Tom Mathew

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When the first Citylight Church was planted over twelve years ago, our prayer was that the Lord would grow us into a worshiping community of believers on mission. Those three words – worship, community, mission – frame everything we do. Does _______ stir our worship for God? Will _______ build us into a deeper, more intimate community? How does ______ equip us to tell our neighbors about the love of Christ? Those are the kind of questions we ask ourselves constantly as we seek to be a more joy-filled, God-honoring people.

As a worshiping people, the heart of our worship is the finished work of Jesus on the cross. It’s his sacrificial death and resurrection that’s brought us from death to new life. It’s this wonderful news that compels our worship. What other response is there to our salvation in Christ that has paved the way for us to be adopted as God’s sons and daughters. How amazing! Not only has Jesus secured for us forgiveness of our sins for all who believe, but we’re now considered children of God. He’s brought us near and called us family!

The fact that we’ve been added to a community or family as brothers and sisters is core to what Jesus has accomplished on our behalf. When we gather every week on Sundays and in Citygroups we are reminding each other that we need one another to live the life God has for us. When we sing and speak and pray together, we are strengthening each other’s hand in God. (1 Samuel 23:15–18) Despite our beautifully different life stages, experiences, cultures, passions, and causes we are knit together because of Jesus. Even in a world that fractures and cancels so quickly, in Christ, we have security and a far richer unity.

It’s our desire for all to know and experience the freedom there is in Christ that drives our mission as a church. So we gather every week not just to encourage ourselves, but so that we can then scatter into our world bringing what the angels called “good tidings of great joy. (Luke 2:10-11) We want that for our friends, family, and neighbors to experience that great joy! We want them to know the security there is to be had in Christ.

That commitment to worship, community, and mission has led us to explore a new logo for Citylight Church. Often businesses rebrand themselves to stay relevant and keep up with the ever-changing times. Our desire has been the opposite. In these changing times we want to remind ourselves to hold fast to our unchanging identity as the people of God, living for the glory of God. We want to remind ourselves and put on display to our watching world about the centrality of the gospel, our life together as a blood-bought community, and our shared desire to see all “the earth filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the water covers the sea.” (Habakkuk 2:14)  We want to communicate those values even more clearly in all that we do.

One way we do that is through our logo. Our hope for this new logo is that it would more accurately represent who we are, why we exist, and what we want to be. It’s an external expression of our inward reality and hope. Our world is constantly marketing to us and trying to disciple us in its way. Brands and influencers are desperately vying for attention, calling us to “Look at me. I have what you need.” Yet, as Christians, we want to be a people that direct that attention to Jesus.  How we represent ourselves – from our signage, to our website, to the words we speak, and the things we do – all of it is meant to proclaim to our world a very different message: Look to Jesus. He is what you need!

All the things we’ve said about worship, community, and mission are just as true for the kids of Citylight as they are for us. We want our kids to grow in their understanding and love of God. We want to see them in deep, lifelong friendships with one another. We want to be shaping their perspective to see the world is bigger than just their own and that they can put the love of Jesus on display in an age-contextualized manner. Everything from the shapes and colors to the smiles on their teacher’s faces and lessons they learn is meant to communicate to our kids that they are loved, safe, and with family when they gather with Citylight Church.

In the coming weeks, you’ll begin to see that new logo show up. When you do, my earnest prayer for you is that it would lead your mind and heart to Jesus. If it does, then that logo is doing its job because He’s the point of it all.

Jesus has made us a light in the darkness, a city set on a hill.

Jesus calls us to gather so that we can be brought back to senses through worshiping our Father.

Jesus binds us together as brothers and sisters.

Jesus compels us to carry the good news to where it’s not yet known.

I hope our logo is just one more way that your love and affections for the Lord might be stirred toward worship, community, and mission.