Q: What is the meaning of the PCC logo? Why did you not use the symbol of the burning bush as done by all Presbyterian churches?
First, I must say that I do like the symbol of the burning bush, and the accompanying slogan: Nec Tamen Consumebatur (“and it was not consumed”). The reason we did not use the symbol, inter alia, is that the logo has to be registered with the Registry of Societies in Singapore, and has to be unique. In any case, since we are not directly connected with the main Presbyterian bodies in Singapore, it is less confusing to have a new logo which reflects the name by which we have chosen to call ourselves.
The logo that we are using today was designed by one of our members, bro Law Teen Onn, after hearing the inaugural sermon on 4 July 1999 on the theme “A covenanted pilgrim.” The main motif of the logo is an open Bible with a path cutting through it. The Bible symbolises that PCC is to be firmly founded on the Word of God as revealed in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. The name of the Church arching over the two halves of the Bible also points to the fact that the Bible is a unity: and that God has only one plan of redemption and one covenant people throughout the ages. The path that cuts through the Bible has a twofold meaning. First, it speaks of the Christian life as being a pilgrim journey towards our eternal home in heaven (Heb 11:13). Secondly, it points to the Covenant of Grace, by symbolising the path created by the animals which Abraham cut into two upon God’s instruction, in Genesis 15. In those days, when two parties entered into a covenant or contract, they cut some animals into halves, and each party walked through the pieces, declaring a self-maledictory oath should they break the covenant (cf. Jer 34:18). After Abraham created the path he fell into a deep sleep, and “when the sun went down, and it was dark,… a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp… passed between those pieces” (Gen 15:17). Abraham did not pass through the pieces. We believe that the smoking furnace and the burning lamp were theophanies of God the Father representing the Triune God; and God the Son representing the elect of God, so that the whole event was an enactment and ratification of the unilateral Covenant of Grace (cf. Heb 6:13–20). The fact that the path is shaped as a cross shows that, in the first place, the Christian journey must be a Christ-centred one and, in the second place, that the Covenant of Grace is mediated by Christ (Heb 6:17).
PCC is a covenant church in that we believe that man can never have any fruition of God as our “blessedness and reward, but by some voluntary condescension on God’s part, which He hath been pleased to express by way of covenant” (WCF 7.1). This covenant by which God deals with us today is known as the Covenant of Grace. Because of the way in which it is manifested in the redemptive history of the people of God, this covenant also has many practical implications for us as a church. For example, we emphasise strongly the doctrine of the family because God has promised not only to be covenantally gracious to us but to our children (Gen 17:7; Acts 2:39). Again, since God is a covenant-keeping God, His people have throughout the redemptive history made covenants or vows unto Him (e.g., Ps 119:106; Deut 29:12; 2 Chr 15:12; Neh 10:29). Thus, we also require all our members to covenant together before God to be faithful and fruitful members of the Body of Christ, who are determined to serve the Lord individually and corporately. This is another reason why we are known as a covenantal church.
In short, we are a covenantal church in that doctrinally, we hold to Covenant Theology contra Dispensationalism; and practically, we emphasise family and corporate covenant community responsibilities and not just individual responsibilities.