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| Members of the 2005 Chicago MVS unit at Chicago Community Mennonite Church. Photo: David Fisher Fast |
Vol. 1, No. 2 — March 2007
Revelation: Letters to the church
Pre-study for leaders/facilitators
By Dwight Regier
Scripture: Revelation 2-3
Observe:
a. What can you learn about the specific environment each church lived in?
Economic: (2:9, 3:17)
Politics and religion: (2:12-13)
Culture at odds with faith: (2:4-5; 2:20)
b. Politics, economics, and religion merging in emperor worship as an expression of patriotism and loyalty
c. Persecution of those who refused to accept emperor worship
d. Heresies: Balaam, Nicolaitans, Jezebel: all likely linked to a Gnosticism that took Christian liberty to lead to compromise to pagan culture.
* Note: An excellent and concise resource for the broader context for these churches within the Roman Empire can be found in Revelation by John Yeatts (Believers Church Bible Commentary), especially pages 19-24.
Analyze
Fill in the blanks. Notice the pattern in the letters, as well as the letters that step outside of the pattern.
a. "To the angel of the church in _________."
b. "These are the words of __________." (Note the different ways Jesus is identified for each church, based in the Jesus John met in Revelation 1:12-16.)
c. "I know your_________"
- Praise
- Warning
d. "To him who overcomes________"
e. He who has ears ...
Interpret
What was the message to the church you studied?
Apply
What is the message to you and your church?
Dwight Regier is the director for DEO (Discipleship, Encounter, Outreach), a partner program of Mennonite Mission Network. He and his wife Janet are members of First Mennonite Church, Newton, Kan., where they are youth sponsors. Contact Dwight at
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