The Revelation 7:9 Task Force Interim Report 2019

Introduction

The 38th General Assembly (GA 2018) of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church approved a motion calling for an interim committee to be appointed by the Moderator to study how the EPC can better become a denomination that faithfully embraces, worships with, and serves our neighbors from “every nation (ethnicity), tribe, people, and language.” Neighbors of different ages, gender, socioeconomic, and educational background within a one- to five-mile radius of our local EPC churches.

The Apostle John wrote:

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb (Revelation 7:9).

Appointed by 38th Moderator Tom Werner, this interim committee—known as the Revelation 7:9 Task Force—is comprised of thirteen persons of diverse ethnicity, age, gender, and geographic backgrounds. The members are listed by name at the conclusion of this interim report. The Task Force is to report back to the 40th General Assembly (2020) with its final findings and recommendations.

In the first year of its work, the Task Force committed to listen and receive input from the EPC on the issues of their commission.

As a consequence, this interim report includes:

A. Listening to you through a denomination-wide survey.

B. In addition, Task Force members conducted listening sessions at presbyteries, with many pastors, and various leadership groups.

C. Key questions repeatedly asked of the Task Force, relating to the theological and ecclesiological basis of the application of Revelation 7:9.

D. A closing challenge and, we trust, an encouragement.

A. Denominational-Wide Survey Findings from a Year of Listening

In early November 2018, the Office of the General Assembly sent a survey to the senior pastors of more than six hundred EPC churches on behalf of the Revelation 7:9 Task Force. Over six months, 193 pastors responded on behalf of their churches. In comparison to other GA surveys, this number sample size is statistically significant. However, we understand that churches with high interest in the topic may have been more likely to respond than churches with lower interest. The survey revealed that:

• Over 90% of leadership staff of the responding churches is Caucasian (majority-culture). • 55% of responding churches have a significant ethnic minority population within a 1-, 3-, and 5-mile ministry reach. • Over half of the churches with a minority population nearby said they have a strategy to reach ethnic-minority neighbors. • Over half of the responding churches believe that the strategies they employed were effective. • Of 174 responding churches, 4% said they present the gospel to minority-culture neighbors very effectively; 22% of churches said they present the gospel fairly effectively; 37% said they are mediocre at presenting the gospel in word and deed to their ethnic minority neighbors, and 37% of churches said they are not very effective in their presentation of the gospel. • 81% said there is a passion among pastoral staff and ministry leaders for ministry with minority- culture neighbors. We were encouraged by that high number. • However, the level of passion to minister with minority-culture neighbors decreases for church Sessions, and decreases yet again for members of the congregation. o 54% said that the Session has a passion for ministry with minority-culture neighbors. o 47% told us that the congregation has a passion for ministry with minority-culture neighbors.

We were encouraged that more than half of EPC churches with a significant ethnic-minority population within a five-mile radius said they had a strategy to reach that group; and encouraged again that 50% of these churches with minority population in ministry reach and a strategy considered their strategy to be effective.

We believe the pastoral survey paints a picture of a denomination with a laudable desire to reach out to minority-culture neighbors, especially among pastors and ministry staff, and with some effective plans to do so. The EPC has a good foundation from which to minister.

B. Listening results from Presbyteries, Sessions, and individual leaders

We heard difficult questions asked by local church leaders including:

• Should all EPC churches with ethnic minority populations within a 5-mile radius develop strategies intended to reach those neighborhoods? • If pastors and ministry leaders believe ministry to minority culture is important, how can we better convey the importance of that priority to Session and congregation members? • Assuming that ethnic minorities want to see people like themselves in leadership positions, should we be satisfied that local church staff ministry leadership is comprised of less than 10% minorities?

These are challenging questions can only be answered after individual church leaders and Sessions think, pray, and discuss together.

Members of the Revelation 7:9 Task Force visited with Presbyteries, Sessions, local church leaders, and individuals, and asked a series of questions to which you responded. Here are some of the comments received during the survey: 1. Positive Comments

• You were encouraging with expressions of gratitude for tackling this tedious subject.

• Excited by the possibility of building a mosaic, intergenerational and global EPC church.

• Expressed desire to hear from our brothers and sisters of different ethnic, socio-economic, and generational backgrounds, as well those with developmental disabilities.

• Asked if investing in new transcultural church plants is a more effective approach than encouraging established churches to make adjustments.

• Appreciated the explanation for the biblical basis of aspiring toward a Revelation 7:9 church on earth.

• Anticipate stories of genuine reconciliation. You trust that the Father will give us new hearts to see ourselves and others as he sees us.

• Many expressed eagerness to hear ideas for casting vision as well as learning about resources for cultivating mosaic and millennial leaders.

• Recruit and invest in ethnic minority and next generation leaders while they are pursuing formal education.

• Let’s crawl before we walk and walk before we run. This is a difficult but worthy task that needs perseverance, thought, discernment and prayer.

• We must listen to the Millennials and younger generations.

2. Cautious Comments

• For some, “diversity” can be a politically loaded word today, as is the word “evangelical.”

• Be careful that we don’t take a descriptive text and make prescriptive conclusions for all EPC churches.

• How do we recruit, train, and promote people of color and millennials in leadership?

• How do we learn to worship multi-ethnically without giving up our Reformed distinctives?

• Does the Task Force promote a social gospel, political polarization, or liberation theology?

• Is there an assumption that Caucasians are racist, because many of our local EPC churches are not multi-ethnic or multi-generational?

• First- and second-generation immigrant groups with language and cultural differences are a significant challenge.

Two other comments highlighted the enormity of the task to which we sense that God is leading us:

“As much as I would like for it to happen, becoming a more mosaic church in age and ethnicity will not happen in my lifetime.”

“We act like ethnic and age diversity is an optional luxury, reluctantly accept that it may be a pragmatic necessity—but really it’s a spiritual priority and no one wants to admit it, including me.”

C. Responses to Repeated Questions

Three questions were raised often enough that we wanted to address them in this Report. The questions were:

1. What is the biblical basis for the work of the Revelation 7:9 Task Force? Is the text more descriptive or prescriptive?

2. Why American church STILL so ethnically divided?

3. Should all EPC congregations represent the diversity of their locality to reflect God’s unity and mosaic nature?

Question 1: The Theological Foundations of Revelation 7:9

You asked us to discuss the biblical basis for the work of the Revelation 7:9 Task Force. Our short answer is: The Great Commission (a more detailed explanation is in the Theology and Ecclesiology Addendum, beginning on page 9).

Here are the words of the Great Commission:

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matthew 20-28:19 NASB)

Note that the English word “nation” in the Greek is ethnos, which means “ethnicities.” Jesus was commanding these proud Jewish disciples to—as they were going about their daily lives—make disciples out of non-Jewish ethnicities! How strange this must have sounded to them. Thus, the foundation of the Revelation 7:9 Task Force’s work is the command to first reach all “peoples” beginning local (near).

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even the remainder of the earth. (Acts 1:8 NASB)

Note again that this instruction of being witnesses in “word and deed” is first local (Jerusalem/Judea being near), then moves regional (Samaria, which signifies the marginalized) and then global (far away from Jerusalem or the remainder of the earth).

A number of you asked another good question: are the Bible passages which deal with cross-cultural ministry simply descriptive of what was happening in the moment, or is there an overarching biblical

command that mandates cross-cultural ministry? There can be little doubt that the Great Commission is an imperative—it is prescriptive, requiring action consistently over all time until Jesus returns, not just descriptive of a moment in time.

It seems that the sheer preponderance of texts in the New Testament which depict local transcultural congregations is worthy of emulation where possible in a local context. Let’s review two now, and more are cited in the Theological Addendum.

First, consider Jerusalem, the first multi-ethnic church in the Bible which showed devoted love across cultures.

Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven… They were amazed and astonished, saying, “Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” (Acts 2:5,7-11 NASB)

This biblical text enumerates no less than 15 diverse cultures! From day one, the gathered church intentionally lived within the daily tension of Jewish and Gentile ethnic, age, and gender variety in a pluralistic Greco-Roman culture.

Second, consider Antioch and its church leadership.

Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was call Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. (Acts 13:1-3 NASB)

The leadership of the Antiochian church was made up of Simeon (his nickname possibly indicating he was a “black” African), Lucius (from today’s Libya), Barnabas (from Cyprus), Paul (from Tarsus), and Manaen.

Why pair Barnabas and Saul? Because both servant-leaders brought different world views to the arena. The Holy Spirit used the divergent perspectives of a Hellenistic Jew with a Hebraic Jew, so the gospel could appeal to the widest number of people possible in the Greco-Roman culture.

Notice also that Simeon and Lucius are left in charge of the church at Antioch. These examples teach us a lesson on leadership selection if we are to appeal to the widest number of people possible in a given city or locale.

Please see several other citing sources in the Theology and Ecclesiology Addendum, beginning on page 9.

Question 2. Why is the American Church so ethnically divided?

The simple answer: The fallen human condition causes us to focus on skin, not sin.

The Church at its birth took pains to intentionally lean into being a gathered community for all Ethnicities. But during much of European and American church history, the church systematically separated by class and color. And the reason was not merely “birds of a feather flock together.”

A. 1603—Episcopalians. Jamestown was the first English-government (therefore supported by the Church of England) settlement in North America. The church supported the economic system of owning African slaves in America until the end of the Civil War.

B. 1787—African Methodist Episcopal (AME). In the free state of Pennsylvania, two free black ministers, Richard Allen and Absalom Jones (after years of integrated seating with their white brothers at St. George’s Episcopal Church) were forcibly segregated to sit in a newly constructed balcony for Negro worshippers. They refused, and the AME was born.

C. 1845—Southern Baptists. The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) separated from Northern (American) Baptists over Southern missionaries owning slaves.

D. 1861—Presbyterians. The Gardiner Spring Resolutions were adopted by the General Assembly of the PCUSA in May 1861. This precipitated the creation of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America (later the Presbyterian Church in the United States, or “PCUS”) and the schism of the Presbyterian Church along regional lines that lasted from the American Civil War until 1983.

But thanks be to the Triune God, the church has redeemed some of this divisive narrative and we in the EPC can aspire to a more united Kingdom.

Question 3. Expectations in the EPC from Revelation 7:9

Should all EPC congregations represent the diversity of their locality to reflect God’s unity and mosaic nature? Is there a place for ethnic-specific churches—for example, Latino or Asian-American congregations? Don’t people naturally cluster with others of the same language and culture?

We need to recognize the qualitative differences in the experiences of majority-culture congregations and minority-culture congregations.

Majority-culture groups are not required to “fit in” with other groups because, by definition, they are large enough that interaction with other groups is not necessary. Minority-culture groups, however, are usually required to interact with the majority culture on a daily or weekly basis. They know how to be cross-cultural because everyday living requires it. Those in such groups sometimes need a place to retreat where they are more at ease, a rest from the strain of cross-cultural interactions. Missionaries know this dynamic well.

People in the majority culture (which is currently the makeup of most EPC churches) usually need to make deliberate efforts to cross cultures that those in minority cultures do not. One of the goals of the Revelation 7:9 Task Force in the next year will be to identify and suggest resources and models for making these cross- cultural efforts more attainable.

Those in the majority culture tend to have more money, more influence, more access, and greater ability to effect changes where needed. As Jesus said, “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required” (Luke 12:48). We are called to be good stewards of all that God has entrusted to us.

One more question: Are white cultures bad and other cultures good? Are white people the only ones who have racial sins to confess? Since all humans are made in the image of God, we all share God’s common grace. Since all have sinned, we are all called to confess, including racial sins. So the answer is “no”— majority culture is not bad and others good.

D. Conclusions

As the Revelation 7:9 Task Force enters into its second and final year, we will integrate much of what we learn—especially best practices—into the recommendations in the final report brought to the 40th General Assembly (2020) of the EPC.

Looking ahead to this final report, you can expect specific steps we may take as a denomination, as presbyteries and individual congregations toward becoming a missional church that moves faithfully toward the vision of the Kingdom of God revealed in Scripture. Any such recommendations are not a quick fix or easy solution to complex issues. It is the hope of the Task Force that with the reception of the final report and its recommendations, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church will take another step of biblical faithfulness in pursuit of the Kingdom of God.

During one of the group interviews with an EPC leadership team, Angela (who had been silent through the early conversation) spoke, saying:

My father was an officer in the Navy, so I have lived in many different parts of the world. My life has been enriched by relationships with people of different socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds.

More recently, my sister married a man whose background is a mix of Chinese, Cambodian, and Mongolian ancestry who came to this country as a child refugee. The easy way for us might have been to expect that he assimilate to our traditions and blend into the family. However, we would have missed so much. He brings a perspective to our family that enriches our life when he is being himself with us. And now I have two nephews who are growing up biracial, and so I have something of a front-row seat into what life is like for them as they navigate privileged white culture.

Yes, it means I have to set aside my preferences to make room for this new family life. However, it is a joyful accommodation. My prayer is that the work being done now in the EPC, while challenging, will make it possible for my nephews to feel welcomed and celebrated if they visit or become members of an EPC church.

Angela’s brother-in-law and biracial nephews make her extended family better. That is the vision the Revelation 7:9 Task Force has for our denomination. We want God to make us better and greater through the gifts, experience, and leadership our brothers and sisters from other cultures and ethnic groups can offer us. We can’t say we don’t need part of the Body of Christ, because all parts strengthen us. We are one Body of Christ.

We need a bigger picture of God that stretches beyond our own particular histories, backgrounds, educations, cultures, and traditions—a picture of God that encompasses the whole world in all its goodness and its pain. A picture that encompasses the whole of the community of each church—rich, poor, young, old, Republican, Democrat, blue collar, white collar, white, black, Asian, Latino.

E pluribus unum (out of many, one) is not only an appropriate phrase for Americans, but an even higher calling for the church. In the variety of the body is our strength. In the unity of Christ is our power.

Respectfully submitted to the 39th General Assembly.

E. Revelation 7:9 Task Force Members Rufus Smith, Co-Chair TE, Presbytery of the West Dean Weaver, Co-Chair TE, Presbytery of the Alleghenies Tom Clymer TE, Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic Marc de Jeu TE, Presbytery of the Alleghenies Enid Flores RE, Presbytery of Florida and the Caribbean Phyllis Le Peau Presbytery of the Rivers and Lakes Soon Pak TE, Presbytery of the Midwest Beth Paz Presbytery of the Pacific Southwest Brandon Queen RE, Presbytery of the Gulf South Tim Russell TE, Presbytery of the Central South Andrew Smith RE, Presbytery of the East Tom Werner RE, Presbytery of Mid-America Ted Winters RE, Presbytery of Mid-America

______THEOLOGY AND ECCLESIOLOGY ADDENDUM TO THE REVELATION 7:9 TASK FORCE INTERIM REPORT

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. (Revelation 7:9)

To pray the Savior’s words, “Thy Kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven” means that our prayers and Kingdom advance should move toward this teleios of Revelation 7:9. Additionally, we should pay close attention to both what the Scripture has demonstrated and instructs, and how the Holy Spirt is moving to bring about His Kingdom. The Kingdom of God as revealed in Scripture is a beautifully diverse community that reflects the full representation of the Imago Dei.

There are passages of Scripture where this glorious picture is descriptive, other places where it is prescriptive, and other texts where it is a point of tension among God’s people as the Missio Dei expands. The Evangelical Presbyterian Church, as a part of a global movement, should do all that it can to prayerfully align itself with God’s Kingdom and purposes as revealed in Scripture.

This Addendum is intended to flesh out theological considerations which could be relevant to thoughtful believers who are developing their ministry plans and priorities for their local church. How should we think about outreach and ministry to people of other ethnicities?

A. The Trinity and God’s Community (The Church)

We understand the nature of the church as a varied and heterogeneous group of individuals united into one to be rooted in the character of our Triune God, the three-in-one.

God is love (1 John 4: 8). The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together are one God in an eternal relationship of self-giving, creative love. In a constant exchange of delighted love, God brings forth all that exists in its wondrous beauty, measureless diversity, granite reliability, and unfathomable mystery of being.

The oneness of God is expressed in the Shema, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)

There is one God who is to be the one object of our affections, the only one worthy of our ultimate love. That the LORD is “one” describes not simply a mathematical singularity, but the unity of God: He is undivided. There is an absolute integrity to Him such that all God is and does and desires holds together perfectly.

The New Testament makes explicit that this one God exists in three persons (Matthew 28:19; 1 Corinthians 8:6). Indeed, the ancient doctrine of perichoresis, or mutual enveloping, shows us that where one person of the Holy Trinity is, the others are as well. God has even left pointers to His unity and plurality in His common grace to us. We take pleasure in: • The great variety of color in creation, in paintings, in clothing. • Architectural forms and shapes that come together in one design. • The teamwork of individuals in sport working together as a unit. • The combination of different ingredients— sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami— brought together in our meals. • The harmony of music. • In marriage God brings together a man and woman and they become one flesh.

But perhaps the greatest witness to the Godhead’s distinctiveness and harmony, and the greatest visible expression of the Triune love, is in the Church. The Church is intended as a visual aid of the Trinity. Something of God’s unity and plurality is reflected in the life of His people. That is seen in one image the apostle Paul uses frequently to describe the church—the human body. For example, Paul writes:

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:12-13 ESV; see also 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, where are all three persons of the Trinity are associated with the giving of spiritual gifts).

The human body has a bewildering variety of parts: bones, cells, muscles, organs. However many parts go into it, it is one entity—a body. As the church is a body, it should therefore demonstrate such unity and variety. Variety comes in many forms in the Church—ethnic, economic, male and female, political, age. The Church is not a unity in sameness but in difference.

B. Foundations for a Multi-Ethnic Kingdom in the Old Testament

Birthed in the context of an ancient middle-eastern culture, the promise of a Revelation 7:9 Kingdom has its origins most demonstrably in Genesis 12 with the call of Abram. That all the nations of the earth would be blessed through the covenant made with Abram was central to Israel’s identity and purpose. The Old Testament texts that pay attention to the inclusion of the “alien” (or those from foreign lands) is too extensive to list.

C. The Second Great Commandment

Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. (Matthew 22:36-40 NIV)

The foundation of a truly missional church is the love of neighbor. But Jesus was challenged to answer another question: Just who is my neighbor? This question was posed by an “expert in the Law…who wanted to justify himself” (Luke 10:25, 29). We are to understand that this man wanted to narrow the scope of those whom he should give the care of a “neighbor” in order to meet the standard of the Law. But Jesus would have none of it—he flipped the story.

Jesus then told the familiar parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). In the story, a man was

attacked by robbers and left stripped, beaten and helpless. The hero of the parable was not the Jewish priest or the Levite who passed by the victim (likely so they could maintain ritual purity). Rather it was—to the horror of the audience—a kind Samaritan, a group hated by the Jews (in part for their religious and ancestral impurity). The Samaritan was a neighbor to the injured man. By this story, Jesus called us to be neighbors—and to the widest possible group of people.

While our neighbors can be found anywhere (like the road to Jericho) when we love our neighbors in our immediate proximity (1-3-5-mile radius) we will find, much like the early church, that our fellowship will come to include those from different socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds (Samaritans).

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 NASB)

Note again that this instruction is first local and then global. However, the American Church has inverted this divine order. Many churches are quite comfortable (as well as successful) in making disciples in the remotest part of the earth, but very uncomfortable starting in their own Jerusalem or going into the surrounding Samaria in their local cities. Samaria may be understood as an area that is geographically close, yet socially distant—or even areas of a community with a dense population of poor, hurting, and under- resourced people. When we lead by word (preaching and teaching Jesus) as well as by deed, acting as a truly missional church, then concerns like color, class, and culture become secondary.

D. Acts 15 and the Biblical Imperative for the Church

A prevailing and central issue/tension for the early Church was the inclusion of other ethnicities (ethnos) into the Body of Christ. The inclusion of the Gentiles—a multiplicity of ethnicities—is the context for much of the New Testament Epistles (Galatians, for example). But the biblical mandate that gave Paul his authority to instruct the early Jesus-followers to embrace the ministry of reconciliation came from the first council of the church in Jerusalem in Acts 15.

Perhaps the most graphic exposition of the newly reconciled relationship between the Jewish disciples of Jesus and the Gentile (multi-ethnic) disciples comes in Ephesians 2. The Apostle Paul (himself a Roman citizen but also a Jew, a learned Jewish Rabbi but also the Apostle to the Gentiles) writes to the transcultural church at Ephesus declaring that Christ has “destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall” between them (their ethnicities) because “His purpose was to create in himself, the one new humanity out of the two” (2:14-15). Paul concludes, “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens and God’s people and also members of his household” (v. 19). Paul states emphatically that the body of Christ—His church—is by the work of Christ a multi-ethnic family that has its ontological unity in Christ’s own reconciling work. Anything contrary to this is a denial of Christ’s work on the cross.

“In one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility” (Acts 2:16 NIV).

E. A Warning from the Apostle Peter Regarding Ethnic Diversity

They arrived in Caesarea the following day. Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his relatives and close friends. As Peter entered his home, Cornelius fell at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter pulled him up and said, “Stand up! I’m human being just like you so they talked together and went inside, where many others were assembled. Peter told them, “You know it is against our laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home like this or to associate with you. But God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean.” (Acts 10:24-28 NLT)

Bible students know that this Acts 10 pericope chronicles the difficulty of the Apostle Peter to integrate the faith of Jesus Christ, with Cornelius and his Italian Gentile family. It took no less than three visions for the Lord to convince Peter of his spiritual blind spot regarding prejudice toward non-Jewish people.

It is still true that Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America, but it was not God’s intention. The church at its birth—created to reflect the triune God—was arguably the church at its best, and at its birth the church was multiethnic. If we apply the Great Commandment and the Great Commission with great compassion to make disciples among local ethnicities (within our missional scope of 1-3-5-miles), the EPC will be a more relevant force in the future. If we do not, we will barely reap the harvest of souls responding to the effectual calling of God the Holy Spirit.

F. The Great Commission applied in Jerusalem

Acts 2:42-47 describes a church in which “all who believed were together and had all things in common” (Acts 2:44). The church showed this astonishing and radical love in deference to each other’s differences, and in part displayed the bond of unity for which Jesus prayed:

I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.” (John 17:20-21 NLT)

The first century churches reflected the mosaic nature of their respective cities, and even the value and variety of male and female ministry. It is helpful to remember that the Scriptures refer to only one church per city (the church of Corinth, the church of Galatia etc.), though obviously these churches consisted of several house gatherings. They very likely included both Jew and Gentile believers in a given neighborhood. Though it was customary to evangelize Jews first, it seems very plausible that each gathered church very quickly became a mosaic fellowship. By radically loving each other the way Jesus loved them, despite ethnic/cultural differences, they baffled their surrounding society with unusual unity.

G. The Great Commission applied in Athens—God’s Sovereignty and Purpose in My Neighbors

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands… From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. (Acts 17:24, 26-27 NIV)

Paul here describes to the Athenian philosophers the God who is greater than any of the idols of the great city of Athens, and makes three points about God’s relationship to humankind and each of us individually:

• First, from one man God created all nations, here again using ethnos—ethnicities—in Greek. • Second, God placed/places them exactly where they were and are, whether in territories or in neighborhoods. • Third, God did this was so that people of all kinds would reach out to Him for salvation.

There are implications to Paul’s assertions about God’s sovereign oversight of all persons of all ethnicities. If we take Paul’s words seriously, it is no surprise to God that in your neighborhood you interact with an Iraqi-American doctor, a Hispanic barista, and a Vietnamese manicurist. Not only that, God has sovereignly placed those individuals exactly in your neighborhood precisely so that they would reach out to God and perhaps find Him through your interaction.