REVELATION 7:9 TEAM

SUMMARY OF WORK

1. The committee met at Colonial Presbyterian Church, Overland Park, KS this spring for robust fellowship and fervent deliberation. We are grateful to the pastors, session and staff at Colonial for the warm hospitality.

2. We have updated our website that contains contact and other essential information: https://www.epconnect.org/revelation79

3. As we have sought to creatively conceive of different expressions by which a local congregation might aspire to imitate Revelation 7:9 in our broken world, we have expanded our list from ten to twelve. See https://epconnect.org/revelation79 or our printed brochure at the OGA table. These are not intended to be exhaustive but suggestive and we would welcome other ideas from churches. Part of our hope in suggesting these twelve paths is to dissuade anyone of the misconception that every church needs to become multi-ethnic to fulfill the ideal of Revelation 7:9.

4. We reiterated a threefold process for interested churches that aspire to imitate a Revelation 7:9 expression as much as possible in a broken world.

5. The Rev 7:9 Team continued to engage with Dr. Harry Li, Senior Consultant with the Mosaix Global Network and Certified Facilitator with the Cultural Intelligence Center, to facilitate the use of a cultural intelligence tool with churches ready to embrace a Revelation 7:9 expression in their local context. This engagement included specialized training for one of our members who can then train others on our team to facilitate the use of this tool, as well as inviting Dr. Li to lead workshops with two different congregations, in different presbyteries, as pilots of what we hope to see implemented across our denomination.

6. We reiterated a coaching model consisting of four (4) teams deploying multiple Revelation 7:9 Team members designated for each region of the country. These coaches walk with a congregation to identify and analyze their local demographics, help them assess their readiness, and assist them in developing a strategy for execution. At our spring meeting, we crafted a flow chart that will assist team members know how to best direct inquiring pastors and churches in their pursuit of fulfilling the ideal of Revelation 7:9.

7. We have sought to engage more proactively with the Church Health Leadership Team, recognizing the value of collaboration between our two teams as we seek to help congregations in their missional outreach to their local communities.

8. Two of our team members, Bob Vincent and Rodger Woodworth, retired from the committee this year. We are most grateful to Bob and Rodger for the valuable contributions they each made to our work. We will miss them both.

9. We currently have representatives on the Team from 12 of the EPC’s 16 presbyteries.

10. Approximately 15% of the EPC’s churches have indicated interest or are already pursuing some element of a Revelation 7:9 expression – inquiries or in process.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

The Revelation 7:9 Team has no formal recommendations for the 45th General Assembly.

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WORK OF THE COMMITTEE

OUR PURPOSE

The purpose of the Revelation 7:9 Team is to improve the delivery of the Great Commission and the Great Commandment within a local church’s 1-3-5-mile radius.

OUR PREMISE

America is today more ethnically, economically, and age-diverse than ever before (78 million millennials is the largest birth number in American history, surpassing baby-boomers who numbered 76 million), as well as more gospel averse toward the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Thus if the EPC is to thrive in future generations, it must evolve to reflect these ethnic, economic and age changes without compromising the infallible Word of God.

THE WORLD’S PERCEPTION

“Perception is reality,” so goes the well-known adage. Late last year a major television news outlet in Memphis Tennessee interviewed Team Co-Chairman Rufus Smith and asked the following question: “Why don’t more black, white, Latino, or Asian churches work more closely together to arrest some of the city’s social, educational, and economic ills?” Although some ethnically diverse churches work together, sadly our disunity is the world’s perception. And truthfully there are not enough churches that contradict this perception by leveraging our collective influence. One expression of Revelation 7:9 is for ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ who agree on the essentials to unify by joining or forming ethnically and denominationally diverse fellowships. Such an alliance could build trust, visibly captivate the world, cultivate empathic relationships, create a viable gospel response that infuses spiritual hopefulness and instills Imago Dei to a fallen humanity, and help to redress social ills in some of our rural towns and mid-size to larger cities.

OUR PERSPECTIVE

Many of our churches invest heavily in the global component of the Great Commission/Great Commandment of impacting the uttermost parts of the world. However, they invest to a lesser degree in impacting new neighbors in their local neighborhoods of Judea and Samaria. The Revelation 7:9 Task Force believes that if we proactively pursue our local 1-3-5 radius, more churches will reflect their entire community as well as the descriptive church in John’s Revelation, which is illustrative of the coming Kingdom of God on earth.

We have observed two essentials to begin evaluating interested churches aspiring to pursue a Revelation 7:9 expression:

1. First, the Senior Pastor must be a champion (and if not leading the charge, deputize a key delegate).
2. Second, churches that succeed organize a local Revelation 7:9 Team or futurist team setting near-term/mid-term/long-term research and goals.

Note 1: We define the term “under-served community” similarly to the EPC Church Planting Network, as a ZIP Code dominated by “Nones” or “Dones”—the religiously unaffiliated (formerly called “unchurched” or “dechurched”)—in their 1-3-5-mile radius. Think Canada, Europe, Portland Maine, etc.

Note 2: Even though all churches should be missional, we are not as missional as this broken world demands. To use a technological term, a church aspiring to imitate Revelation 7:9 is simply “rebooting” its evangelistic ecosystem. We also know that the work of Revelation 7:9 can coincide with revitalization by executing with more fervor the Great Commission and the Great Commandment. If a church chooses another path of revitalization, the Kingdom still wins!

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RECOMMENDATIONS (DETAILED)

The Revelation 7:9 Team has no formal recommendations for the 45th General Assembly.
However, we are ready to assist any local EPC church interested in taking a step along the Rev. 7:9 pathway and we recommend the church to contact a member of our team to start the process. We also want all 16 EPC presbyteries to be represented on the Task Force, so we are seeking individuals from the Coastal Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, New River, and Rivers and Lakes to join us. Please contact us if you or someone you know seems suited for this work and we will interview them. Ruling Elders or Teaching Elders are preferred, but not required if the person is a faithful member of an EPC congregation.

An Invitation to Interested EPC Churches
As you execute your church’s mission, we understand that not every church is interested in embarking on this pathway. But if you think a Revelation 7:9 strategy can enhance your arsenal or revitalize your congregation and community, please contact us. Yes, it will be eye-opening. Yes, you will make mistakes. No, we do not have all the answers nor know where it will all lead. But we do know that this pursuit will lead us closer to the heart of the Lord for all people. “Your kingdom come; Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” And we know that a Revelation 7:9 path will glorify God the Father as well as make us better practitioners of the Great Commission and the Great Commandment in our local churches and a broken world.

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COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Rufus Smith (Co-Chairman)
TE, Presbytery of the Central South

Bonnie Gatchell
TE, Presbytery of the East

Brandon Queen
RE, Presbytery of the Gulf South

Cara Taylor
Presbytery of the Pacific Northwest

Jason Yum
TE, Presbytery of the Pacific Southwest

Cheryl Mendes-Ellis
Presbytery of the West

Mike Wright
TE, Presbytery of the West

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MEETING DATES

September 5, 2024: Video Conference
October 3, 2024: Video Conference
December 5, 2024: Video Conference
March 11-13, 2025: Overland Park, KS

Rufus Smith, Co-Chairman
June 2025

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