Four Colour Philosophy

Our four color philosophy, as represented in the colors of our logo, is a reminder of how we can live our lives – a philosophy of life.

Four Colour Philosophy

 

Our four color philosophy, as represented in the colors of our logo, is a reminder of how we can live our lives – a philosophy of life.

Four Colour Philosophy

 

 

Our four color philosophy, as represented in the colors of our logo, is a reminder of how we can live our lives – a philosophy of life.

Red

PEN’s four color philosophy translates into this way of life. Each color reminds us of how our faith in Christ should be translated into action. The colours allow us to ask: How is my relationship with God? Am I serving others through my work or am I working only for myself and my small circle? Am I actively seeking the Kingdom of God in being engaged in the community? And, do I manage the stuff that God put under my care well?

Yellow

Proclamation

The colour Yellow reminds us of gold and gold symbolises all things kingly like crowns, thrones and sceptres. God is first and foremost our King and as his servants, we are primarily citizens of His Kingdom. That means, in effect, that we work and play by a different set of rules.

Yellow, first and foremost reminds us that we are a Faith-Based Organisation. Rooted in what we believe is God’s mission (Missio Dei) for our world and our understanding of the presence of the Kingdom of God amongst us, and as such, we are called to proclaim His good news.

We are not exclusive, however. We believe that everyone is welcome to be part of our community as long as they respect the values that our organisation stands for (see The PEN Believe and the Principles of Belief).

Blue

Servanthood

The colour Blue reminds us of water and for us, water symbolises servanthood. Water is a basic substance of rest, healing and nourishment.

Our message is not one consisting only of words. As a matter of fact, it is through our deeds that our message receives its substance.

In Jesus’ presence, that day in Nazareth the Kingdom of God broke through and He would display this Good News through his serving acts towards the people around Him.

Taking our lead from Jesus, therefore, we serve the people around us, displaying the Good News of God’s Kingdom already realised in us.

RED

Commuity

The colour Red reminds us of blood and love (think Valentines Day!)

In English we have a saying, “Blood is thicker than water”, meaning family is more important than non-family. At PEN we think of ourselves as one unifying family. As in any family we have our problems, but we acknowledge that it is probably only through embracing diversity, mutual serving and learning to live interdependent from one another, that we will learn to be good citizens of God’s Kingdom.

Our community is also not narrowed down only to those who believe as we do. We embrace the idea of community in a geographical sense, i.e. everyone in our neighbourhood is part of our community and we are part of theirs. John Milbank said it so eloquently: “…only pure geography encompasses all without exception” (Studies in Christian Ethics 2008,21, p.117)

GREEN

Stewardship

The colour Green reminds us of green fields and of certain bank notes. Green therefore signifies those things that are foundational in order for us to do our work. We need buildings to operate from and equipment to work with.
All of this costs money.

Green reminds us also that we are part of this earth and we better look after it just as we are to look after all of our belongings. We need to manage everything God gave us well. The one word which sums up our green responsibility is stewardship.

The Cross

Bringing it all together in the Cross

The four colors of PEN now together form the cross. One can say that the cross only becomes visible in our holistic approach to ministry. It is in the empty space in between our daily work that the living Christ becomes visible for all to witness,reminding us of how we can live our our own
lives – a philosophy of life.