|
Logo for 2008 General Conference keys on theme of hope
 March 10, 2006
By United Methodist News Service
United Methodists gathering for their top legislative assembly in 2008
will meet, symbolically, under a tall, green tree representing “A Future
with Hope.”
The green tree and theme of hope are the key elements of the new logo
for the next General Conference, which will gather April 23-May 2,
2008, in Fort Worth, Texas. The logo will become a familiar sight
between now and the end of General Conference, gracing a wide variety of
items — a stamped coin, hymnals, bulletins, T-shirts and sweatshirts,
banners.
The denomination’s Commission on General Conference chose the logo
through a competition that drew 35 entries from church members around
the connection. The commission liked the logo’s simplicity and
versatility of design, said the Rev. Alan J. Morrison, General
Conference business manager at the church’s General Council on Finance
and Administration.
“It reminds us of the new growth and new hope, and that’s really the
nature of how we in the church live all the time,” he said. “We live in
the presence of God, looking for a future with hope.” The theme was
inspired by Jeremiah 29:11.
Winning designer Polly Shafer of Pine Bluff, Ark., placed the
denomination’s cross and flame mark on one side of the assembly’s theme
and the tree on the other. The copy at the bottom of the logo reads:
“Fort Worth, Texas/ 2008 General Conference/ The United Methodist
Church.”
|
|
The Rev. Alan Morrision |
“I used hopeful images; images that communicate signs of spring and
new beginnings,” said Shafer, a member of Good Faith United Methodist
Church in Pine Bluff and a secretary at Star City (Ark.) United
Methodist Church. “The tree represents new hope.
“The selection of fonts was important to me,” she said. She wanted to
balance a modern font for the word “future” with a font showing
movement for the word “hope.”
Shafer said she had designed items such as T-shirts for her church
but “nothing this big.” Notified in February that her logo had been
chosen, she was excited.
“I can’t wait to see it on something,” she said.
The commission held the contest as a way to broaden participation in
the assembly process. “General Conference is the legislative body for
the United Methodist Church,” Morrison noted. “ ? It’s a process that’s
representative of our membership, so the competition gave an opportunity
for everyday members to take part in some piece of General Conference.”
A $500 prize was awarded for the winning entry — a cost that Morrison
said was consistent with what the commission has paid in the past to
have a professional graphic artist design the logo.
All of the entries for the contest, held between April and June last
year, came from church members in the United States. The commission used
a blind selection process, Morrison said.
General Conference meets every four years, drawing nearly 1,000
voting delegates from around the world. It is the only body that speaks
for the nearly 11 million-member United Methodist Church.
News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org
|
