What does it say about Christianity in this country when you cannot even have a conversation about helping pastors deal with political polarization in their churches because the conversation is too polarizing

This says much about the state of Christianity in America. In a column by Julie Roys, it was reported that "The Presbyterian Church in America canceled an announced panel on helping pastors deal with polarization - saying the topic was too divisive."

I have felt for some time that we have elevated politics above Jesus and the Gospel in this country. And when you cannot even have a conversation about politics to help pastors deal with the deep divisions among God's people in their own churches, it says a great deal about the state of Christianity in our nation at this juncture.

First, such a conversation should be centered on Jesus and a theology of trust in God for our nation's deepest needs. This is no longer the case in many churches or segments of evangelicalism today. Rather than a deep trust in God, our deepest trust is in a political system and getting the right president (as you define that), the right Supreme Court Justices, the right Speaker of the House, or what have you. 

This is an upside-down theology that bears little resemblance to any teaching about politics in the New Testament or the Old. At a very young age, I learned the verses in Proverbs that say, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight" (Proverbs 3:5-6).

When you cannot even have a conversation about politics, it is clear that something is amiss among God's people. This is not—at its base—a conversation about the two parties (although some make it so). It is a theological conversation about where our trust is, and that is a fundamental principle of the Christian faith. Evidently, we cannot even agree on this core principle. 

Scripture defines idolatry as any person, entity, or security that takes a higher place than God in our lives. This situation points to idolatry among God's people, and the idol here is politics—or perhaps a political savior. No subject should keep us from having a conversation as Christians, and when there is one, it points to a deeper issue that we cannot discuss in a way that keeps Jesus and the Gospel at the center. That is telling, and that is a problem.

A Christian worldview should allow us to have deep conversations about the place of Jesus and the teaching of Scripture in all parts of our lives. It seems that we don't have a worldview that allows that anymore. Politics has trumped Jesus and theology. They are now subject to the election outcome, not above politics, as Scripture teaches. 

I am reminded of Psalm 2 where the Psalmist speaks of the rulers of the nations who take their stand against God. "The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill" (Psalm 2:4-6). 

God is not subject to our politics. He is sovereign over all. But I guess we are unable to talk about that today. Probably because many of us don't actually believe it. 

I don't recognize much of what passes for evangelicalism today. This is one example, but I challenge people to consider what this means from a theological perspective. Politics has become an idol, a source of division among God's people, and a source of security it was never meant to be and never can be. Those are all theological issues.

Leadership coaching, governance/board training, staff/culture audits, management, conflict management, establishing clarity, creating healthy cultures, leadership, and organizational consulting. tjaddington@gmail.com

Overcoming tribalism and politics in the church: The challenge of our day

Politics today has become tribal and frankly ugly. People demonize those who don’t think like them on Social Media with nasty, unkind comments. Christians, likewise, are not immune. I have been called offensive names when I have posted comments regarding racial injustice, for instance, that had no political intent at all. Our tribalism is invading the church, dividing congregations, killing friendships, and creating divisions that sadden the heart of God.

This is not a new problem. Even the early church dealt with differing perspectives, world views, and opinions. Paul addresses this in Ephesians 4:1-6 where he writes this: “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

Evidently, there were squabbles, attitudes, and opinions that threatened to get in the way of the unity of the church in Ephesus. Ironically, he names four qualities that are in short supply today when political opinions are being discussed: Humility, gentleness; patience, and love. In their place, we often have criticism, sharp words, name-calling, impatience, harshness, and division. What a contrast between the two approaches.

Paul grounds this plea for unity in a far higher value than our political opinions. He reminds us of what binds us as believers together. “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” Do you catch the common word in this sentence. It is the word “one.”  We are bound together with a common savior, a common faith, a common baptism, and a common savior. That oneness is far more important than our differences. 

This is why Paul tells the Galatian church, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, and I would add, neither republican nor democrat, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” As Christ's followers, we are one tribe. His tribe. And He is greater and higher and more important than all of our ethnic or political differences.

I am convinced that many believers have a more nation-centric view of life than they do a Christian worldview. In a Christian worldview, we understand that we have dual citizenship with our primary identification with Jesus and His Kingdom. Subordinate to that are our political views and national identity. I would suggest that today, this order is often reversed. Our politics come first - justified by how we read Scripture - and our Kingdom citizenship second, which is why we see so much tribalism in the church. If you doubt that, listen to what people say about politics and what they say about their followership of Christ. There is a lot of conviction on the first and too little conviction on the second.

Both Jesus and Paul had precious little to say about the politics of their day, and there was plenty of that. They were far more concerned about what it meant to follow Christ and preserve the unity of His people.

The next time you are tempted to allow political opinions to get in the way of your relationships, remember Paul’s admonition to do all that we can to keep the bond of peace and to major in humility, gentleness; patience, and love with one another. We have one savior, and He is greater and higher and more important than all of our differences. We have our differences to be sure, but the Spirit of God has made us one indivisible family with one Lord at its head. Let’s work to live as one rather than allow tribalism to divide us. This needs to be a major teaching point in the church. We are not about politics and parties. We are about Jesus and the Kingdom.

Evangelicals and their false god of politics

As I look at the concerns of evangelicals on social media over the past year, I have come to the conclusion that the God of evangelicals today is not Jesus but politics. When God proclaimed in the Ten Commandments, "You shall have no other gods before me," He was writing about any priority or concern that would take our primary attention off of Him. This is why, speaking of money, for instance, in Matthew, he says, "You cannot serve God and money." 

Many things can supersede our highest commitment to Him. I suggest that power and politics have become a false God of Evangelicals. One can trace the genesis of this back to the founding of the Moral Majority in 1979, founded by Jerry Falwell Senior. Those were heady days for the religious right. It was pivotal in bringing Ronald Reagan to the White House, a friend of evangelicals, and the religious right realized that it could wield power previously unknown as a voting block. 

Evangelicals became a powerful lobby in the halls of power. The seduction of power is not the purview of politicians alone. We, as evangelicals, were seduced as well. We became convinced that we could turn the levers of power and solve the issues of our nation through the election of allies in the White House, legislation that was in our interests, and turn the judiciary in our direction.

Having these allies, friendly legislation, or addressing the concerns that we have as believers was not wrong. However, in the success of our efforts, we started to believe that the key to our nation's success and to the advancement of Christianity was to be found in political power rather than in the God we worship, who is above all, over all and in all. Our confidence moved from God to political power. And in the process, political power became a god that rivaled the one and true God.

This also led many evangelicals to ally themselves with the Republican Party because this is where their power base existed. Pastors and evangelical leaders became spokespersons for their party. They often became unapologetic cheerleaders for politicians who lacked any moral compass or personal integrity - or concept of truth. After all, they were joined at the hip to a political party, and come "hell or high water," they intended to hang on to that power. And power has become the key to national transformation in the minds of many rather than God and the Holy Spirit. In fact, numerous posts by evangelicals in the run-up to the recent election insinuated that one could not be a believer and vote for other than the Republican Party. 

When we ally ourselves with a god that is not God, we often overlook corruption, lies, ungodly behaviors, and unrighteousness because we cannot offend our power base. Power corrupts evangelicals and the issues they attend to, just like power often corrupts politicians. Power becomes a god, and in the end, political power starts to defuse our ultimate power that is found in Christ and His transforming work in our lives. 

Regardless of how we as individuals vote, the marriage of the religious right with a political party has done us no favors. It has diluted our influence, caused us to overlook unrighteousness, and has stolen our prophetic voice in society. When one cares about power and the influence it brings, we move away from speaking truth to power.  

Jesus did not and does not carry the card of any political party. Nor did Jesus or Paul say much at all about the politics of their day, which were far worse than the politics in our nation. Why? Because neither Jesus nor Paul put their trust in the political system. Rather, they put their trust in God, the transformation of the Holy Spirit, and a Gospel that has the power to transform individuals, communities, and institutions. Jesus put it well when he said, pay to Caesar what is Caesar's and pay to God what is God's. Perhaps we have paid more attention to Caesar than to the concerns of God.

All of us are at risk of elevating various gods above the one God who claims our full allegiance. In our individual lives, we can elevate our work above Him, we can put our trust in our resources rather than Him, and we can also put our trust in political parties rather than in Him, whatever that party is. Or the power that comes with allegiance to a political party. 

Can Christians impact the political system? Yes! Daniel did in his day serving one of the worst tyrants of the ancient world. Wilberforce did in the abolition of slavery in England. We should be deeply thankful for men and women of faith who serve in government and live out their convictions in their places of influence. Paul had supporters who were in high places of government in his day. 

Should Christians challenge unjust laws or practices in the fabric of our society? Yes. But we have been very selective in what we concerned ourselves with. Absent from the concerns of many white evangelicals, for instance, is the concern for racial reconciliation and justice - a concern of the prophets throughout the Old Testament. And Paul, in the New.

We have been outspoken on the issue of abortion and the evil that it is and have neglected the truth that to be pro-life is to be pro-life in all situations and for all people. Being pro-life means that I care about righteousness, justice, and fairness in all of society. The command, "Thou shall not kill," is stated in the negative because one cannot catalog all the ways that we keep this commandment by enhancing the lives of those around us, caring for the needy, the hurting, the poor, and the hungry, or in dealing with racism that destroys the dignity and opportunities of many - those who are without power or marginalized by society.

We should always use the means that we are given to bring about a better nation. Jeremiah advised the Jews living in captivity to pray for the peace of the city in which they lived and to contribute to its success. For us, that includes using the political system, courts, and legislation to pursue a more just society.

But politics is not the ultimate answer to our nation's ills. As God told Solomon, "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14. 

If we spent as much time cleansing our own lives, seeking the face of God, and praying for our nation as we do arguing about politics and engaging in the political system, we would see a more righteous and just society.

Only God is God, and He is the One who can bring healing to our nation. All other gods, including our god of politics and power, will not and cannot. 

Living beyond Politics

The political season is a test for every believer. In fact, it reveals a great deal about our character, our faith, and our belief system. 

Let's start with our character. The vitriol of the election season is harsh, strong, and unkind. Yet, even in the church, between believers, all too often, the tone and tenor of political conversations are no different than on Fox News or CNN. People often say, “Politics is a messy business.” They are right. But we do not need to vilify others or respond in anger. Even in politics, the fruit of the Spirit applies Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, and self-control.

We fail the character test if we cannot discuss issues that divide us with these qualities. It is easy to have the fruit of the Spirit in easy conversations. However, displaying that fruit in challenging discussions is far more critical. Remember, the Holy Spirit is either saddened or gladdened by our attitude in this season.

Then there is the issue of our belief system. Here is the question. Do we believe that our political party or any political party can save us as a nation? If anything can be learned from the Old Testament and God’s interactions with nations, He raises nations and leaders and brings them down when their sin or avoidance of Him becomes too great. A righteous and just government matters greatly, but our political parties cannot save us. I long ago concluded that it matters more who is in my house than who is in the White House. 

But the issue of our faith is the most critical question. There is an Old Testament promise that is often quoted but rarely followed. It is God’s promise in 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

If we genuinely believed that promise, we would spend far more time praying for our nation, living in personal righteousness, turning away from sin, and seeking His face in all our practices. And in doing so, we would be confident that God will hear from heaven and that their land would be healed. Why healed? Because every nation has practices and a past that they need healing from. Racism and a history of slavery are wounds from which our country desperately needs healing. Unfortunately, recent days have told us that the wounds are real and raw and that without healing, there will not be reconciliation, justice, or righteousness. 

We don’t believe that all people are made in the image of God. Many decry the scourge of abortion in this country. But what do you suppose God thinks about racism, exclusion, and injustice? Yet the church is largely silent on these issues and has married itself to a political party as if people cannot vote for either party and be disciples of Jesus. God is asking us to care about the things He cares about, and He wants us to humble ourselves (yes, as Christian people), truly seek his face, and turn from our sinful ways, and He will heal our land. 

This election will not solve our nation's problems. A new Supreme Court justice will not solve them either. Only God can, and it will only be when His people choose to live beyond politics and follow Him and seek what He desires that this nation, or any nation, will be blessed. Healing does not start in the White House. It begins in our house.

Don't allow divisive politics to cause conflict in your congregation

The election season is upon us with its typical vitriol, charges, counter charges and of course the whole destiny of our nation is at stake, never mind we've seen this all before and it is repeated every four years. What is true is that with the 24 hour news cycles the differing visions of governance get raised to a new level.

I have often observed that the conflict in the nation over its elections has a spill over into the church especially when different sides claim God's blessing on their party - as if God is a card carrying member of any party other than His own.

It is at times like this that we have an opportunity to remind our congregations of some central truths.

First, what brings us together in a common community is nothing less than a vision of Jesus who is the ultimate hope of the world, our nation and our community. Politicians come and go but Jesus remains the same yesterday, today and forever. The more we focus on Him the fewer divisions we have over politics or a host of other issues.

Third, any time we align the church with a political party we do a disservice to the Lord of the Church and set ourselves up for grave disappointment. The concerns of Jesus are far broader and overreaching than the interests of any political party: righteousness; justice; fairness; seeing that all people are treated as made in His Image; truthfulness; compassion; care for the poor and needy and the least of these and the list could go on. Political ideas matter for any nation but ultimately our highest priority must be the values that emanate from the character of God.

Fourth, the vitriol of campaigns has no place between believers who are to treat one another with kindness, respect, patience and the Fruit of the Spirit. I expect the kind of behavior we see in campaigns - it is the nature of political clashes but they have no place between believers in the church where the standards for relationships are higher.

The political season is a great time to remind people of some deep spiritual truths.

TJ Addington (Addington Consulting) has a passion to help individuals and organizations maximize their impact and go to the next level of effectiveness. He can be reached at tjaddington@gmail.com.

"Creating cultures of organizational excellence."

Politics and a Christian or Kingdom world view

Observation: most American believers do not have an integrated Christian world view which informs their personal lives, work lives and political thinking. We have views on these subjects but they are not integrated into a Christian world view where God's perspective is brought to bear in our thinking on all issues of life. Many of us operate with world view compartments where we have the religious issues and then all the other issues.

Jesus did not separate any issues from His relationship with the Father or from the Scriptures (the word of God). For Him, all of life was viewed through the lens of the Father's will and He assumed that the Father had something to say about every part of our lives.

This bifurcation is nowhere better seen than in the political arena where American believers latch on to one political ideology or another, listen to some loud commentator and rarely ask the God question: Does God have anything to say about these matters? If you doubt that, just listen to political conversations between believers and listen for any reference to Scripture or Biblical principles. I rarely hear any. I do hear references to talk radio hosts and such! It is as if none of the key issues facing our nation have any relationship to issues spoken to in Scripture. But they do!

Read, for instance, Deuteronomy (the Gospel of the Old Testament) or the Prophets who sought to help Israel understand the implications of the moral law of God and you will see themes that apply to people and nations: morality; justice; mercy; concern for the poor and disadvantaged; care for the widow and orphan; how one treats the alien (immigrant) in our midst. These issues do not belong to any political party - they are part of a Christian world view of how we view life, people and faith.

Rush Limbaugh, CNN, Fox, CNBC, the BBC or whoever one watches, reads or listens to have definite political ideologies. For believers the question is whether God has anything to say that might inform our thinking. Of course He does and we are the ones who are tasked with understanding His word and doing the mental work of applying it to the political arena. It is the integration of His truth into the thinking in all areas of our lives that helps us to develop a Christian world view which will never be synonymous with the political views of any party. Therefore we need to be critical thinkers regarding all political systems and theories.

I appreciate publications and deep thinkers that seek to integrate God's truth into life, politics and work. We need to train ourselves as we read God's word daily to make that kind of application to the events of our world, the challenges in our society and the culture of our home and workplace. 

I also appreciate those who give their lives to the political arena and are seeking to serve well the interests of those they represent. It is an honorable and sometimes thankless task. They are to be honored - especially those who bring into their work the kinds of values that God wants to see in our society. 

Daniel and Nehemiah and Joseph are great examples. Each served secular kings but brought a God world view into their work. They did the hard work of integrating their faith into the political arena. But each of them understood that God stood sovereign over all affairs of men and that they served Him first, rather than the political system they served within. Ultimately their faith and their truth was found in God, not in those they served.

Don't allow your world view to be separated from what God would have to say in any area of life. As Christians we hold two passports simultaneously: the nation we belong to and Heaven which rules and which is our destination. Living between the two is a tension that requires us to live here but to do so with Kingdom values and perspectives. It is the challenge of a Christian or Kingdom world view.

Theological truths in an election season: Obama, Romney and God

No, you will find no endorsement here and I am not sure even my boys know how I voted in the last election. And yes I do care about the outcome - but I care about some other things even more.

I believe that Who is in my house (Jesus) is more important than who is in the White House. The latter matters but the former matters ever so much more.

My trust for the future is never in politicians but always in a sovereign, holy, loving and personal God who sits on the throne in heaven. He is sovereign in spite of any laws, policies, spending, or executive orders. (Habakkuk 2:20).

No matter who wins we are commanded to pray for our leaders, that they would lead with wisdom and righteousness. If we really believe in prayer we will complain less and pray more.

God can use any circumstance in a nation for His purposes (Acts 17:26-27). He may even use hard times to awaken His church in the United States!

While laws influence morality or the lack of it, the ultimate answer to immoral practices is a changed heart through the Gospel. Jesus is the ultimate answer to our nations problems.

Sometimes nations get what they deserve (see Amos). Even when they do, God can use the events of our world good or bad to build His church - and He does. (Acts 17:26-27). And even in the worst of times, we can rejoice in God our Savior (Habakkuk 3:16-19): "The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights."

God's people are united by Jesus, not by any political party or political ideology  Political discourse is not a church affair, Jesus is. Christians should be good citizens and involved politically as their conscience dictates but it is Jesus only, and His Spirit who unites us as One body (Ephesians 4). Anytime politics divides God's people we have forgotten what unites us.

I admit to being tired of shallow political spin. I am forever glad that my hope is not in any political system but in a sovereign, good, loving Heavenly Father. Whatever happens in this election or after, He is constant. Administrations rule for a period of years. Jesus rules forever and ever - Amen!