Last week we asked about overdone symbolism in church logos. The cross won by an overwhelming majority, taking 57% of the vote. The dove came in a distant second with 29%.
What other overdone symbols are we forgetting? Fish, fire and the ever-popular swoosh come to mind, though it does seem like our poll is spot on. The cross is the standard symbol for church logos. Seems a little too easy, doesn’t it?
This week we ask what kind of bulletin your church uses. If you’re especially interested in the bulletin question, you can check out some discussions in the Church Marketing Lab, including thoughts on bulletins, color bulletins and 11×17 bulletins.
Marcus Monroe
July 24, 2006
The cross does seem to be a bit over used. Sometime I feel as if it has even lost it’s meaning. People wear it as jewelry but don’t mean it. I think this also goes with logos, the church sticks it in their design, but the church as a whole lacks it’s meaning.
Cory
July 25, 2006
It is disappointing to say that the cross is an “overdone symbol.” I agree that when we’ve got P Diddy sporting our sign that we’ve got some reconsidering to do. But that’s a difficult decision to make when we’re talking about the central event of our faith.
JB
July 28, 2006
Actually I do quite agree with this. Christians are called to be creative, so we dun just limit our creativity just on the above symbols.
strugglefish
July 28, 2006
I think the work of the cross can be portrayed in other ways.
However, I see the removal of the cross in some ways almost as a symptom of the church today not understanding who they are through Christ. Some congregations don’t even speak about the work of the cross anymore. So essentially those have removed the cross already– Why not remove it from their logo too.
Robyn Tippins
August 4, 2006
I would add lighthouse to the list :)
Vadim Kudryavtsev
August 10, 2006
I don’t think we should panic because of cross is being used more often. We should be worried when cross is being misused. Market is flooded with cross keychains, t-shirts, stickers etc. accompanied by very questionable texts, or installed into something absolutely inappropriate. This obviously devaluates its meaning, produces negative effect. In other words, we want to see the cross not simply all around, but as a new way of seeing the truth.