Moxy, as I see the building, it is signifying several things at once:
- A home, so this is a family living together
- A church, with the home / family being the fundamental unit of the church
- It gives an opportunity to add a symbol that makes it very obviously Christian (a cross on a roof)
Mystic, your suggestion does compact it well and illustrate family & church using fewer lines, I do like that.
However I don't like that they're all forming a circle around a cross, because it looks like they're worshiping the cross, and I don't like the connotations of that personally. The cross is a useful motif that says "Christian" to most readers, so is very good to include somewhere - the fish sign would also work but is less recognised. Having it up on the peak of a roof above the family means it is essentially just a label hanging over their heads saying "this family follows Christ", which is reasonable. But having the family all holding hands around it is an image that would turn away too many deep-thinking people. It just opens a can of worms that I'd prefer to steer completely clear of, and stick with a logo that is as uncontroversial as possible. The roof makes the cross not the focal point of the family, so it is as neutral as possible - including the cross for illustrative purposes and the sake of those who feel it is a critical symbol, but not focusing on it for the sake of those who feel it is a pagan icon.
I like the baby too Eristophanes. I actually found a simpler and more scalable way of representing a baby in another stock image and considered including it, but decided against it because the logo was already complex enough. But it is a nice touch that could certainly be added.
