Website color:

church.today world.today

Annual motto inspires designers

13 02 2025

Author: Andreas Rother

Print
Listen to it

Hands and hearts and wonders of nature: these are the most popular symbols in the logos used by the Regional Churches to symbolise our 2025 motto “It’s time to do good!”

A stylised heart is the starting point for the logo from South-East Asia. The reasoning behind the design is this: doing good is rooted in love, symbolised by the heart—an emblem of compassion, kindness, and selflessness. Two hearts form the shape of a butterfly. With its transformative journey from caterpillar to winged beauty, it serves as a powerful symbol of change and hope, reminding us that growth and renewal are always possible, no matter the challenges we face.

Hand and heart

The hands symbolise the work to be done, and the heart symbolises the good that is to be done. The two Regional Churches in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) each designed an image of two hands holding a heart. In the District Apostle Area DRC South-East, the central position of the cross dominates all the other components of the logo, referring to the salvation in Jesus Christ and His return.

The logo from the District Apostle Area DRC West was designed with a lot of heart(s). The two hands, the small heart in the centre, and the large heart carrying the clock together constitute a large heart, which responds to God’s urgent call and tells us: “Today, if you hear His voice, don’t harden your hearts.” The clock signifies the urgency. And the two hands, which together form a larger heart, “are ready to bear one another’s burdens and also to join in prayer”.

Holding and reading

The New Apostolic Church Southern Africa designed a logo showing two hands that come together in the form of a heart. Because Jesus wants us to do good out of love, it says in an explanatory video. The circle around the hands symbolises our common goal to serve one another. The colours are equally meaningful: golden yellow radiates joy and happiness, while azure blue brings a sense of calm and peace.

Two other District Apostle Areas also designed their logo with hands in mind. The New Apostolic Church Western Pacific chose as its logo an image of a Bible being read by many. It is intended to demonstrate where the standards for good works can be learnt. East Africa chose as its logo two stylised figures, holding and carrying a third figure. It is to symbolise support and care for others.

Time and growth

The time factor also seemed to play a central role for the designers. The New Apostolic Church Zambia, Malawi, and Zimbabwe framed its logo within a clock face containing a heart. And South America chose the cross as a clock hand pointing at one o’clock to illustrate a specific moment: “This is the moment, and no other, in which the beloved God asks us to act with generosity.”

The focus of the designs from India and Canada is growth. The Church in India held an art contest for children and young people inviting them to “express goodness in every stroke” and received 250 submissions from across India, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka. The winning entry was submitted by a 17-year-old from Mumbai. It shows hands praying and caring for a plant.

The Canadian logo is designed in a similar way. The logo shows a person nurturing a sunflower.  This person is made up of a beautiful array of colours, representing the richness and diversity of our gifts working together in unity. The rising sunflower symbolises the good we do: working toward our own salvation and the salvation of our neighbour, helping others, and contributing to the joy and oneness of the Church.

13 02 2025

Author: Andreas Rother

Print