In traveling around the country, in multiple conversations with pastors, I perceive a sense of weariness mixed with dread: We’re about to go through it again. They’re referring to the upcoming election year, which looms large after previous polarizing election cycles saw churchgoing Christians divided over matters of political principle and prudence.
Good pastors care deeply about the unity of the flock they shepherd. They take seriously the admonition of the apostles to preserve the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3), and they share the heart of Jesus expressed the night before he died, when he prayed that his people might be one (John 17). In a world where the political seeps into all spheres of life, new threats to church unity arise, often from multiple directions.
2 Tendencies for Concerned Pastors
What should faithful pastors do? What does it look like to steer the ship through stormy waters? I see two tendencies in well-meaning pastors these days.
1. Go quiet.
The first is to hunker down, play it cool, and avoid anything that seems “political.” The way to preserve the unity of the church and to avoid coming under fire from the most politically active and vocal members of the congregation is to refrain from anything that could be seen as partisan or offensive. If you just ignore all the drama and keep your political opinions quiet, maybe you set an example for relationships in your church and you can keep people from getting too worked up over temporal matters.
The problem here is the divorcing of discipleship from the political sphere, which only creates a bigger void for other voices to fill. How can you possibly steer clear of anything “political” or “controversial” when nearly everything these days is contested? Significant questions about identity, the beginning and end of life, the obligation to “remember the poor” (Gal. 2:10), our care for the immigrants in our midst, how best to oppose racial discrimination, and how to address declining family stability, not to mention the definition of the family itself and the meaning of sex and gender—these are all matters now considered “political.”
We may bemoan the encroachment of politics into every area of life, but this development is no excuse for silence. It’s a reason for speech—divine speech, as we seek to bring the Word of God to bear on the issues we face in our day. To avoid any topic that touches on the political is to forfeit the fields where discipleship happens. Loving our neighbors means willing their good. It includes caring about the neighborhood. We fool ourselves if we think Christians can be a “faithful presence” in society apart from “truthful witness.”
2. Become a pundit.
But there’s a second tendency that deserves our attention. It’s the temptation to sacrifice the power of a prophet for the pablum of a pundit. The pastor might feel compelled to weigh in on the multiple events (and pseudo-events) happening every day, whether on social media or from the pulpit on Sunday. And of course, there’s always something to comment on, always a news item begging for commentary. So much news that the primary message—the good news we’re called to proclaim—can get lost in a sea of trifles. And just like that, we replace the feast of divine proclamation with another serving of political porridge.
The main calling of the pastor isn’t to the country but to the church. Paradoxically, the best way for the church to bless the nation is by leaning into her kingdom identity, by God’s people serving as a radical outpost of his reign.
I make this point in The Thrill of Orthodoxy, urging pastors and church leaders to take the long view, to realize that all week long, content comes at people from a cacophony of voices. World leaders, political pundits, novelists, sportscasters and journalists, infotainment sites and shows, celebrities and social media stars—everyone has something to say. But on the first day of the week, the day we celebrate the resurrection, someone stands up with an ancient book to deliver a message designed to cut through a noisy world of constant chatter. You’ve heard what everyone else says. Now listen to what God says.
What follows should be an otherworldly message with God at the center. Anyone can be a broadcaster today; anyone can be a pundit. The church will not be healthy if pastors spend more time scrolling on social than searching the Scriptures. What the world needs most is the whole counsel of God—truth expressed with grace; truth that, yes, touches on social and ethical dilemmas but is never subsumed into the vortex of American politics. What is temporal matters, yes, but never at the expense of the eternal.
Better Way
In place of the two temptations above, I encourage pastors bracing themselves for another election year to lean toward other tendencies that will lead to a better way.
1. Get close.
If, in the noisiness of an election year, we’re to resist the tendency to go silent or to slip into worldly anxiety, we must remember this: Pastors do their best work in person. Proximity matters. Physical proximity. You don’t pastor the world from your Twitter or Facebook account. You oversee sheep for whom you will give account. Lean into the tendency to love the people you see every week and focus on their spiritual benefit.
Don’t underestimate the power of face-to-face time with church members. Too much of today’s drama arises from the refracted prism of social media, distorted by those who often get the label of being “Very Online.” The wise pastor will prioritize the needs of the “Very In-Person” rather than cater to the preferences and desires of the Very Online.
2. Remember your calling.
Go back to the heart of your ministry and your calling, especially as you buckle up for the wild ride of another election year.
Consider the long-term effects of your words and actions. Think of the long-term influence of your ministry on your congregation and your congregation’s service to your community. Don’t be swept up into the breathless, overhyped, and overheated anxieties of one cultural moment. In The Ways of Judgment, Oliver O’Donovan writes,
In holding out the word of life, an effective church with an effective ministry issues the call, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand!” And so . . . the presence of the church in political society can be a disturbing factor, as those who first thought Christianity worth persecuting understood quite well. It presents a counter-political moment in social existence; it restrains the thirst for judgment; it points beyond the boundaries of political identity; it undermines received traditions of representation; it utters truths that question unchallenged public doctrines. It does all these things because it represents God’s kingdom, before which the authorities and powers of this world must cast down their crowns, never to pick them up again. (292)
The church needs heralds of King Jesus. And the world needs churches that speak the truth in ways that transcend the current moment yet still intersect with it, churches whose presence proves unsettling and disturbing to the powers that be, as we ensure our earthly battles never dwarf our eternal hope.
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