Creation of the United Methodist insignia began in 1968. The Uniting Conference directed the Division of Interpretation of the former Program Council to "design and supervise the use of an official insignia."
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.
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 Spirit (flame).
Apart from Wesleyan Trinitarian theology and warmth, the flame has two other connotations. The flame 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.
Since 1972, the Division of Program and Benevolence Interpretation, United Methodist Communications, has assumed custody of the emblem.
The Cross and Flame is a registered trademark ® and the use is supervised by the General Council on Finance and Administration of The United Methodist Church. Permission to use the Cross and Flame must be obtained from the General Council on Finance and Administration of The United Methodist Church - Legal Department, 1200 Davis Street, Evanston, IL 60201.
This information obtained from A Mark Known the World Over