Revelation 7:9 Initiative
Seeking and equipping students from every corner of the kingdom to serve in every context of the kingdom.
About the Revelation 7:9 Initiative
After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands.
— Revelation 7:9 CSB
Southeastern launched the Revelation 7:9 Initiative (originally called the Kingdom Diversity Initiative) in 2013 with the goal of seeking and equipping students from every corner of the kingdom to serve in every context of the kingdom. Because Southeastern is committed to equipping students to serve the Church and fulfill the Great Commission, Southeastern offers scholarships for ethnic minorities and female students, who are underrepresented on campus. Southeastern’s vision is to equip local and global church leaders to make disciples of the nations, and this initiative is one of the ways we strive to achieve that goal.
The good news of the gospel is that by his immaculate birth, sinless life, substitutionary death, and subsequent resurrection and ascension, Jesus Christ has made a way for humans to be reconciled. This redemptive work of Christ has implications for reconciliation of persons to God, to themselves, to the created order, and to one another. In fact, Ephesians 2 calls upon Christians to be, first, rightly reconciled to God (Eph. 2:1-10) and in keeping with this, to be reconciled one to another such that instead of divisions occurring due to ethnicity and racism, Christians are to be known for their love for one another as they function as “one new man” (Eph. 2:11-22). This unity among a beautiful mosaic of diversity is meant to demonstrate to a watching world not only the extent of the gospel’s healing power but also an invitation to come and see the goodness of God. Gospel unity that celebrates God’s beauty in diversity is meant to be an evangelistic message to a watching world! Thus, the Great Commission — making disciples of all nations and teaching them to obey all that Christ commands — requires a commitment. Not only is this commitment to reach people from every nation, tribe, people, and language, but also it requires a commitment to displaying beautifully God’s people worshiping him together now in anticipation of a future reality where we will do so together in heaven (Rev. 7:9).
This means, then, that at the heart of our mission as an institution lies a deep theological commitment to kingdom unity displayed through a celebration of God’s creative diversity. While the gospel of Jesus Christ is at the heart and soul of all we do, Revelation 7:9 is the vision we look toward as we do the work.
Our ultimate objective in establishing the “Revelation 7:9 Initiative” has been to help facilitate the achievement of the vision of God’s diverse kingdom in heaven as expressed in Revelation 7:9 where people from “every nation (ethnos), tribe, people, and language” will be present before the throne of God.