Bringing God and People Together

A Vision for Wonder City

This past Sunday I preached a sermon at Wonder City recasting our vision and purpose for our congregation. My goal was to rekindle the dream of what Wonder City can be within our vision. Here is a short summary of what I preached.

Wonder City’s vision or purpose statement is “Bringing God and People Together.” When I look at this vision statement I can’t help but think of two types of reconciliation. The first type, and the most obvious, is reconciliation between God and his creation. We all know the effects of sin in our lives and the separation that it brings from God. We are in the business of helping people get right with God. We are about reconciling individual lives to God. But we are also about reconciling whole groups and systems to God. The word “people” in our purpose statement is intentionally plural. Each one makes the decision to turn from God on his or her own. However, when multiple decisions are added together the effect is disastrous, turning whole groups of people and even systems away from God’s will. Families are affected for generations. Systems within government, business, and society at large become broken and continue to enslave rather than liberate. We are therefore in the business of reconciling these groups and systems to God and his will for them.

The second type of reconciliation is person to person. The words “and people” are not just plural because of groups and systems, but humanity needs to be reconciled to itself. Sin drives barriers between and separates not just people from God but from each other as well. We all know people who have been torn apart by sin—people whose sinful and selfish behaviors tore relationships apart. Jesus said you can’t be reconciled with God if you are not reconciled with your brother (Mt. 5:23-24). So we are in the business of helping restore and repair broken relationships.

I believe we have a clear picture of what these types of reconciliation look like in the words of Jesus. He said (speaking of the greatest commandment), “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these” (Mk. 12:30-31; NIV).

Of course, the implications here are many. First, it means we are about sharing, teaching, and preaching the word of Jesus. Second, it means continuing our after-school program—so kids can love the Lord their God with their entire mind. Third, it means we speak up when we see and hear about things in the political system that will hurt the poor—because that is loving our neighbor as ourselves. There are many other ways in which we can fulfill these commandments and our purpose. These are but just a few examples.

Our request at Wonder City is that you pray for us this year as we set about our vision and purpose of “Bringing God and People Together.”