"Operation Reconquista"?

More Nehemiah, less Joshua

I am writing because I would love your take on something. Have you heard of Redeemed Zoomer? His YouTube following (91k+) probably rivals the Episcopal Church’s post-Covid Average Sunday Attendance (ASA).

He’s come up with an idea to “take back” the mainline churches. It’s called “Operation Reconquista.” I wrote about it here and gave an interview on it here.

Anyway, after the podcast interview, Redeemed Zoomer himself emailed me and we had a Zoom call. Afterwards, he put me into the “Operation Reconquista” Discord server that he’s set up. 

There, he’s organized Gen Zs from the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, and a few others, including the Anglican Church of Canada and the Church of England. Calvin Robinson will be on his YouTube channel later this month and Redeemed Zoomer will be on Jon Harris’s Conversations That Matter podcast (the same podcast I was on above) next month.

All of these groups are trying to replicate — in their own contexts — what he’s doing in the Presbyterian Church (USA). His latest salvo was to send 95 Theses to every PC(USA) church!

I find myself now on this Discord server with all of these Gen Zs and Millennials who want to “take back the Episcopal Church.” It’s encouraging, given the Episcopal Church’s precipitous decline, even if a bit unrealistic. For instance, they are not going to get their version of Redeemed Zoomer’s 95 Theses through General Convention anytime soon. (But maybe they can get it in front of a committee.)

I’m functioning as something of a Gen X chaplain and adviser to them and I’ve tried to reframe the “reconquista” more as a “return of the exiles” and as a “rebuilding the wall.”

In other words, more Ezra and Nehemiah and less Joshua.

One bishop I’ve talked to about this seconded the “exilic” theme and compared it to the Hebrew concept of shuv.

I write all of this to you because (a) I think this, especially the idea of shuv, or return, is fundamentally aligned with what God wants us to do as a church, and (b) because I’d love to get more eyes on this.

Are you seeing a movement of the Holy Spirit here? (I know you can’t answer that until you do some digging and praying.)

Anyway, I think something interesting is happening here and I wanted you to know about it. I would love to know your thoughts, either directly or in the comments. If you want to get up to speed quickly on what this is all about, read my article here.