As an active organism, we want our members to speak into every facet of life, especially politics. As I noted in the beginning, the Christian worldview should affect how we see everything. We need Christians at all levels of society as salt and light, applying their God-given convictions in every possible societal sphere. We want Christians influencing education, healthcare, welfare and taxation policies, trade and everything in between.
Let me be very clear: I want to see Christians in our church getting involved in the political process. Some people may even be so passionate about political engagement that they pursue it as a calling. I have even prayed a few times that God would raise up a future Supreme Court justice from our congregation. (It’s a long shot, yes, but God told me to dream big for his name’s sake, and so I’m doing that.)
But as an organization, the church must limit its corporate involvement to a narrower scope. We are called to teach the Word of God and make disciples.
How do we balance all of this?
Two Crucial Questions
At our church, we use two questions to help us determine when the church—as an organization—should speak out:
A. Are the facts so clear and the moral obligations so obvious that Christians cannot, in good conscience, disagree?
One of the problems I often encounter when asked to sign political statements is that they inevitably recommend specific policies. We need specific policies, of course, and we need many more Christians to help ensure that those policies are wise. But most issues are not so morally clear that the policy decisions can’t be disputed among Christians of good conscience. Only in the rarest of circumstances can we identify direct biblical lines between moral judgments and policy prescriptions.
For instance, the church has a moral obligation to care for the poor. That’s clear. Conservatives and liberals, however, differ in the ways that they think our society ought to do this. In our church, we all share the moral obligation, but we don’t recommend a specific strategy. Of course, I have my own opinions about which strategies are more effective than others. But I confuse the issue when I suggest that the only way to care for the poor is the political method I subscribe to.
Each of us thinks that our own political position is right. If we didn’t, we’d change our position. But there’s a huge difference between believing that our position is the right one and being certain that our position is the only biblical one.
When we pastors make public statements about certain policies, the people in our church don’t usually hear that as, “I believe this policy is unwise,” but as, “This is the Christian position, so if you disagree, I’m not sure you’re actually a Christian.” It’s important for us to realize that we don’t have to literally say this for the people in our church to hear it. When church leaders make political statements, they make the members of their church think that there isn’t any room to disagree.
And, of course, there may not be room to disagree. But we need to be sure that’s the case before we say anything about a specific political policy. If sincere and biblical Christians stand across the aisle from you on a political issue, it’s probably best to shy away from that trigger.
B. Does it rise to the level that our witness requires us, as an organization, to speak?
This one doesn’t have a clear-cut grid we can apply. Sometimes a failure to speak tarnishes our (the institutional church’s) witness; sometimes endorsing policies mires us in an area outside of our calling and our institutional expertise. These things require wisdom.
The writer of 1 Chronicles commended the sons of Issachar, who “had understanding of the times, and knew what Israel ought to do” (1 Chron. 12:32). That means they discerned in the issues at hand broader implications of what was happening in society.
Maybe we perceive a looming danger in a societal or governmental trend and we feel compelled to speak—totalitarian or oppressive nation-states are not usually created in a day, after all. Or maybe we realize that in being called upon to speak out we are being used as a tool by one side of the culture war to beat the other, and so we choose not to speak. To both the political left and right, the church is nothing but a handy tool for the accomplishment of their purposes, and we should not be anybody’s tool.
There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to discernment. This requires prayer, humility and great sensitivity to the Spirit.
A United Church in a Divided World
Just because we, as a church, do not make a statement about a specific political event does not mean that we have no convictions about it. Nor does it imply that we don’t think Christians should have an opinion or be involved. (For more on this, see Kevin DeYoung’s helpful article about “speaking—or not—in a digital world.”)
Sometimes—not often—we make official statements or sign letters. More often than not, our approach is to point our people to the resources we have already produced on the topic, letting our body of work (which is usually clear) speak for itself. But whatever our response, it is always done in an attempt to balance the various biblical admonitions discussed here.
I don’t know everything the government should do on every issue. I have opinions, of course, and I try to make them well-informed ones. But what I do know, beyond any doubt, is that we are called to teach accurately what God’s Word says about various issues, and to make disciples of all people. Where the Bible does not draw a direct line to policy, you won’t find us drawing one that often from the pulpit, either.
I am praying for Christian leaders who will not abdicate their God-given mission for the allure of politics. I am also praying for a generation of leaders with courage, willing to speak out when and where we must. I am praying for humility for all of us to know that we need the Spirit of God to lead his church in this and every generation.
J.D. Greear is the lead pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina (a 2016 Outreach 100 church—No. 46 fastest-growing and No. 42 largest), and the author of several books, including Gaining by Losing: Why the Future Belongs to Churches That Send. This article was originally published on JDGreear.com.