Multigenerational, diverse Seattle area church needs a fresh look/logo

Shoreline Community Church

Maybe: Gather, Grow, Go OR Love, Acceptance, Forgiveness, Belonging

Growing church in the Seattle area. Neighborhood-centric, informal atmosphere, multi-generational. Our church has deep roots in the community and faith, yet continues to grow in every season and influence our city. Community connection and meaningful service are important to us. We talk A LOT about Love, Acceptance, Forgiveness, and Belonging as well as Gather, Grow, and Go.

Loving the open designs (not closed circles, closed community feel), city with water or trees, subtle cross in negative space. One note: our trees out here are less round and more evergreen, triangular. Especially firs and cedars (cedars have a stable flared base). Roots that reach into the water...

Looking for something bolder, vibrant (not too sunny as we live in a rainy area), and fresh. Doesn't have to incorporate a cross. Please nothing overly formal, traditional, or script fonts. Looking for a new creative idea...a metaphor, an element that inspires and creates interest.

We don't have a specific design element that we have incorporated in the past, but we are looking for something that can represent "us". The logo needs to be able to stand alone with or without the church name. Something to create recognition in our community when they see the logo.

A few keywords:

Pacific Northwest/Seattle
Casual
Community Engagement and Service
Roots
intersection of faith and life
neighborhood
relationship
Belonging
welcome
multigenerational
discipleship
Gather/Grow/Go

Any -- also like teals and oranges

We want a logo that can be used across media and applications. Logo icon needs to be able to stand alone, and yet also have variations that include our church name and/or slogan that work well in various design projects. No flowery or formal script fonts. Also, needs to work well in b/w as well as color.

Cross or the letter S is not essential to the logo design. We refer to ourselves as SCC, but I'm especially interested in an artistic idea.

For colors, something welcoming and colorful (a few colors suggested, but open to any vibrant colors). A cross is fine to incorporate creatively, but please no hearts or overly religious or formal designs. :-) People come to us from diverse backgrounds and not all families with kids, yet they feel like they've come into a "family" when they come.

I see several designs that are incorporating the shoreline (beach/water) motif. Not a bad direction! Two other ideas exploration:

1. Play off the Gather/Grow/Go theme...something that feels vibrant with a triad of elements.
2. We talk a lot about Love/Acceptance/Forgiveness/Belonging (LAFB). So another set of elements in a group of four.

All to say, the look doesn't have be literal of shoreline, although the water element or ripple, etc. could be interesting.

Thanks for putting your creativity to work for us!