Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” The New American Standard Bible uses the word, “unrestrained” instead of “perish”. These two words suggest that without vision we have nothing to guide our way which can lead to our demise.

Having a vision is important, but a church’s vision must be given by God Himself. A man-made vision may unite a church but only for a short while. Why? Because man’s vision is based on meeting human needs, and meeting needs does not unite. Those whose needs are not met will be upset that other people’s needs are being met. Meeting needs also wears people out as there are too many needs to be met.

God’s vision is to save the world through His own Son. Jesus’ vision for the church is seen in His commands to His disciples. In Mark 12:30-31, he teaches, “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.” In Matthew 28:19-20, he charges his disciples,

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

In His letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor, Jesus said the church is His lampstand. A lampstand lights up its surroundings, just as the church is to be a light for Christ in her surroundings. The church is to shine the light of God’s love to the world. Thus, the vision of the church must fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. It is through the love for God, for one another, and for unbelievers that we can be His lampstand in this world that is darkened by sin.

Fulfilling this vision will unite believers to love God, love one another, and love unbelievers by bringing them into God’s kingdom. However, the church often focuses on ministries over loving people. People do not remember what we do but how we love. Love draws us together and it draws people to us and to Him.

Therefore, both God the Father and Jesus’ visions become aligned as we draw all men unto Him. When the church’s vision is aligned, God will give her success and the church will not be discouraged because of meeting the needs of the few loud voices. The emphasis of doing over loving often ends in dissatisfaction. Unfortunately, Chinese people are good at doing tasks but not at doing them together. Thus, the love of Christ is often absent in our attempts to build unity. The sinful nature in us also does not help. As Chinese people, we are also competitive and don’t like losing.

Consider this illustration: a company invited a rival company to a race at her annual picnic. She rented two boats for the race and the guest won it by eleven boat lengths. The embarrassed host appointed a committee to find out why they lost. The committee appointed several task forces to find out how they failed. They met for three months and gave a report accusing the rival for being unfair, “They had eight people rowing and one coxswain steering and shouting out the beat. We had only one person to row and eight people shouting and steering.” The board then asked the committee to look into making recommendations for a rematch next year. Four months later, they made the recommendation, “Our guy has to row faster.” Seven months past, they still didn’t figure out that they needed more people to row and only one to lead.

Similarly, it is not about winning in the church but loving one another. One of the challenges of unity in the church is there are too many “bosses”. Unity can only be achieved if there is one designated leader with everyone else joining in to love God, love others, and love unbelievers. Our love must be more than just words. It must be shown in practical and tangible forms. The church must be honest and admit that often all she cares about is herself more than anyone else. The bulk of her ministries are aimed at serving those inside the church rather than those outside the church.

The church must also not be afraid to dirty her hands and embrace inconveniences. After all, love is about making sacrifices. Love will do whatever it takes to fulfill the vision the Lord. Paul used Jesus’ example to exhort the Philippians to look out for the interest of others not their own. In chapter 2, he said Jesus emptied Himself to become a man and sacrificed Himself for us. He did so because He was looking out for the interest of others. This is the kind of love needed to build unity and to fulfill the commands of Jesus. Sadly, the church is often seeking her own interests instead.

A vision that unites a church is not only to be God-given but also Christ-centered. God’s people must be a people of vision in their love for others, and unbelievers. All her ministries must fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Many churches have fallen into the trap of making the Sunday worship service the main thing. They put all their resources into it and neglect Jesus’ instructions for His church. Let us instead fulfill Jesus’ vision as a church! Only a God-given vision will unite His church, as He will give success to the works of her hand as she aims to fulfill His vision.