Welcome to Philippi week! This week we’re going to take a look at the Church at Philippi and preview some of the cards in the new set that make up and support that church. The same way that Philippians is unique among the Epistles in the Bible, you’ll find that the church at Philippi has it’s own unique feel among the clay Heroes in Redemption.
The City of Philippi
Philippi was an Augustine Colony that was settled in part by military veterans. This means that its residents had the privilege of land ownership and they were exempt from significant forms of taxation by the Roman government. Many of it’s citizens were probably well off. We do not know that the church itself was wealthy, but we do know that they generously supported Paul, as we will see later.
In Acts 16 we find that Paul founded the church in Philippi. This is where he met Lydia, endured Persistent Pestering by the Damsel with Spirit of Divination and the Pestering Spirit associated with her. It’s here that Paul and Silas met The Roman Jailer who came to faith in Jesus Christ.
Paul’s Letter
The primary purpose of Paul’s letter to the Philippians was encouragement. There were no major problems that Paul needed to address, so he was able to use the opportunity to encourage the church to continue to grow in their faith and maturity.
The Letter to the Philippians is our first preview card this week.
Like the actual letter Paul wrote to the church at Philippi, this card also builds up the Philippi church by permanently increasing a Philippi Hero’s abilities 2/2. I know some of you are thinking, that’s cute and thematic, but increasing a Hero’s abilities isn’t really useful for game play purposes. As we continue to roll out previews for the Philippi church, I think you’ll be pleased at how the Philippi church can take advantage of this increase.
The Philippi church generously supported Paul throughout his ministry. As a way to represent that, this Artifact ties card drawing for all players to the presence of a missionary. Originally this was a forced draw, but with the prevalence of Abom, we thought it was best to make the draw optional.
Generous Giving
Part of the reason for Paul’s letter to the Philippians was to thank them for their most recent gift to him while he was in prison. The continued support of Paul while he was in prison was a blessing and encouragement to him. They could have easily turned their back on him. We read elsewhere that many others did.
But this was hardly the first time they had given Paul a financial gift. They helped Paul establish the church in Thessalonica with their regular gifts to him while he was there. This large group of generous givers is the basis for our 2nd preview card for the Philippi church.
Similar to the letter Artifact, The Generous Givers allow for drawing contingent on the presence of a missionary. Also, as a symbol of the unity among the Philippians, with the church in Thessalonica and with those planting churches, this Hero is able to band to any Hero with the appropriate identifier.
Spiritual Maturity
The church in Philippi was spiritually mature and growing in their faith. But Paul didn’t desire for them to get complacent in their maturity. He urges them to continue to grow and press on toward the prize.
One way we can represent spiritual maturity in Redemption is through the negate ability. Remember when I hinted at a way to make use of the increase ability of Letter to Philippians? I give you the first brand new “fight by the numbers” Hero Redemption has printed in a very long time!
We don’t know the exact significance of why Paul chose to single out Clement from “the rest of his fellow workers”. We can gather that he was an important member to both Paul and the Philippi church. As a result we chose to give him the ability that best takes advantage of the increase theme tied to this church.
If you’ve been playing Redemption very long, I’m sure you’ve seen that “fight by the numbers” abilities can be very strong. To keep Clement from being splashed into every clay offense ever made, we gave him the criteria that all of your Heroes need to be part of the Philippi church in order for his ability to work. You can still include missionaries from other churches, provided the majority of your Heroes are Philippi so that the missionaries gain the Philippi identifier. It also means that if an opponent converts your human Evil Character to a Hero, Clement’s special ability probably isn’t going to work anymore.
Conflict Resolution
Our God is a God of reconciliation. There is no greater example than the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, all so that we could be reconciled back to Him. He desires to see us in a right relationship with both Him and the people in our lives.
In John 17:22-23, Jesus prays for the unity of His church “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”
In Philippians 2, Paul exhorts us to be Of One Mind. We also see an exhortation for unity by Paul to two members of the Philippian church. Apparently Euodia and Syntyche had some kind of disagreement. The scriptures don’t tell us what became of them, but if the maturity of the rest of this church is any example, we can expect that they resolved their differences and continued to work for the cause of the gospel.
We designed these two reprints with abilities that work better together than apart:
Each of them follows the “build up” theme of the church at Philippi by increasing another Hero 1/1. Syntyche helps grow your church, then bands to Euodia and gives them both a nice bonus of uninterruptability. Euodia then creates a pseudo “fight by the numbers” situation verses O.T. Enhancements.
As you get a chance to use these two ladies I think you’ll find they are much more effective together than they are apart.
The Messenger
Epaphroditus delivered the most recent gift the Philippians sent to Paul while he was in prison. Paul speaks very highly of him, giving him as an example for the church to model of someone whole-heartedly following Jesus.
We also learn that Epaphroditus became ill during his time with Paul, ill almost to the point of death. But God spared him. Paul then sent him back to his home church with the very letter we know today as Philippians.
You may have noticed the identifier on our first preview card in this article; Letter to the Philippians can be activated on Epaphroditus. Let’s take a look at the final preview card for the church at Philippi.
He continues the churches theme with a tie to missionaries, but this time by offering a Darius Decree type effect against evil Enhancements. Similar to how he was spared from death and recovered from illness, he stops territory class evil Enhancements from afflicting you and your Heroes. This ability is strong on it’s own, but can be leveraged to win a rescue if used correctly with a side battle card.
Epaphroditus also grants unnegatability to cards with Paul’s name in the title. This presents a number of opportunities for strong combos with cards such as Paul’s Books and Parchments, Commitment of Paul, Paul’s Disciples, Paul’s Nephew, Paul’s Belt and Paul’s Girdle.
Closing Remarks
This concludes our look into the church at Philippi. I hope you’ve learned a little more about the Bible and have a better understanding of why this church does the things it does. I know I had a great time designing and testing these cards with our team. I hope you get as much enjoyment when you have a chance to play with them.
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