When Your Church Has Gotten Political and You Feel Out of Place

All over the country. The same thing keeps happening. A

church gets political and people start slipping out the back.

Some stop coming and some leave for have watched whole

congregations split over who you voted for. Daniel Breed, a

pastor in Appleton, Wisconsin, had every reason to expect the

same. His church has voters from both parties in the same rows at

a time when that combination tends to detonate. The truth was,

Daniel had a plan for the political divide in his church.

It sounded like the last thing that would work. We'll come back

to what Daniel did, but first,

welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm Bart Leger.

Years ago, a couple of members in our church kept pushing me to

promote a political party from the platform. They wanted an

agenda preached from up there. I told them, "No. I'm not willing

to put politics above the gospel and what Jesus called us to do.

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't shy away from what Scripture

teaches about our moral and our ethical responsibilities, and

I'll preach on the issues our hearts for the world faces when

the text calls for it. Holding both at the same time in tension

means somebody's usually unsatisfied with me. I made

peace with that a long time ago. A lot of Christians are uneasy

about what their church has become. The sermons reference

political figures more than they used to. The small group

conversations assumes everybody in the room votes the same way,

and our church has tended to be that way in the past. So, bite

your tongue, or find yourself staying home more Sundays than

you used to. Before we go further, I want you to hear this.

Once you start listening for politics, you'll probably hear

it in places where it isn't intended. A pastor preaches a

passage about marriage or money. They preach on a subject that

happens to be in the news, and now it sounds like a campaign

speech, even though it was in the Scripture text all Both

things are happening in churches right now and part of the work

is telling them apart. Jesus prayed about this situation the

night before He died, or at least I believe that it may

speak toward this. John 17: 14, "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." Think about where He is.

This is hours before the cross, and He's praying for the people

He's leaving behind in a world He knows is hostile to them.

Everything He asks for here, He asks knowing they'll be on their

own by morning. Then look at the phrase, "Do not belong to the

world." The Greek is about where a person comes from and whose he

is. He's describing their citizenship, and He puts Himself

in the same category. Now, here's the verse I want you to

grab 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 He had the option. declined it on purpose. He could

have asked the Father to pull them out of a compromised

environment, and He declined it on purpose. What He asked for

was protection inside the political, social, and economic

milieu. So, if your plan has been to drift out the back.

Jesus already prayed against that plan. He asked for you to

be kept. Then read on to verse 17, where He asked the Father to

make them holy by His truth. The thing that keeps a believer

clean is the Word of God. And that's paramount, regardless of

the political temperature in the building. And stay with the

prayer to verse 21, because this is where it gets pointed. that

they would all be one, so that the world would believe that the

Father sent Him. The unity is the evidence. It's part of the

argument for Christ.

So, two things to do, and both of them are harder than leaving.

Pray for your pastor by name this week, and keep doing it.

They're getting pulled by people on both sides, probably. And

most of what that costs them you may never see. Then, have a

direct conversation with the leader you trust. Keep it

between the you. Tell them what you've been noticing, and ask

what they think. You may learn something about what they've

been handling. And instead of avoiding the subject, Daniel

started a class on it. Members share a meal together and then

talk openly about faith and politics, and about how people

who vote differently can still belong to the same church. He

wanted them to hear the gospel more clearly than the voices

telling them, "An election is the end of the world". Here's

what happened. In a stretch when churches everywhere were losing

people over politics, Daniel could say this: "Not one person

had his church over these issues, at least at the time when he

said this. People who voted opposite ways were still passing

the same communion plate. He got there without picking a side. By

keeping the Savior they share bigger than the politics they

don't." Daniel gave his own explanation for why it worked.

He credited the capital his congregation had already meaning

the years of ordinary life together that people hold

different opinions and stay. The class worked because the ground

was already prepared. That's the part most of us skip past. You

don't build that in an election year. You build it by being

someone's friend for a decade. Here's today's challenge. Pick

one person at your church who you're fairly sure votes the

other way, and do something ordinary with them this week.

Coffee or a phone call to ask about their grandkids. Chiefs of

all 10 years later. Then pray this over your church in your

own words that they would be one the way Jesus asked for it. And

remember where you're from. Your identity is in Christ before

it's in any country. And God is a long way bigger than whatever

is happening this month. Father, on Jesus' last night, he prayed

that we would be kept, and that we would be one. Thank you that

you didn't ask to take us out of a difficult world. For everybody

listening who's uneasy about where their church has become,

give them the courage for one direct conversation and the

grace to stay. Keep our love for bigger than our opinions about

anything else. In Jesus' name, amen. If you need prayer today,

I'd love to hear from you. You can leave me a voicemail at

dailydevotionsforbusylives.com/voicemail . I listen to every single one,

and it would be an honor to bring your name before the Lord.

Thanks for joining me on daily devotions for busy lives.

Remember, Jesus could have asked to take his people out of the

world, and he asked for something else. Pray for your

pastor and stay in the room. Come back next for more

encouragement to help you live grounded in God's truth. Until

then, God bless, and have a great day.