Marchwood Gospel Church

Not just what do I represent, but representations in general. As you can see by the inset, we at The Gospel Church have got a new logo.

This was ‘officially launched’ within the church a few weeks ago, but when we discussed what we wanted and spoke to the designer (thank you Karen!) we had to think about what we wanted to ‘say’ by our logo.

We decided that what was important was that the central message of the Bible, our church and therefore the logo should be God’s wonderful gift of salvation through the cross of Jesus Christ, which is why the cross is at the centre of the logo.

We also wanted to represent where we are, so we wanted to represent the forest. This took more time, because we wanted our logo to be distinctive (that’s the point of the logo) and being near a forest many organisation use trees. What you see here is what we decided.

Also, when the logo is in colour, the circle is blue to represent the waterside, but the circle also represents other things too, it represents the eternity of God and also our unity as a church. So that’s the logo, but what about me? What about us? What do we represent? When we go out into the world what do we ‘say’?

One of the first articles I wrote for the Village News was about what the Gospel Church was, and what it represented. It stated that the church was a change from the old to the new, and the gospel was the good news of victory. As a member of the Church, (not the Gospel Church but the universal church, ‘a Christian’ if you like) I should be representing this change and victory by the way I live and who I am. Is that true? Can I say that of myself? Or perhaps a little more importantly, can others say that of me?

This is what we must all ask ourselves - “do I truly represent that which I say I am?”

You may not be a Christian so it may not be that, but if you believe in something, whether it be environmental issues, social justice or good community spirit, are you a good representative of what you believe in?

You see, what we say and what we put across by who we are and how we live need to match up, otherwise we are nothing more than hypocrites! If I said that no one should wear blue and that blue was a terrible colour, if I made a big hoo-har about it and printed articles on it, stood at the front of a hall each week and spoke on it and taught groups of people who agreed with me that blue was terrible, and then went out in the street in a blue outfit, you would have every right to call me a hypocrite wouldn’t you!?.

I would be a bad representation of what I said I believed.

The point I am trying to make is that just as we thought hard about what we wanted our logo to represent, so we need to think hard about what we represent, what we put across by the way that we are.

If you are a Christian then living a holy life is something you are called to practise (or grow into would be a more accurate way of putting it), only then are you a true representation of Christ, which is what you are supposed to be.

Whatever you believe in, whether it is something spiritual or not, make sure you are consistent in your actions and the way you live to the words you speak and what you tell people, be a true representation.