Today we launch our new visual identity for the Fellowship of Reconciliation (England and Scotland). We’ve refreshed our logo and strapline to show the ideas and values that are important to us.
Our logo will now be two hands shaking. This handshake is a sign of our history and a commitment to creating Fellowship.
The handshake signifies our history because the broader FoR story begins with Friedrich Siegmund Schultze and Henry H Hodgkin shaking hands. They spoke on a platform at Cologne railway station, shaking hands and declaring, “we are one in Christ and will never be at war”. This shared commitment in 1914 laid the foundations for FoR here and around the world.
The handshake is also a very current symbol. In an era of division, it’s a reminder that we create peace together. It’s also a symbol that we journey together in Fellowship. We are not a disparate collection of Peacemakers. We are a religious-inspired community found in each Nation that shares in Fellowship to uphold each other as we live out a shared commitment to peace and non-violence.
What does it mean to live out this faith? Our strapline declares that we will be committed to building peace, seeking justice and bringing hope. For us, a vision of peace is never achieved if it doesn’t deliver justice. We cannot imagine justice without the aim of creating peace. At the heart of our vision is a commitment to transformative non-violence that brings hope to the world. It provides tools that all can use and, by illuminating a different way to peace, helps us spread hope worldwide.
Our refreshed identity is only part of our newly emerging strategy, shared at the recent members’ meeting. The strategy and vision will shape and direct the Fellowship as it continues to be a vibrant community of peace, justice and non-violence which journeys together in an ever-changing world.
