Christians - Engage Politics and the Public Square

 

I love playing board games, leading devotions, and eating meals with my family. However, if the house is on fire, I'm not gonna keep playing a game and later email my insurance adjuster. I'm gonna shout and get help. I'll do what is necessary to protect the house. No, the house is not the most important thing. The house holds that which is important - my family and friends. But it is important.

In America, the house is on fire. The political-social structure of our nation has burned for years, while the church often stayed silent.

The great preacher Adrian Rogers said, “It’s better to speak truth that hurts and then helps than falsehood that comforts and then kills.”

A misconception persists among Christians that we are ever to be the “nice guy” in the room.  The Mr. Rogers of the group.  The super-positive person who wants everyone to hold hands like Barnie the purple dinosaur and sing “I Love You.”

Or, some Christians warn we should not speak about politics because it will bring division and somehow hurt our gospel witness. Had such advice been followed in the past, the world may have missed the American Revolution and the end of slavery.

Read the entire article, written in 2018, here.

8 Reasons Why Change is Hard for Churches

 

The very nature of leadership requires leading through change. Therein is the fundamental difference between management vs. leadership.

Ron Hefeitz said, "Leadership is the art of disappointing people at a rate they can stand.”

Churches tend to be one of the worst places for embracing necessary change. In an excellent article, Joe McKeever, Southern Baptist pastor for 40+ years, shares 8 reasons why change is so hard for churches - and gives pastors five challenges for leading change:

"I sometimes tease our young pastors that 'in all the world, there are only three people who enjoy change, and none are members of your church.'

It’s a common perception in our churches that the Lord’s people seem to be resistant to change. And there is certainly plenty of anecdotal evidence, as flockless shepherds step up to tell how they lost their pulpits when they tried to change a schedule or a program.

A church has to change or it will die. Do not be one of these shepherds who is afraid to set a new direction out of fear of resistance or concern for his job. Be prayerful, wait on the Lord, pull plenty of leaders in as early in the planning as you can, then stand up and lead the way."

Read the entire article by Joe McKeever here at Outreach Magazine.

Picture used courtesy of Pexels

Christian, Feel Free to Love Politics

 "I love politics because I love people.

Being compelled by Scripture to love others like we love ourselves, provides us further reason for loving politics. Governance affects the lives of our neighbors. Good governance brings blessing. Unhealthy governance brings frustration. Wicked governance brings cruelty. We should desire blessing for our neighbors and to see this accomplished, we must engage the public arena. Engaging the public arena while hating the arena will produce little. Engaging the public arena while loving the arena, knowing that it is ordained by Jesus for our good, will improve the likelihood of producing blessing.

To be sure, there are many opportunities to bring blessing to our neighbors. These opportunities involve each of life's spheres. We can bless though our individual efforts, familial efforts, congregational efforts, community efforts, artistic efforts, and even professional efforts. We have a truncated view; however, if we stop short of recognizing the value of our political efforts. In this, we must understand that politics isn't a necessary evil, it's a sphere God superintends for the good of our neighbors. We should approach and value this sphere the same way we approach and value imperfect spheres like the family, the arts, and the church."

Read the entire article here by Dough Richey at Baptist Press.