When Your Church Has Gotten Political and You Feel Out of Place
Key Takeaways
- Many Christians today feel uneasy and out of place as churches increasingly incorporate political figures and partisan assumptions into sermons and small groups.
- Pastor Daniel Breed in Appleton, Wisconsin, successfully navigated political division in his church by hosting a class featuring a shared meal and open conversation about faith and politics.
- Instead of asking the Father to remove His disciples from a difficult world on the night before His crucifixion, Jesus prayed for their protection and unity from within it.
- A church that sorts itself by political party spends the very unity Jesus specifically asked for on His last night on earth.
- Building relational capital through ordinary life together over years makes it possible for congregation members to hold differing opinions and still remain united in Christ.
- Believers are called to pray for their pastors, keep their identity rooted in Christ above any earthly country, and choose to stay in the room rather than slipping out the back.
The sermons reference political figures and the small group assumes how you vote, so you bite your tongue or stay home. Learn the request Jesus refused to make for His disciples, and what He asked for instead.
A lot of Christians are uneasy about what their church has become. The sermons reference political figures more than they used to, and the small-group conversation assumes everybody in the room votes the same way. So you bite your tongue, or you stay home more Sundays and tell yourself it's the schedule.
One thing to grant before going further. Once you start listening for politics, you will hear it in places where it isn't. A pastor preaches a passage about marriage or money. It lands on a subject that's in the news, and now it sounds like a campaign speech when it was in the text all along. Both are happening right now, and part of the work is telling them apart.
This episode opens with Daniel Breed, a pastor in Appleton, Wisconsin, whose church has voters from both parties in the same rows. All over the country churches are getting political and people are slipping out the back. Daniel had a plan that sounded like the last thing that would work.
Jesus prayed about this the night before He died. John 17:14 reads, "I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world." This is hours before the cross, and everything He asks for here, He asks knowing His disciples will be on their own by morning. The Greek behind do not belong to the world is about where a person comes from and whose he is, so He's describing their citizenship.
Then comes the verse to hold onto, the one right after it. Jesus says, I'm not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. He had the option and declined it on purpose. What He asked for was protection inside the room, which means if your plan has been to drift out the back, Jesus already prayed against that plan.
By verse 21 Jesus prays that they would all be one, so the world would believe the Father sent Him. The unity is part of the argument for Christ, which means a church that sorts itself by party spends the one thing Jesus asked for on His last night.
Bart shares his own version of this, the members who once pushed him to promote a political party from the platform, and where he draws the line on what Scripture teaches about our moral and ethical responsibilities.
Daniel's answer was a class, with a shared meal and open conversation about how people who vote differently can still belong to the same church. He also gave his own explanation for why it held, crediting the social capital his congregation had already built, the years of ordinary life together that let people hold different opinions and stay.
BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU'LL DISCOVER:
The request Jesus declined to make for His disciples, and what He asked for instead Why unity across difference is part of the case for Christ Two things to do that are both harder than leaving
Your identity is in Christ before it is in any country, and God is a long way bigger than whatever is happening this month. Pray for your pastor, and stay in the room.
Story source. Daniel Breed pastors Emmaus Road Church in Appleton, Wisconsin, a Presbyterian Church in America congregation. His faith and politics class and the fact that no one had left the church over these issues were reported by Christianity Today in October 2024.
Share This Episode:
https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/354
Need Prayer? Leave me a voicemail:
https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/voicemail
Want to keep these devotions coming? Please consider supporting this podcast.
https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/support/
Rate and Review
https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/reviews/new/
Connect with Bart
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/dailydevotionsforbusylives
Website: https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com
Feeling spiritually drained? Start here. Download your free copy of my eBook Making Time for Jesus here: https://www.dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/subscribe.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I do if my church has gotten too political?
Jesus prayed for protection and unity inside the room rather than asking to be removed from a difficult culture. Instead of drifting out the back, consider praying for your pastor, having an honest conversation with a trusted leader, and remembering that your primary citizenship is in Christ.
Who is Daniel Breed and what did he do about politics in his church?
Daniel Breed is a pastor at Emmaus Road Church in Appleton, Wisconsin, who addressed political division by creating a class featuring shared meals and open dialogue. This approach allowed members with different political views to discuss how they could still belong to the same church without losing a single person over these issues.
What did Jesus pray for regarding His disciples and the world in John 17?
On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus prayed that His followers would not be taken out of the world, but rather kept safe from the evil one and unified as one. He emphasized that this relational unity serves as a powerful evidence and argument for Christ to the watching world.
All over the country. The same thing keeps happening. A
Speak:church gets political and people start slipping out the back.
Speak:Some stop coming and some leave for have watched whole
Speak:congregations split over who you voted for. Daniel Breed, a
Speak:pastor in Appleton, Wisconsin, had every reason to expect the
Speak:same. His church has voters from both parties in the same rows at
Speak:a time when that combination tends to detonate. The truth was,
Speak:Daniel had a plan for the political divide in his church.
Speak:It sounded like the last thing that would work. We'll come back
Speak:to what Daniel did, but first,
Speak:welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm Bart Leger.
Speak:Years ago, a couple of members in our church kept pushing me to
Speak:promote a political party from the platform. They wanted an
Speak:agenda preached from up there. I told them, "No. I'm not willing
Speak:to put politics above the gospel and what Jesus called us to do.
Speak:Now, don't get me wrong. I don't shy away from what Scripture
Speak:teaches about our moral and our ethical responsibilities, and
Speak:I'll preach on the issues our hearts for the world faces when
Speak:the text calls for it. Holding both at the same time in tension
Speak:means somebody's usually unsatisfied with me. I made
Speak:peace with that a long time ago. A lot of Christians are uneasy
Speak:about what their church has become. The sermons reference
Speak:political figures more than they used to. The small group
Speak:conversations assumes everybody in the room votes the same way,
Speak:and our church has tended to be that way in the past. So, bite
Speak:your tongue, or find yourself staying home more Sundays than
Speak:you used to. Before we go further, I want you to hear this.
Speak:Once you start listening for politics, you'll probably hear
Speak:it in places where it isn't intended. A pastor preaches a
Speak:passage about marriage or money. They preach on a subject that
Speak:happens to be in the news, and now it sounds like a campaign
Speak:speech, even though it was in the Scripture text all Both
Speak:things are happening in churches right now and part of the work
Speak:is telling them apart. Jesus prayed about this situation the
Speak:night before He died, or at least I believe that it may
Speak:speak toward this. John 17: 14, "I have given them your word,
Speak:and the world hates them because they do not belong to the world,
Speak:just as I do not belong to the world." Think about where He is.
Speak:This is hours before the cross, and He's praying for the people
Speak:He's leaving behind in a world He knows is hostile to them.
Speak:Everything He asks for here, He asks knowing they'll be on their
Speak:own by morning. Then look at the phrase, "Do not belong to the
Speak:world." The Greek is about where a person comes from and whose he
Speak:is. He's describing their citizenship, and He puts Himself
Speak:in the same category. Now, here's the verse I want you to
Speak:grab onto, the one right after it. Jesus says, "I'm not asking
Speak:you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe
Speak:from the evil He had the option. declined it on purpose. He could
Speak:have asked the Father to pull them out of a compromised
Speak:environment, and He declined it on purpose. What He asked for
Speak:was protection inside the political, social, and economic
Speak:milieu. So, if your plan has been to drift out the back.
Speak:Jesus already prayed against that plan. He asked for you to
Speak:be kept. Then read on to verse 17, where He asked the Father to
Speak:make them holy by His truth. The thing that keeps a believer
Speak:clean is the Word of God. And that's paramount, regardless of
Speak:the political temperature in the building. And stay with the
Speak:prayer to verse 21, because this is where it gets pointed. that
Speak:they would all be one, so that the world would believe that the
Speak:Father sent Him. The unity is the evidence. It's part of the
Speak:argument for Christ.
Speak:So, two things to do, and both of them are harder than leaving.
Speak:Pray for your pastor by name this week, and keep doing it.
Speak:They're getting pulled by people on both sides, probably. And
Speak:most of what that costs them you may never see. Then, have a
Speak:direct conversation with the leader you trust. Keep it
Speak:between the you. Tell them what you've been noticing, and ask
Speak:what they think. You may learn something about what they've
Speak:been handling. And instead of avoiding the subject, Daniel
Speak:started a class on it. Members share a meal together and then
Speak:talk openly about faith and politics, and about how people
Speak:who vote differently can still belong to the same church. He
Speak:wanted them to hear the gospel more clearly than the voices
Speak:telling them, "An election is the end of the world". Here's
Speak:what happened. In a stretch when churches everywhere were losing
Speak:people over politics, Daniel could say this: "Not one person
Speak:had his church over these issues, at least at the time when he
Speak:said this. People who voted opposite ways were still passing
Speak:the same communion plate. He got there without picking a side. By
Speak:keeping the Savior they share bigger than the politics they
Speak:don't." Daniel gave his own explanation for why it worked.
Speak:He credited the capital his congregation had already meaning
Speak:the years of ordinary life together that people hold
Speak:different opinions and stay. The class worked because the ground
Speak:was already prepared. That's the part most of us skip past. You
Speak:don't build that in an election year. You build it by being
Speak:someone's friend for a decade. Here's today's challenge. Pick
Speak:one person at your church who you're fairly sure votes the
Speak:other way, and do something ordinary with them this week.
Speak:Coffee or a phone call to ask about their grandkids. Chiefs of
Speak:all 10 years later. Then pray this over your church in your
Speak:own words that they would be one the way Jesus asked for it. And
Speak:remember where you're from. Your identity is in Christ before
Speak:it's in any country. And God is a long way bigger than whatever
Speak:is happening this month. Father, on Jesus' last night, he prayed
Speak:that we would be kept, and that we would be one. Thank you that
Speak:you didn't ask to take us out of a difficult world. For everybody
Speak:listening who's uneasy about where their church has become,
Speak:give them the courage for one direct conversation and the
Speak:grace to stay. Keep our love for bigger than our opinions about
Speak:anything else. In Jesus' name, amen. If you need prayer today,
Speak:I'd love to hear from you. You can leave me a voicemail at
Speak:dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/voicemail . I listen to every single one,
Speak:and it would be an honor to bring your name before the Lord.
Speak:Thanks for joining me on daily devotions for busy lives.
Speak:Remember, Jesus could have asked to take his people out of the
Speak:world, and he asked for something else. Pray for your
Speak:pastor and stay in the room. Come back next for more
Speak:encouragement to help you live grounded in God's truth. Until
Speak:then, God bless, and have a great day.
