of an apple with a bite taken out of it, you immediately think of cell phones and thin laptops. People may not remember specifics, but they remember logos.
We often get asked, “what’s up with your logo?” The logo for Life-Giver Church is not an arbitrary image that we picked because we thought it, “looked cool.” Although, we do believe it looks cool, it is also deeply symbolic and very meaningful.
The Shape: Something’s Fishy?
First of all, the shape of the logo is a fish. Some scholars believe the fish symbol was used by early Christians during times of persecution to identify themselves with Christ in a way that would not give them away to their oppressors. The fish symbol is also known as an Ichthys (coming from the ancient Greek word for fish). IXÈYÓ is an acronym coming from the first letter of words that mean “Jesus Christ God’s Son is Savior.”
Those words are:
- I – Iota or Iesous – Greek for Jesus
- X – Chi or Christos – Greek for Christ
- È – Theta or Theou – Greek for God
- Y – Upsilon or Yios/Huios – Greek for Son
- Ó – Sigma or Soter – Greek for Savior (allaboutgod.com)
Our logo is in and off itself an artistic expression of Peter’s confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). It was upon this confession of faith by Peter that Jesus said, “I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Jesus is everything, He is the King, the Prophet and the Priest of our local expression of His Church. And so when we were developing our logo we wanted to make sure that was clearly, simply and beautifully expressed.
The Colours: Diverse Diversity!
When picking out the colors for our logo we wanted to insure that they were consistent with our mission; to give life to our world by knowing Christ and making Him known. The colors had to be bright, and full of life. When people looked at our logo we wanted them to think of the beauty of God in the gift of life. The orange and yellow of a rich sun rise, and the bright blue of the beautiful waters of the earth remind us of God’s creative diversity and the hope of a restored creation. Even in a fallen creation we are still surrounded by vibrant beauty that testifies of the greatness of the God who made it!
But it is even more diverse than that. The body of Christ is as diverse as the creation of Christ. In the body of Christ we have people represented from, “all tribes, nations and languages” (Revelation 7:9). In Christ, all peoples are represented; regardless of race, nationality, economic or social standing. In the body of Christ all are equal, in Christ we are all one.
We are diverse in our gifts and abilities. The body of Christ is made to work together in unison in our divine mission to make disciples of all nations. Each member is invaluable and divinely gifted by the Holy Spirit. No one in Christ is useless or to be relegated to bench warming.
Our logo represents Christ and it represents the diversity found in Christ. Diversity of His creation which reminds us of the beauty of life. Diversity of peoples represented in Christ. Diversity of gifts and life-giving service in Christ. The person of Christ is beautiful and diverse regardless of what angle you look at Him from, we wanted to express this truth in our logo as well.
Simplicity: A lot, in a little!
We also wanted to make it simple. The gospel of Jesus Christ is simple, so simple that a child can understand it and believe it for eternal life. Yet, it is so complex that you will spend a life time studying it and still not exhaust all its riches. Our logo is 3 curved lines, and 4 simple colors. It is very simple, yet it is jam packed with symbolic imagery that accurately represents the inexhaustible love, grace, mercy, beauty and life-giving goodness of God found in Christ Jesus our Lord.
At the end of the day, we wanted to express one simple truth, Jesus Christ is our hope. The Gospel is the good news that Jesus, the perfect God-Man, lived, died under the penalty of your sin, and rose again after death to save all those who repent and believe in Him. Life-Giver Church has only one simple goal, to know Christ and make Him known in Windsor, Ontario and the whole world!
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