Among the myriad of items presented, described, and announced in Sunday’s Fall Preview gathering, one was particularly exciting — that of our new church logo!
For months now, the Outreach Ministry Team and staff has been hard at work with M Creative, a values-driven strategic communications company just up the road from us on Trade Street, working closely with them to help us reimagine the way we utilize communications and identity pieces as a form of outreach. Before they ever put pen to paper to design anything, they asked about you: Who is First Baptist Church on Fifth? What are some deep passions that your church shares? What are you trying to say? What is your key message? To whom do you desire to reach? How do your mission, vision, and values set you apart?
As I shared on Sunday, we told them about us: about our passion for people and hospitality and missions; about the ways we are risking willingly for the sake of the kingdom of God; about our desire to dig deeply into our downtown home for the good of the community; about our call by Jesus ‘to practice bold love of God and neighbor and boundless compassion for all people;’ about this unprecedented season of our church’s life together that feels like an ‘ecotone’ — transitional between one place and another, but wholly rich with possibility for growth and new life.
And from all these words and ideas and stories, an image began to emerge. One that captures the imagination and the spirit of this particular moment, but grounded in both our past and purpose, propelling us into our hopeful future ahead. You see it here with this post, so let me highlight for you a number of the elements you see:
- The arches. Drawn from our vast architectural well in the windows and Sanctuary, these two open archways hope to mimic both the front facade of our building and capture the spirit of our church that welcomes all with open doors. One particular phrase that resonated for us was coined by Wally Cox: “we do ministry out our front door and our back door.”
- The layered colors. You’ll notice three primary colors at work in the logo, representing three movements of our life together — past, present, and future. The sense of motion these convey relates to the movement inherent in this present moment. Shifting buildings, changing ministries, growing congregation, where past, present, and future move fluidly from one stage to the next. And from the side, it almost looks like pages of a book, turning from one to the next!
- The transparency. One key value that M Creative heard from our Outreach Team and staff was that of giving those on the outside of our church a glimpse into who we are inside. It’s been said at FBC time and time again that who we are inside the buildings might feel different than what the outside of our buildings might suggest!
- The cross. In the midst of change and movement and shifts in the life of our church, what remains crystal clear above all else is our unity in and commitment to Jesus Christ.
This logo — like any logo — can’t proscribe every last element of our church’s identity, nor is it intended to be the ultimate imaging of who we are in the community. But what it hopes to do is to capture the spirit and the moment, allowing those who see it to imagine our community of faith — and hopefully how they may become a part!
Along with this logo, M Creative has designed several related pieces for our usage, including the image you see marching across the page below of the Winston-Salem skyline! Alongside recognizable landmarks like the Innovation Quarter, downtown towers of Wells Fargo, GMAC, and BB&T, the Reynolds smokestacks and old train station, and the Sawtooth Center, this visually roots us in our location, right here in the heart of the city in which we find our home and our calling!
On Sunday, many folks received pieces of these new images to take home with you — stickers, magnets, and buttons to decorate your car, your lapel, your bag, wherever! Many of these remain, and many more will follow! For now, these will be located in the Commons hallway; do come by and pick up some ‘swag’!
For all that has been, thanks! For all that will be, yes!
Together in the work of Love,
Pastor Emily