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I have had to do church logos and it's difficult,especially depending on how contemporary they will allow you to be with the design.
My personal opinion with the concept they suggested (the black & white concept) is that it resembles the Red Cross logo form too much, and initially does not easily associate to a religion without the associated text.
As someone else said, a visual connection to an identity or emotion really helps.
One thing to possibly try with this is a stylized dove. I could see that looking very nice with this.

haha....I tried that...the only thing I don't have the skill to draw a dove on the computer let alone on paper. I'd rather not use something like stock images...i want it to be original.