A colleague on the Interim Ministry Network faculty taught me about the Midjourney AI Image Generator on Discord several months ago. I’ve found it very helpful in a number of situations when I want something fancier than I could ever draw or draft on my own. This logo is, at least for the moment, the pinnacle of my experience with AI.

I asked for a hand-drawn white cross inside a white heart on a purple background. The first renderings were…interesting. But as I chose one from each iteration, this image began to emerge as the most evocative visual for what I want to share. 

At the center of everything I do is Jesus Christ as the Head of the Church. The cross represents this core belief and reminds me that whatever work I’m called to do with a congregation is in service to God through Christ with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

The dots are open-ended, suggesting that the mission of God’s Church on earth is nowhere near accomplished.

The concentric hearts is a visual representation of the layers of love that a congregation brings to the work of transition. In any of the situations for which I consult, there will be a core team closest to the cross. This might be a transition team, a profile team, or a search team when I’m working as an Interim Consultant. When I’m working as a Transitional Consultant, that team might be a sub-group of the governing body, an ad-hoc project team, or an existing board or committee of the church. 

The next layers of the heart represent first the governing body—council, vestry, board, etc.—and then the teams and committees that oversee the missions and ministries of the church. The middle layers remind us that there’s an entire congregation whose ideas are important to the work we’re doing. In either type of consulting, the team I’m working with will be engaging these layers of the heart in conversation and activities that help to clarify the needs and desires of the whole body.

The outer layers with the squiggles and dots serves to remind me that the purpose of every congregation is to change lives not just inside the church but outside, as well. The dots are open-ended, suggesting that the mission of God’s Church on earth is nowhere near accomplished.

We just might have to go about it in very different ways than we ever have before.