Vision Church NYC

Vision Church NYC Mission: Loving Jesus through friendship, community, and restoration. Following Jesus through service, mission, and transformation. We meet at 152 E. 34th St.

An Asian-American, non-denominational Christian church in New York City. Vision Church meets on Sundays at 3:00 PM for worship. During the week, we disperse to smaller, more intimate gatherings in neighborhoods throughout the city. We invite you to join us in wrestling with faith, to tell God's story, and to live a life beyond ourselves.

08/23/2026

Devotion Summary for 08.23.26
1 John 4:16-5:2
The Heart of Resurrection: Philadelphia

1)The reason why there are different kinds of Christians and why some Christians are loving and some are not is because of our relationship with our fathers: heavenly and earthly. The way we experience and know their love shapes the way we love.

2)(Sacrificial)love is the test of whether we know and understand God. If we do not love our brother or our sister, God says that we are liars: how can we love the one we do not see when we cannot love the one/s we can see? Also those who love the/ir father will love his children as well.

3)We make excuses for why we don’t love including claiming that we only need to love brothers and sisters; and not loving jerks and difficult people. However, God loved us while we were jerks and difficult; when we were estranged from him. He gave his life and death for us after we betrayed him

4)Our earthly fathers affect our understanding of God and his love; almost every aspect of spirituality. Likely our dads were a mix of good and bad leading us to have a framework of having to earn love and having a fear of losing that love. But the love God for us is settled. We don’t have to earn it. He loves and likes us. He delights in us. Knowing this transforms our hearts from having to fear.

5)We also love or don’t love based on our relationship and connection with others. If we see them as siblings of God, we will try to love them. If we see people as the other, disposable, deplorable or without connection or usefulness, it makes it much easier to hate them.

6)We need to know and experience the father’s love for us again through his spirit, through understanding and through living in love so that his love is made complete in us; giving us the ability to love others as the father has loved us

08/16/2026

Devotion Summary for 08.16.26
1 John 4:12-21
The Heart of Resurrection: See/n

1)John wants us to experience fellowship with the living God so that we can be transformed by his love. There are 3 ways John says we can experience more of God’s presence and love: first is by his spirit; second is by knowing his love and lastly by loving; living in love.

2)We neglect loving because it is the hardest to do; it IS hard. In fact, it is impossible without experiencing the Gospel: that God loves us.

3)Love is the test that we have come to know and experience God. If we say we love God but don’t love people, we are liars. It is impossible to love God whom we have not seen when we don’t love the people who are right in front of us.

4)If we are not loving people, what are we doing? Often we are doing God adjacent things. We like activity, the buzz of the crowd, music, control, religious stuff, appearances but not God and not people. And we are not dwelling with God in fellowship

5)If we are not loving people, then we are likely living lives for ourselves. But Jesus did not live his life this way. He did not live for himself but lived to love people and God sacrificially. When we receive his love, it transforms us to love others sacrificially.

08/02/2026

Devotion Summary for 08.02.26
1 John 4:7-12
The Heart of Resurrection: Gospel

1)Since many people self-identify as believers, we are told to test if its just talk or if their lives reflect Jesus. But testing is exhausting. A fundamentalist spirit results in no one ever being righteous or ever being woke enough. The solution is to test ourselves first: to take the plank out of our own eyes before we address the speck in the eye of others. We are to be confessional people first; confessing our own sins

2)The biggest test is love…whether we love sacrificially. Love is not the only attribute of a believer but it is the baseline and price of entry. When we don’t love, we show that we don’t know God or his love. His love is sacrificial: God the father sends his only son for us; Jesus gives his life and death for us on our behalf.

3)There are so many things to do a believer that we forget the Gospel that powers our ability to follow him. The Gospel is that God loves us! It is not about our love for God. Our hearts are exposed that we do not love God that much but good news! He loves us. We need to receive this love in order for his love to be transforming.

4)We need to receive, know, experience and feel his love in human and divine ways; human and spiritual ways. We need to receive his love through his people. We need to receive his love directly from him. We need to receive his love when his spirit works through his people to us.

5)After we receive his love, we are able to love others and when we do, people can know, experience and feel God’s love through us. No one has ever seen God directly but through the love of his people, God becomes real.

07/26/2026

Devotion Summary for 07.26.26
1 John 4:1-6
The Heart of Resurrection: Worldview

1)We were warned not merely to believe anyone who claims to be a believer with their words. We are to test by their lives. Those who affirm that Jesus is God, from God and took on flesh to become human with their lives are believers. Those who deny this Jesus have the orientation which is anti-God, anti-Jesus aka anti-Christ

2)Both the spiritual side and the human side of Jesus are important in our faith and understanding. Most believers emphasize one or the other. Some are overly spiritual and some are overly human while neglecting the other.

3)We are told not to be intimidated by those who reject Jesus because we have God in us to help us. What God helps us with is not winning arguments and/or debates. What God helps us with is giving us the ability to represent him well-his love, his presence, his power; sometimes this involves taking a loss to reflect the loss Jesus lived to save us.

4)Those who do not embrace Jesus as fully God and fully human have a worldly perspective which John describes as living for the lust of the flesh-obtaining whatever our bodies crave whatever the consequences; the lust of the eyes-obtaining whatever we see and desire whatever the consequences; and the pride of life-the need to win and lord it over others.

5)The need to win and lord our greatness over others infects both non-believers and believers. Winning and being better than others is rampant but this does not come from God. Jesus did not live for self but became a servant; took a loss and descended the ladder to benefit and save the world. If we follow Jesus correctly, we will not be winners in the eyes of the world: we will be lowly servants. We will use our God-given gifts to benefit and elevate others; not to promote self

6)The call to test faith may lead to trolling and feeling superior: no one is ever righteous or woke enough. The solution is to test ourselves first: to take the plank out of our own eyes before we address the speck in the eye of others. We are to be confessional people first; confessing our own sins

07/19/2026

Devotion Summary for 07.19.26
1 John 4:1-4
The Heart of Resurrection: Test

1)This passage means the same in context and out of context. In context we have been testing who belongs to Jesus, who speaks for Jesus and who represents Jesus. It's those who sacrificially love rather than hate or kill; those who are hospitable, calling people home rather than accusing and condemning; those who live out that Jesus is fully God and fully human.

2)We are to test the importance given to Jesus. Which Jesus? John emphasizes a Jesus who was God, who was with God and came from God; and who take on flesh and became human. Both the spiritual side and the human side of Jesus are important in our faith and understanding.

3)What is important is not just believing and understanding the spiritual and human side of Jesus but living it out. Most believers emphasize one or the other. Some are overly spiritual and some are overly human while neglecting the other.

4)To live out these truths, we must apply and live out the spiritual and human in every aspect of life. We are to engage more with the world, not less; we are not just passing through. Jesus calls us to be in the world but not of it. And we engage the world by following Jesus as he engaged the world. He entered the world and was involved in it.

5)Half of Jesus’s ministry was proclamation whether in preaching or teaching but the other half was engaging others in healing and feeding; engaging in restoration of the body. Some emphasize one or the other. Many do neither. We must be involved in all the ways Jesus was involved in the world.

07/12/2026

Devotion Summary for 07.12.26
1 John 3:14-24
The Heart of Resurrection: Hearts

1)Read out of context, this passage can be anxiety inducing leaving our hearts condemned. Read in context, God is reassuring us that we can know that we belong to him.

2)Out of context, the passage is an exercise of trying to get a place of emotional peace which we rarely achieve. In context, we know we belong to God when objectively follow God: we seek to love others, we seek to forgive, we seek to be generous, we have come to trust Jesus with our lives.

3)If we are seeking to follow Jesus, when our hearts condemn us, we can be reassured that God is bigger than those voices. If we reach a stage where our hearts don’t condemn us and we are following Jesus, we can approach God confidently with our requests.

4)We also have the assurance of the Holy Spirit but we must learn to discern his voice; we must discern what the many voices we hear are saying. The voice/s that condemn are from the satan or the accuser. He seeks to find ways to render us hopeless. The Holy Spirit is always calling and welcoming us home. The Holy Spirit speaks for Jesus who is our defender and advocate; they declare that there is no longer any condemnation for those who put their hope in Christ.

5)Not every bad feeling or emotion is from the accuser/satan. If we are not loving, not forgiving, not being generous, not following God, we should feel guilt. Just as pain in our body tells us something is wrong, guilt tells us that something maybe wrong in our hearts or spirit.

6)The Holy Spirit being positive and encouraging doesn’t mean that the Spirit never calls us out. The Spirit calls us to return home and part of the process is to turn from what we’ve been doing wrong in order to head back to God.

07/05/2026

Devotion Summary for 07.05.26
1 John 3:11-18
The Heart of Resurrection: How.

1)The church that John was writing to had people who were trying to fellowship with God and people, walk in the light and love sacrificially. There were others who were teaching the opposite; against what Jesus was teaching; anti-Jesus or anti-Christ. How can you tell who was who?

2)Those who kill/hate are not following Jesus. Those who love sacrificially are following Jesus. Those who give sacrificially are following Jesus. Those who are going to the cross are following Jesus. Those who are building crosses for others are not following Jesus.

3)We avoid loving people by saying that God only tells us to love our brothers; but God is using a lesser to greater example: if we cannot love our brothers, how can we love our enemies? Jesus loves and gives his life and death for his enemies. The way we interpret scripture is always through the lens of how Jesus lives out those passages.

4)We love by staying until we work it out with the other. Some leave to avoid doing the hard work of going to the cross.

5)We avoid giving by saying that the money will be misused. But sometimes we have to take a chance in order to love. If we wind up giving to no one sacrificially, its likely that we are just making excuses.

6)Sometimes there are limits to our giving. God can help everyone but we cannot. Sometimes our giving can actually lead to someone’s harm or demise so discernment is needed beyond giving out of guilt or obligation.

06/21/2026

Devotion Summary for 06.21.26
1 John 3:11-18
The Heart of Resurrection: How?

1)Many self identify as Christians but don’t look at their words but their actions. If God is our father, we will look like him and live like him. One time, Jesus accused religious leaders of being like their true father, the devil because they kill and destroy. In this passage, John warns us of not having Cain as our father by hating and destroying.

2)John tells us that those who love have God as their father while those who hate do not; especially those who hate their brother who’s good actions reveal our faults and sins. If we hate, we are doing it wrong.

3)The call to love goes deeper as we are called to a specific kind of love: sacrificial love which leads us to the cross for others. We are to give life, not take life. We are to lay down our lives at the cross and not build crosses to kill others. This is the love Jesus has for us.

4)The call to love goes even deeper as we are called to sacrificial love in the day to day. Some are prepared to die or take a bullet for others but unwilling to give of their possessions to love people in need. Jesus gave not just his death for us but his life. We can help others or just watch them struggle.

5)One thing that does not prove we belong to God is if people hate us. There maybe many reasons for people to hate us and they maybe right to hate us. In this context, we know we belong to God when people hate us because of the people we choose to love including the “wrong” people, our enemies and even the enemies of God; any people who we have made the other. Jesus goes to the cross for them and all.

06/14/2026

Devotion Summary for 06.14.26
1 John 3:1-10
The Heart of Resurrection: Lavish

1)Who can you tell who your father/mother is? There were two sets of parents competing in the church; those who were teaching us who the Father really is; and those who were teaching the opposite or what was against or anti- what God was like: Anti-christs. We show who our father is by the way we live and the way we look

2)Those who have God as their father will be thrilled when he returns because they are on the same side. God is their champion. They will not be ashamed because they know the love that has been lavished on them. Faith is about love and peace but it is a specific kind of love-not merely friendship or hanging out love…but sacrificial love. In this love, we are safe, valued and truly belong to God.

3)Anti-christs cannot offer this kind of sacrificial love because they do not go to the cross for others and don’t teach others to go to the cross for others. All the true mothers and fathers teach the sacrificial love that has been lavished on us.

4)Those who have God as their father also do not continue sinning or hating people. It is not about being perfect or sinless but an orientation that wants to do the right thing, wants to know what God wants and wants to be like Jesus. Those who do not know the love of God often don’t have interest in doing the things God calls us to do. They may even resist. They gravitate to the love of the world: lust of the flesh and eyes and the pride of life

5)It is the love of God that is lavished upon us that transforms us but we also need the fathers and mothers of the church to lavish love on us to make the love of God more real or even tangible; this love also has a profound effect on us

06/10/2026

Vision Church is delighted to welcome Pastor David Kim as our new Assistant Pastor!

Pastor David will focus on relational ministry including follow-up, discipleship, and fellowship. He looks forward to meeting current members and welcoming new attendees. He has started to get to know folks and is available to get together one on one and in small groups throughout June.

He will be traveling on a pre-planned trip to Korea with his wife Erica in July and will resume ministry in August.

Please join us in extending a heartfelt welcome to Pastor David and Erica! We are confident that God will use Pastor David mightily in our midst.

Address

152 E. 34th Street
New York, NY
10016

Opening Hours

3pm - 6:30pm

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