{"id":31206,"date":"2022-09-10T15:21:10","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/will-people-leave-your-church-over-politics\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T15:21:10","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:21:10","slug":"will-people-leave-your-church-over-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/will-people-leave-your-church-over-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Will People Leave Your Church Over Politics?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Dean Inserra<\/em><\/p>\n

Relocating an influential leader\u2019s Sunday School classroom. Changing the color of the carpet. Going \u201ccontemporary\u201d with the music. An unresolved interpersonal conflict. Being against the capital campaign.<\/p>\n

These scenarios used to the be the reasons an individual or family would leave a church. While I\u2019m certain those reasons still exist, the new reason people are leaving churches today is American politics.<\/p>\n

Yes, there has always been the reality of churches mixing in too much politics, but this is different. It\u2019s not necessarily about the pastor being too political, as would be the common claim before our current political climate.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s criticism is more focused on what the pastor is not. This usually takes form in two different outrages:<\/p>\n

1. The pastor isn\u2019t God-and-country enough.<\/h3>\n

In these cases, the expectation is for the pastor to recite conservative news talking points, and to make it clear the Republican party is the \u201cChristian\u201d party.<\/p>\n

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They should speak to rioting, call out progressives and their politics regularly, and make it clear\u2014even without saying it\u2014that they\u2019re voting for Donald Trump in November.<\/p>\n

Who you were voting for was once considered a private matter\u2014between you and the Lord. Now it has become a litmus test for one to be respected as a leader\u2014or even for a parishioner to maintain fellowship.<\/p>\n

When people are challenged by this, the claim would be that politics isn\u2019t their god by any stretch, rather it\u2019s just that their faith informs their politics.<\/p>\n

Somehow, those faith-informed politics seem to line up perfectly with the Republican Party and President Trump.<\/p>\n

The \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d campaign, rather than simply being something to resonate with or one\u2019s preferred agenda for the 2020 election, has, for many, become synonymous with making disciples.<\/p>\n

In a God-and-country faith, those things don\u2019t know how to be distinguished from each other.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s complicated for pastors when church members sincerely believe their pastor is somewhere between malpractice and heresy if the gospel preached isn\u2019t what they\u2019re also hearing on conservative talk radio.<\/p>\n

Part of the issue of linking American Republican politics with Christianity is that it often doesn\u2019t allow room for issues of significance that are outside one\u2019s particular way of seeing the world.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no space for having our views challenged by the Bible, written long before the United States of America was even remotely an idea.<\/p>\n

I know pastors who have received votes of no confidence and have been asked to resign over speaking about refugees and racism.<\/p>\n

We once had a family leave our church over conspiracy theory videos they watched on YouTube asserting our denomination was tied to progressive political operatives.<\/p>\n

Examples such as this are not extreme or exceptions. Pastors can get away with saying the wrong thing biblically or theologically before they could say what some might consider the wrong thing politically.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no margin for error in the eyes of these beholders. They\u2019ll leave the church and find a place that boasts of American values.<\/p>\n

2. The pastor isn\u2019t \u201cwoke\u201d enough.<\/h3>\n

This is the new reality leaders are facing, and there isn\u2019t much time given to get in line.<\/p>\n

A widely held belief is that the pastor should have a strong and progressive opinion on every issue driving the social media cycle.<\/p>\n

If not, they are viewed as cowardly or uncaring. There\u2019s no place for nuance or even time for collecting and processing more information before sending out a tweet.<\/p>\n

There is no way to win, as it seems the line moves daily for what is considered being on the right side of an issue.<\/p>\n

People are leaving their churches not so much because the pastor is an ardent Trump supporter (they wouldn\u2019t have been at that church anyway), but because the pastor doesn\u2019t spend each Sunday speaking about the lightning-rod issue that matters most to them.<\/p>\n

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See also  The Group Most Likely to Still Be Missing From Your Church<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Simply caring about these matters and teaching how the Bible and a Christian worldview speaks to various issues of current attention should be enough.<\/p>\n

But many churchgoers expect their pastor and other church leaders to be all in, all the time, or they will leave for a church where the leadership \u201cgets it.\u201d<\/p>\n

This often means they want a pastor who despises the president, publicly embraces and supports the cause du jour, and regularly calls out conservative evangelicals for their politics.<\/p>\n

I know situations where families left churches because they found out a family leading their small group voted for Trump.<\/p>\n

Churches are receiving transfer growth from other churches not because of reasons of doctrine or scandal, but because of political preferences.<\/p>\n

A 2018 Lifeway Research study found 46 percent of Protestant churchgoers admitted they prefer to attend a church where people share their political views.<\/p>\n

This is real. It\u2019s our new normal. And I know I\u2019m not the only pastor sensing this growing divide among church members.<\/p>\n

So how do we as church leaders respond to this? How do we maintain unity in an increasingly divisive culture?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m still trying to figure it out. But as a pastor, I have to speak to the idols. It\u2019s going to be uncomfortable, and as a people pleaser, I don\u2019t like it when others are upset with me. But this is reality.<\/p>\n

If we aren\u2019t speaking directly to the idols of our hearts, what exactly are we doing as pastors and leaders? People are going to leave, and it will always be justified in their minds. Speak to it anyway.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a tragedy that political views are now often elevated over theological views among church members. Pastors are now expected to take their cues from social media mobs and shared articles, rather than Scripture.<\/p>\n

If faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10), then we must take these matters on from the Scriptures.<\/p>\n

There also must be a renewed emphasis on what it means to be citizens of heaven (Philippians 3:20), and strangers and exiles (1 Peter 2:11).<\/p>\n

There should be a feeling of political homelessness\u2014but without neglecting to participate in political matters that affect our nation, and more importantly, our neighbors.<\/p>\n

Our discipleship models have to equip people to see themselves as part of a different kingdom, while living as faithful witnesses here on earth.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a lack of self-awareness that shouldn\u2019t be a reality for Christians.<\/p>\n

An important question to regularly ask ourselves is, What in my perspective\u2014and even in my outrage\u2014is merely a product of political influences in my life and not Scriptures?<\/p>\n

We must also help people distinguish between what the Bible speaks to as spiritual that we only see as political. There are also issues the Bible is neutral on, which should leave room for disagreement among church members.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, as people who have received grace, we should be people who show grace. It\u2019s hard to focus on Jesus, when we\u2019re refusing to \u201clay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us\u201d (Hebrews 12:1).<\/p>\n

Jesus is alive forever, but this world and its ideologies are temporary. They shouldn\u2019t be litmus tests for legitimacy and fellowship.<\/p>\n

Instead of dividing over politics, I pray that believers choose to unite around the gospel and Jesus Christ our King.<\/p>\n

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Dean Inserra<\/h2>\n

@deaninserra<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Dean is lead pastor of City Church in Tallahassee, Florida, and author of\u00a0The Unsaved Christian: Reaching Cultural Christianity with the Gospel<\/em> and Without a Doubt: How to Know for Certain That You’re Good with God<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n