My Top Church Logo Designs

Steve Fogg 25th Aug 2016 Branding, Communications

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I think I’ve seen just about every church logo there is. Good or bad design, inspirational and creative. You name it. I’ve seen it. I think the best logos are distinctive, memorable, scalable and simple enough to use in different environments.

A logo or brand-mark though is only the tip of the branding iceberg. What wraps around the logo is just as important.

Here are my top church logos so far from 2016. I’d love to know yours. Drop a comment below. I’ve also my favourites from 2014 below too. You can also see how the logo is portrayed on the church website if you click on the logo.

Cross & Anchor Church

This is a recent church plant that has created a beautiful website and I love how this logo looks and fits into the wider church branding. The name reminds me of a traditional London pub which is fun too!

Menai Anglican Church

This copy of the Menai Anglican Church logo isn’t great, but I love the simplicity of it. It feels very organic.

Watermark Church

While the Watermark Church logo isn’t new it has clearly been refreshed. The typography is new and the website has definately been refreshed to create a new brand positioning.

Newspring Church

Northstar Church

Mosaic Church

Heart Church

Eagle Brook Church

2014

Here are my top ten church logos from 2014. I’d love to know yours. Drop a comment below.

1. Hillsong Church

The subtle way this logo has evolved over the years, yet maintained it’s original integrity has been fun to see. The team at Hillsong do a fantastic job of keeping the brand fresh through the years.

2. Watermark Church

I just fell in love with this logo. The way the brand is extended on the website for me takes it up a notch again.

3. Bethlehem Church

So simple, yet so powerful. An original use of white space to create the cross. I also love the green which is fresh and young.

4. MarsHill Church

If you ever wanted a church logo for blokes the Mars Hill logo is it. Love how they express it. I hasn’t really changed that much over the years.

5. Christchurch Church

This logo has a simplicity and childlikeness to it without feeling like a children’s focused ministry.

6. Jubilee Church

I’m a bit biased here as I’m originally from Derby and recently visited this church. But this is a good example that not every church has to have a brandmark. Words work too.

7. The Foundry

Understated. Classic, yet modern. Brilliant use of negative space. Top marks.

8. Lifechurch.tv

This logo has been copied many times. At first I thought it was a surf brand, but the team at Lifechurch.tv have captured the young essence of who they are so well. I chose to show it on black as I especially like it reversed out.

9. The Church Of England

The Church of England is actually a denomination, but I do like the sense of history and timelessness of the logo, which a hint of celtic influence.

10. Lake Hills Church

The sense space and typographic excellence in the Lake Hills Church logo is what drew me to this logo. Simple yet the brandmark expresses the outdoor feeling in the name so well.

Your turn

What do you think makes a good church logo? What church logo is your favourite and why? Drop a link so we can all see it.

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34 Comments

Ron Woodbine - March 13th, 2014 at 11:00 pm
Nice collection Steve
I’m a fan of eaglebrook church logo in USA, I love the way they use their logo all throughout their church. I think Eaglebrook are doing some amazing online stuff!

http://eaglebrookchurch.com/
Steve Fogg - March 14th, 2014 at 9:17 am
Thanks for Sharing Ron. It like that too!
Michael - March 13th, 2014 at 11:23 pm
I hadn’t seen the foundry, nice clean approach.

Here are my favorites http://holycow.org 🙂
Steve Fogg - March 14th, 2014 at 9:15 am
You are such a talented designer Michael. Big respect!
Sheryl Lucas - March 14th, 2014 at 12:30 am
Here’s the one I designed for my own small-town church:
http://www.aharvest.org
It conveys the church’s warm, friendly, and casual atmosphere, it’s joyful worship, and the human nature of the “abundant harvest.”
Steve Fogg - March 14th, 2014 at 9:14 am
THanks for sharing Sheryl
Laura Catalano - March 14th, 2014 at 5:30 am
Great list! We may be shopping for a new logo soon and it’s always nice to have good examples to follow.

Could you possibly add links to the church websites? I would like to know more about #5 Christ Church, but that is a common church name and difficult to find via google.

Thanks!
Steve Fogg - March 14th, 2014 at 9:13 am
Hi Laura, Sure thing!
john - March 14th, 2014 at 10:39 am
Nice logos… check out ours too…

http://www.lifeac.org.au/
Steve Fogg - March 14th, 2014 at 11:42 am
Great to hear from you John! Nice responsive site.
Amy Kelly - March 14th, 2014 at 11:30 pm
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1/222695_203099249727812_1550525_n.jpg

The Well at Hancock Church, Lexington MA. This is the evening service at Hancock Church (UCC). It doesn’t have its own site, just a page on the church’s wider site (http://www.hancockchurch.org/worship-schedule/the-well/),, but the logo isn’t there yet.

The top link is to the graphic itself, found on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/thewellhancock
Eifer - December 24th, 2014 at 3:43 am
Hi Steve much appreciated your work, always instructing on branding church, wanted to share a logo made. https://www.behance.net/gallery/Branding-Effershon-Ministries/11258637
Steve Fogg - December 24th, 2014 at 1:12 pm
Hi Eifer, thanks so much for dropping a link to your folio sample. I’ve updated the bit.ly link so people can see what they are clicking so they don’t think it’s a spam link.

Merry Christmas!

Steve
FranP - February 6th, 2015 at 6:08 am
Steve, I’ve seen your likes & read your critiques about church brands & logos. Do you have a primer on how a church can locate talented person to create a simple but accurate logo that portends the character of the church it represents? Thanks.
Steve Fogg - February 6th, 2015 at 9:05 am
There are plenty of great designers out there FranP. You can look inward in your community, or appoint a design firm. I would recommend having a clear creative brief and budget that you both agree on before you start any work.
Jacob - March 14th, 2015 at 4:30 am
I am in the process of creating a logo for my evangelism ministry. I am still getting the 501c3 status up and going, and am building the website. Anyway I can send my logo to you to get your thoughts?
Brian - June 5th, 2015 at 5:48 am
In the process of rebranding with a fresh design. We work closely with the martial arts community but feel this can work even outside the confines of that particular demographic due to the base meaning of the word “dojo”.

We feel it is simple, subtle, and intriguing enough to draw people in for a closer look. What are your thoughts?
Jake Hemmesch - June 18th, 2015 at 1:49 pm
Really love this design found on pinterest! Design for Forward Church in Oklahoma, uses arrows pointing forward and also a trendy look with the badge style logo. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/393009504956367027/
Steve Fogg - June 18th, 2015 at 1:55 pm
Nice look and feel Jake!
Ashley - July 9th, 2015 at 6:37 pm
You seemed to have looked at these logos as any other design, but I think if you describe a few of these through the lens of Christianity you may see that there is more depth in these logos aside from just visual appeal. For instance, the ChristChurch logo resembles the mark of the Ashes used on Ash Wednesday (the beginnings of the season of Lent). Just a thought!
Jeff - August 25th, 2016 at 10:41 pm
Nice updated list Steve. Although I’m more developer than designer (creativity still plays a huge part in my daily life) I tend to migrate more to the simple logos in life. Life.Church is a great example of logo that has remained branded but undergone the simple changes that allow it to stand the test of time. They use SVG for logos and call them using CSS data URIs. I personally love using SVG for logos as it creates a highly flexible, efficient file that can be served in many ways using a single source.

At Free Chapel we concentrate on branding while maintaining a print and Online graphics department. Using SVG graphics means it is that much easier to be consistent with logos across both disciplines and the vector nature of SVGs means enlarging the logo for print purposes is not a concern.

Out of all of these listed my top one is Life.Church’s logo. Contingent that is on the basis I cannot select Free Chapel’s logo. 🙂
Steve Fogg - August 25th, 2016 at 11:01 pm
Great to hear from you Jeff. I’ll check out your logo!
Greyson - August 25th, 2016 at 10:58 pm
Hey, Steve!

Our church is launching our new website tomorrow, would love for you to check it out, and perhaps take a look at our logo as well! I have to say though, Newspring really nails their branding across the board!

http://crosswalk-church.webflow.io/
Steve Fogg - August 25th, 2016 at 11:02 pm
Hey Greyson,

I agree, Newspring do a wonderful job. I’ll also check your website out too!
Dean Buse - August 26th, 2016 at 12:54 am
As the person who oversees communication at our church one of the things I struggle with are all the ministries and special groups, courses that have a basic logo designed for them. When you place them all together sometimes hard to identify they are all a part of our church. Suggestions on addressing this? Large companies will have a logo and multiple different logos for different brands they carry. Does this concept apply to the church as well? Thanks for input and links to any sites that show good examples.
Shanna - August 26th, 2016 at 3:06 am
sheridanhills.org
Mark Steinbrueck - August 27th, 2016 at 1:03 am
As a person in the church website industry, I am amazed how the importance of a good logo is minimized by so many churches. IMO, it is the starting point in effective church communications and something that shouldn’t be overlooked.
Steve Fogg - August 28th, 2016 at 1:09 pm
Totally agree Mark! People psychologically have all kinds of reactions to what they see.
Beau - August 27th, 2016 at 1:18 am
I love seeing all of these logos, thanks for putting it together. It’s pretty inspirational. Also, Life.Church did a rebrand and updated all of their logos.
Steve Fogg - August 28th, 2016 at 1:09 pm
Hey Beau, I did think about updating the Life.Church logo but forgot! It’s a great example of how to seamlessly update quickly. It was really well done. Appreciate you all so much!
Tony Watkins - August 29th, 2016 at 6:51 pm
Have a look at the new logo introduced last year for Above Bar Church, Southampton, UK: http://abovebarchurch.org.uk. The website header has a monochrome version, but the colour version is in the page footer. It expresses a key aspect of the church’s ethos which is ‘blessed to be a blessing’ (Genesis 12:1–3) and reflects the fact that the church is in a significant port city.

The style, and/or colours are carried over into various ministries in the church which have something of a distinct identity. For example, the discipleship/leadership training school, called Formation School: http://formationschool.org. Here, the idea of rock layers is very simply expressed, though the wave shape also connects with the ripples of the primary logo.
Jason McCranie - November 8th, 2016 at 2:59 am
We have a redesigned logo that is a variance of the United Methodist Church logo.
http://dunwoodyumc.org/

The symbol is easily recognized and can be used as an icon without the text if need be.
JOHN TAYLOR - May 13th, 2018 at 8:28 am
Hi

I would appreciate your view/s on the logo we created for St Mary Magdalene Parish Church, Newark On Trent, England.
The Church is near to 1000yrs old and the spire is visible up to 15 miles around.
So, when asked to design logo that would project a fresh / inclusive look – I used the spire and a whole spectrum of colours. Criticism is fierce!
Would appreciate your (professional view). Logo on HOME page. Many thanks.

John Taylor
Steve Fogg - May 14th, 2018 at 1:56 pm
Hi John,

Thanks for your comment. I’ve sent you an email.

Steve