"The most political church in town..."

A few weeks ago I attended a pro-life breakfast with around six hundred fellow Northwest Ohio pro-life advocates. Most were expecting to hear Vivek Ramaswamy show his bonafides as an ally in the fight for life, but he excused himself from the event 24 hours before it began.

While there, I ran into a local pastor who introduced me to someone else as the “pastor of the most political church in town.” He went on to say, “I hear things are going well for you. You know, when you pick a lane like that, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.” It was hard to take what he meant as anything other than that our seven-fold growth in the last five years is simply a result of appealing to a political allegiance, as though we used being “political” as a growth strategy.

This is a sad but common misunderstanding.

The Need For ‘Political’ Pastors

Faithful pastors in our day must be political. However, they must not be political simply to grow–which is no guarantee–they must be “political” because it’s absolutely necessary in order to faithfully and biblically shepherd the church in our age. There is no way around it: preaching the Bible in a way that actually applies to the issues our congregants face means you will be political. And for some, if you are at all political, that means you are “too political.”

In the state of Colorado right now dozens of pastors are being given this label because they are standing against an egregious anti-parent bill proposed by the Democratically-controlled state government. (If you want to involve yourself in that fight, read this article here.) To stand against this, as the church, publicly, from the pulpit, is not to go beyond the pastoral remit and enter the world of politics. It is the only way to be faithful to Scripture in a situation like this. And the same is true for pastors who stand for the right to life, biblical sexuality, and freedom of speech and religion.

I, for one, will gladly own the moniker “most political pastor” if that means defending the unborn and preaching on Biblical sexuality.

Sadly far too many megachurch and megachurch-adjacent pastors, whether they be connected with the Andy Stanley-style attractional movement, TGC, Acts29, or many other organizations, are cowards. That’s not to say all of them. But far too many. And according to Revelation 21, cowardice is a damnable sin.

Causes Of Cowardice

I believe there are four causes of this widespread cowardice we see in our pulpits today. They are as follows:

Modeling

Most are convinced that the old third-way model–the idea that we can find a path in between the political left and the political right which appeases both sides–is still possible and effective in today’s world. To quote my friend Rosaria Butterfield, “Third Way-ism was wrong back then and it’s wrong today.” Many pastors will hold to officially orthodox stances on those issues to try and appease conservatives, but refuse to say anything about them to appease the liberals. This is simply not faithful. Yet sadly this was modelled by many of the names mentioned above. Despite the fact that many of the most prominent leaders of these movements bowed to the government during Covid, flew BLM flags to appease the mob, divided their congregations by vaccination status, or demanded their congregations confess their whiteness, far too many pastors still take their cues from them. It’s time to stop reading their blogs, buying their books, and attending their conferences.

Fear of man

Paul reminds us in Galatians that seeking to please man means you are not pleasing God. Of course we don’t need to unnecessarily offend people with crude behavior, arrogance or a lack of kindness. But there are times when that offence is absolutely necessary. And in an easily offended age, those times are increasing. We must remember that some mystical middle-ground where we can both remain faithful to God and not offend those who hate Him does not exist. Whether “the man” is the left-wing of your congregation, your increasingly woke child, your liberal peers whom you’d like to impress, or the mythical center-left person who would be open to the gospel if you phrased it ‘just right’ in a way that draws them to Christ without challenging their political sensibilities, it really doesn’t matter. Fear of man is a sin, regardless of who the man is.

They are actually just liberal, not cowards.

It took me a long time, and a good deal of personal experience, to realize that many of the individuals I thought were cowards were in fact just liberals. I assumed that they actually believed the things they espoused in their official statements of faith and taught in their church membership classes (but nowhere else). But as James says, you show me your faith by your works, and it has become increasingly clear that many of these leaders are in fact devotees of an extremely liberal form of ‘Christianity’. Sure, they use those official stances to appease the center-right conservatives who actually fund and build their churches, but their repeated actions and regular teaching shows where their true allegiance lies. Lines like “This isn’t a church issue” abound, allowing them to hide the fact that they actually just agree with unbiblical ideas.

Church concern.

Too many churches, having been silent on such issues for decades, have now allowed biblically-errant congregants into vital lay leadership positions, and many have surprisingly radical leftists on their staff teams. This puts them in a difficult position. For instance, back in 2023 Ohio faced an egregious proposed amendment that would have enshrined abortion into the state Constitution. While working to rally pastors to oppose this change, one pastor from a typical modern mega-church responded to our inquiry for help by saying, “If I talk about abortion from the stage, I’ll lose half my people.” Of course, this was in fact a great discipleship opportunity for the church, but the fact that it would have negatively impacted attendance, giving, serving and much more meant he steered clear.

A Cure For Cowardice

To those pastors who do in fact hold to Scripture on these issues, but who are struggling to find the gumption to stand for truth, let me remind you of a few things:

Fear God, not man (Galatians 1:10).

In the end, who cares what the world thinks of you? You have been called to preach the full counsel of the Word of God. Including, and perhaps especially, what is not popular or easy to say in today’s world.

*Care enough to tell people the truth (John 17:17 / John 8:32). *

Only the truth will set people free. When you refrain from preaching it, you hinder people’s ability to walk in freedom, condemning them to a life of slavery to sin because of their ignorance. How will they hear without a preacher?

You’ll be held accountable for your actions... and your inactions (James 3:1 / 4:16).

The task of setting people free through preaching the gospel, of stewarding the oracles of God, of wielding the sword of truth, is one of the most serious responsibilities one can have. Preachers are warriors in the battle of our age, and warriors are not permitted to lay down their arms. All who stand at the pulpit will be evaluated on what they did with this message. I remind you of Isaiah’s words, “Cry aloud, do not hold back!”

Contagious Courage

There are three major impacts that happen when pastors stand with courage:

First, it either lets the everyday believer in your congregation know that you care about the things that they are talking about at the dinner table, or it wakes those believers up who have not yet even recognized the times to think about such things. It strengthens the desperately needed spine of your people.

Second, it encourages elected officials in your church to boldly stand for Christ in the political arena. If you aren’t willing to stand, why should they? By preaching this way, you become an example to them of following Christ. Silence says that politics is unimportant and not worth fighting for, but if you stand in a way that costs you something in this area, they will see it and also take bold, difficult stances when needed.

Lastly, your refusal to be silent will challenge and inspire pastors around your town. None of us can win the battle alone. But we can start it alone. Start by standing up when there is no one else doing the same, and if you keep standing, you’ll soon find someone is standing next to you.

*At Clear Truth, we exist to serve Biblically-faithful believers and pastors in their stand for truth. If you are looking for a community, join the cause. *