In my meetings with pastors, the current polarized political climate often comes up in our conversations along with how negatively it has affected their congregations.
They find themselves frustrated with members at odds with each other. One pastor told me recently, “I don’t think I can go through another election cycle”—and he was serious.
It is an extremely challenging time to be pastoring and my heart goes out to them. In several conversations, this question would be raised: “What would you do if you were still pastoring?” Of course, it’s much easier to offer advice when you’re on the sidelines. But the reality is: the primary way to work out a church-wide problem like this is to teach your way through it.
In this particular issue, I would focus on two things and cover them religiously, if you don’t mind the double entendre.
Number One: preach a strong Christology. In other words, I would center on the person of Jesus, his life, his practices, his teachings, his supremacy, his transformational power, and viewing all scripture through the lens of Christ. Over and over.
As I’m writing this, I realize it sounds funny—isn’t this what churches already do? Isn’t Jesus kind of, uh, the focus of everything?
You’d be surprised.
Of course there are many other topics to tackle, from congregants’ life-management problems to crucial doctrinal points to community felt needs to exegetical challenges to apologetical issues to you-name-it. But remember: we’re addressing a current congregational flashpoint: the “politicization of everything”…and its voracious power to form nationalistic citizens of an earthly empire before a recognized citizenship of the Kingdom. Which leads to the second point:
Number Two: the Kingdom of God. This is what was prophesied for centuries and what Jesus inaugurated, talked about incessantly, and centered his disciples on. The upside-down, neuron-bending ethic of the Sermon on the Mount is stunning: it is a Kingdom like no other.
When Jesus was dragged before Governor Pilate who questioned whether he was a king or not, Jesus stated simply,
“My kingdom does not belong to this world. If it belonged to this world, my servants would have fought to keep me from being given over to the Jewish leaders. But my kingdom is from another place.” JOHN 18:36
I’ve heard this sometimes explained with the emphasis on the second half of the second sentence: his disciples are not fighting because they understood he must be handed over for crucifixion. After all, when Jesus rebuked Peter for cutting off Malchus’ ear during the arrest, he said, “Shouldn’t I drink the cup the Father gave me?”
But that’s missing the point. The kingdom Jesus rules over simply operates radically differently than the kingdoms of the earth—it doesn’t function in a “power-over” way. It doesn’t seek dominance. It doesn’t make political strategies its chief aim. The servant-orientation of the Kingdom of God exemplifies a hidden potential, a power-dynamic like nothing else in the universe. What appears as a humiliated weakness is the ultimate slight-of-hand: the Lamb is actually the Lion. It flips the script.
There’s no other way to interpret this classic Christological passage:
In your lives you must think and act like Christ Jesus. Christ himself was like God in everything. But he did not think that being equal with God was something to be used for his own benefit. But he gave up his place with God and made himself nothing. He was born as a man and became like a servant. PHILIPPIANS 2:5-7
Hang in there, leaders and pastors. We need you. Seriously.
Dave Workman | The Elemental Group
Every healthy organization is marked by four essential traits: Integrity, Passion, Servanthood, and Imagination. With a practitioner perspective, author Dave Workman offers common sense guidance and tools to maximize leadership. Filled with insight, humor, and reflective exercises, this is an indispensable exploration of these four universal values. Check out Elemental Leaders: Four Essentials Every Leader Needs...and Every Church Must Have.
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