Nashville, Tenn.: United Methodist Communications is offering a new toolkit to make it easy for local churches, annual conferences, general agencies and other denominational entities to adopt more unified branding across the connection.
The Cross and Flame, the official logo of The United Methodist Church was created in 1968 when The Methodist Church joined together with the Evangelical United Brethren Church. The trademarked insignia has become an instantly recognizable symbol for The United Methodist Church worldwide.
Yet research shows that only about 65 percent of United Methodist churches currently use the Cross and Flame mark. Some use different flames and different crosses, as well as miscellaneous hues, even though the Cross and Flame has specific standards regarding its use. Those standards have recently been updated.
An online toolkit is now available to help all United Methodist entities easily implement the unified branding in their own organizations, while maintaining their own identities. This free toolkit includes standardized colors and fonts, logos, social media graphics, and stationery templates – yet provides flexibility and choices for churches to integrate their own components and preferences.
“Connecting with the United Methodist brand in a more consistent way promotes visual harmony and reduces confusion,” said Dan Krause, chief executive of United Methodist Communications. “As with any strong brand, unified identity also allows churches to get the full benefit of consistency across denomination-wide communications. A brand is ultimately a promise, and in our case this promise is the Wesleyan faith that is core to our identity as United Methodists to share the love of Jesus Christ and to serve the world around us.”
Logos of agencies, annual conferences and other ministries have varied greatly in the past. To date, seven general agencies and five annual conferences have adopted the new brand standards, as well as the Nigeria Episcopal Area and the Philippines Central Conference.
Learn more at umcom.org/brand.
About United Methodist Communications
As the communications agency for The United Methodist Church, United Methodist Communications seeks to increase awareness and visibility of the denomination in communities and nations around the globe. United Methodist Communications also offers services, tools, products and resources for communications ministry.
Contact:
Diane Degnan ddegnan@umcom.org
615-742-5406 (office) 615-483-1765 (cell)
