I guess last week was the week for churches to start coming out and supporting different sides of the political spectrum. I lost count at the number of churches/non-profit ministries that all of a sudden jumped to one side or the other in support of a candidate. I don’t care what side of the political spectrum you fall on, I definitely have a few thoughts about what is starting to happen:
1) I LOVE POLITICS - I have said it on my blog here before. Seriously, I enjoy watching speeches, and I’m already looking forward to the debates. I love seeing the rthetoic and spin put on by BOTH SIDES, where they twist the other side’s argument to somehow prove themselves right. I think it’s a lot of fun to learn the strategies that go into what they do.
2) I HATE POLITICS - I don’t know that our country has had one “eternal” impact made for God’s Kingdom in the last 75 years because of a law passed in Washington. Do you want to change the world? Do you want to end abortion? Do you want to feed the hungry? Do you want to help the oppressed people scattered all across our nation and in the world? Then, Don’t go to Washington. Start by “loving your neighbor” .. real change happens one person at a time. None of the people who are running for president are going to make an impact for God’s Kingdom like you can by showing real love to someone in need tomorrow.
With all of that said .. the main reason that I’m writing this is because of how saddened I am that pastors, churches, non-profits are all starting to take sides once again this four years. I mean, I have a person who I support and who I will vote for because I believe that he will bring a little more change than the other person, BUT I will not talk about this in public, and I will never post about either person as my choice on my blog.
I deep within my heart believe that every single church should strive to be aggressively committed to remaining non-political.
The issues and concerns of Jesus Christ and the church for effecting change in the world are bigger than our politics. Environmentalism isn’t a Democrat thing, it’s a God thing. The sanctity of life isn’t a Republican thing, it’s a God thing. The church isn’t the place for political discussion or promotion. Rather, the church should be the model politics looks to for how to govern/live.
I don’t know when we started to turning to Washington to regulate the laws that we should be living out in our daily lives.
Nowhere in scripture does someone become a Christian and then start running to rome to see how they can change the government of the day to promote their Christian values. They didn’t mess with politics. THey lived the change in their daily lives, they devoted themselves to the causes that they so strongly believed in. They understood that real change didn’t come from the top, down… it comes from bottom up. They didn’t let their message get tied in with bi-partisan politics that never really truly make any kind of significant difference. I just wish that church would follow suit, whichever side they fall on…
it is so much easier to pick a political party and blame the other side for the faults with America and the world. It takes personal responsibilty away from us and allows us to hold other people accountable for what we’re called to do. You want to know what’s wrong with the world .. it’s not the democrats or republicans .. IT’S ME. I would rather donate money to a cause, then work on it. I would rather look to Washington to solve all the problems with the world, than to be the answer myself.
You want America to change for the better? BE THE CHANGE. Don’t take either side.
If you’re a pastor/church/non-profit .. please keep God’s Kingdom out of the mess of politics. Keep your personal opinions personal. Don’t allienate members of your organization by getting into a mess that we shouldn’t be in. There are GREAT CHRISTIAN PEOPLE ON BOTH SIDES ON THIS ARGUMENT. Why should we loose new members and continue to give people the same ole’ opinions of Christianity.
Trust me, from someone who has heard 3 different stories from people ticked at the pastor of their church (each a different church) because of something that he said about one party or the other. stay away from politics. You are only going to make your members mad at you, people will leave your church because of what you say and I don’t care which side of the argument that you take. And I hope you don’t support either side so strongly that you’re ok with that.