What does the logo of the Cross with a Flame mean?
What does the logo of the Cross with a Flame mean?Known informally as the cross and flame logo but formally as the denomination's insignia, it has been in use nearly two decades. It is seen in cities, towns and rural areas at every point of the compass.
Creation of the United Methodist insignia began in 1968.
Assigned to create such a mark was Edward J. Mikula, the division's art director. Working with him -- in research on symbolic aspects -- was Edwin H. Maynard, then editorial director. Both men were determined that, whatever the insignia's form, some expression of warmth would be conveyed -- a warmth such as John Wesley had experienced on a long-ago spring evening in Aldersgate Street.
Following some two dozen conceptualizations, a traditional symbol -- the cross -- was linked with a single but dual flame. The insignia thereby relates our church to God by way of the second and third persons of the Trinity: the Christ (cross) and the Holy Sprit (flame).
Apart from Wesleyan Trinitarian theology and warmth, the flame has two other connotations. The fl ame suggests Pentecost when witnesses saw "tongues as of fire." And the duality of the flame was meant to represent the merger in 1968 of two denominations: The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church.
The insignia was formally adopted and in 1971 was registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office as a service mark and collective membership mark. That registration, officially No. 917,433, is current today.
The 1996 General Conference assigned custody of the emblem to the General Council on Finance and Administration.
Three areas in particular are scrutinized by the persons who supervise the insignia's use. The base of the flame should be lower than that of the cross. The tip of the left portion of the flame must align with the left arm of the cross. And -- this is more difficult to detect -- the space between the flame and the upright of the cross is wider at the top of the design that it is at the bottom. Observing these and other criteria enables the user to make a faithful copy.