Resources on Politics

Every year, (and especially every four years), we’re faced with the daunting task of voting for those who will shape policies and legislation that will impact us and our neighbors. So how do we as followers of Jesus exercising Spirit-filled wisdom navigate this topic faithfully? Below we’ve provided a series of sermons, articles, and books to better equip you to think through this.

Watch/Listen

SERMONS

“Christians and Politics” from the Exiles sermon series

“Following Jesus in a Polarizing Political Climate” from the Greetings from 2020 sermon series

podcasts

Midweek Podcast | “The Age of Anxiety (Part 1)”

Videos

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READ

ARTICLES

“How Do Christians Fit Into a Two-Party System? They Don’t” by Tim Keller in The New York Times
“The historical Christian positions on social issues don’t match up with contemporary political alignments.”

“Bad Reasons to Vote for Someone and Good Questions to Ask” by Midtown Fellowship
“Biblically, I can’t even tell you as a Christian that you absolutely should or should not vote. But I can tell you the good news of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection give us a new perspective and a new identity.”

“America is in the Grips of a Fundamentalist Revival” by David French in The Dispatch
“I wasn’t sure I’d ever live to see a truly large-scale religious awakening. But here we are. Here it is. There’s just one catch. It’s not Christian. It is, however, quite fundamentalist.”

“I’m Not Hateful, You Are!” by David French in The Dispatch 
“Do the first verses of Matthew 7 describe a reality that isn’t just personal but also cultural and political? Can a nation suffer the consequences of mass-scale intolerance? I think yes. I think we’re living it right now.”

“Jesus is Not Your American Patriot” The Gospel Coalition
“‘God and country’ is a popular sentiment. Despite the fact that America was reputedly built on Judeo-Christian values, this seemingly honorable motto is problematic.”

“Patriotism and Christianity” in Christianity Today 
“What is the difference between patriotism and nationalism?”

“Our Exile Heritage” by Midtown Fellowship
“Like the Christians Peter wrote to in Asia Minor, we are now called to pick up the mantle of living as exiles for the benefit of the world around us by seeing and knowing and glorifying Jesus.”

“Parenting and Patriotism” - by Midtown Fellowship
“Should we be leading the charge in celebrating this nation? Or should we lead the charge in mourning the many sins of our nation? And how should we talk to our kids about it?”

“The Freedom of Fear” by Midtown Fellowship
“Fear of God means politics and politicians aren’t ultimate. So if my candidate loses or the worst candidate ever wins, I can remain confident that God will hold the universe together.”

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Books

Onward: Engaging the Culture Without Losing the Gospel by Russell Moore
“As the culture changes all around us, it is no longer possible to pretend that we are a Moral Majority. That may be bad news for America, but it can be good news for the church.”

Compassion (&) Conviction: The AND Campaign’s Guide to Faithful Civic Engagement by Justin Giboney, Michael Wear and Chris Butler
“Too often, political questions are framed in impossible ways for the faithful Christian: we're forced to choose between social justice and biblical values…  As a result, it's easy for Christians to grow disillusioned with civic engagement or fall back into tribal extremes… When we understand our civic engagement as a way to obey Christ's call to love our neighbor, we see that it is possible to engage the political process with both love and truth―compassion and conviction.”

Thou Shalt Not be a Jerk: A Christian’s Guide to Engaging Politics by Eugene Cho“When we stay in the Scriptures, pray for wisdom, and advocate for the vulnerable, our love for politics, ideology, philosophy, or even theology, stop superseding our love for God and neighbor.”

Parenting & Patriotism

Parents, the 4th of July is right around the corner. Hopefully, you have plans to grill out and shoot fireworks with friends and family. However, have you considered how we as Christians should think about the 4th of July, as well as patriotism in general? For example, should we be leading the charge in celebrating this nation that we grew up hearing was founded on biblical principles? Or should we lead the charge in mourning the many sins of our nation? And how should we talk to our kids about it? Hopefully, these few simple ideas will help.

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1. Remember that our citizenship is in heaven and our identity is in christ

Above all else, we should remind our children that the truest and most essential thing about us as Christians is that we are God’s. It’s not the grades we get in school, the color of our skin or the country we live in. As Christians, we have more in common with believers from other nations than we do with our unbelieving fellow Americans. The Bible says that our citizenship is in heaven. (Philippians 3:20) We are on this earth for just a little while before we spend eternity with Jesus and even while we are here, our allegiance is to Jesus and His kingdom above all else.

“The truest and most essential thing about us as Christians is that we are God’s.”

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2. Celebrate the Good

As parents, we should help our kids remember all the good that we have by living in America and be grateful for it! We are free to meet openly with our church family on Sundays and throughout the week. We are not in danger of physical persecution for being a Christian. As well, most of us have access to food, drink, education and healthcare and we can be grateful for that! 

By celebrating and thanking God for the good things that we have in America, we are not saying that we are better than other nations. There is a good emphasis these days that ultimately has its roots in Scripture of celebrating other cultures and seeking diversity in every sphere of life. In fact, the Bible says that when we worship God in heaven, we will be doing so with people from every nation! (Revelation 7:9)

At the same time we’re thanking God for all of the blessings we have, we can pray for those who don’t have the same blessings.

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3. Mourn the bad

It’s good for our children to know that neither America nor any other nation is perfect, because every nation is made up of imperfect people. We need God to intervene to end racism, religiosity, greed and selfishness which run rampant in America. We should mourn this and teach our children biblical values, not American ones.

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4. Pray and work for the good of our nation. (Jeremiah 29:7)

Finally, as citizens of heaven, we should pray for the good of our nation, the leaders of our nation and the people in our nation. We should also find every opportunity to work for the good of our nation and neighbors.* So enjoy your hotdogs, hamburgers and fireworks, and find a second to talk to your kids about how we as Christians should view this holiday and this nation.

*For ideas of what you can do regarding racial justice, click here.

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Additional Resources:

• Exiles: A Study of 1 Peter, sermon series by Midtown Fellowship

• Jesus is Not Your American Patriot, article by Ameen Hudson

• Patriotism and Christianity, article by Ryan Hamm

• Onward, book by Russell Moore

Resources on Race

As followers of Jesus - who hold firmly to this gospel and look forward to the day when Christ returns putting to death all pain, injustice, oppression and even death itself - we stand up for righteousness, truth, justice and love - because those things are definitive of life in the Kingdom of Heaven.

So, justice and reconciliation - especially regarding race - have been in the collective consciousness of our churches for the past several years.

We believe it’s timely to put those resources, conversations, and teachings back to the forefront of our minds and invite us once again to be a force for change.

In the list of resources, we’ve also included links to organizations and opportunities for you to take further steps to stand up for justice and love. We’d ask that you’d prayerfully consider giving your voice, energy, and resources to these opportunities.

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Recommended Resources:

• Prayer Sign-Up

Join us each Wednesday morning as we pray together as a church family.

Midtown Resources: 

• Precious in His Sight

A collection of Midtown sermons and a supplemental book dedicated to racial injustice and reconciliation in the church. 

• #Ferguson, Race and the Gospel

A conversation hosted by our Downtown and Two Notch churches shortly after the events of Ferguson, MO. 

• An Honest Conversation about Race in America

A sermon from our Lexington church on race relations in America and how the church responds.

•  Breaking Down Walls

A teaching given by our Two Notch church’s pastor, Ant Frederick, at an Outreach North America conference. 

Additional Resources:

**Inclusion on this list does not necessarily equate to an endorsement of everything they say, but we believe the following media is helpful and important when discussing race in America.

• Things White People (and anyone else) Can Do For Racial Justice

Actionable steps white people (and anyone else) can take.

• The AND Campaign for Biblical Values and Social Justice

Campaign for thoughtfully biblical civic, political and social Christian engagement. 

• The Witness

The Witness is a black Christian collective that engages issues of religion, race, justice, and culture from a biblical perspective. 

• Be The Bridge

  A Christian organization empowering people toward racial healing, equity and reconciliation.

Podcasts: 

• Truth’s Table

• Pass the Mic - A Witness Podcast

• The Church Politics Podcast

Things White People (and anyone else) Can Do For Racial Justice

As followers of Jesus - who hold firmly to this gospel and look forward to the day when Christ returns putting to death all pain, injustice, oppression and even death itself - we stand up for righteousness, truth, justice and love - because those things are definitive of life in the Kingdom of Heaven.

So, justice and reconciliation - especially regarding race - have been in the collective consciousness of our churches for the past several years.

We believe it’s timely to put resources, conversations, and teachings back to the forefront of our minds and invite us once again to be a force for change.

In the list of resources, we’ve also included links to organizations and opportunities for you to take further steps to stand up for justice and love. We’d ask that you’d prayerfully consider giving your voice, energy, and resources to these opportunities.

**Some items on this list were adapted from the article 75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice by Corinne Shutack

Read, Watch and Listen:

**Inclusion on this list does not necessarily equate to an endorsement of everything the authors say, but we believe the following books and media are helpful and important when discussing race in America. Consider starting a book club with your LifeGroup and/or invite in people you are building with.

• Read Be the Bridge by Latasha Morrison.

• Read The Color of Compromise by Jamar Tisby

• Read The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. 

• Read Caught by Marie Gottschalk. 

• Read Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. 

• Read A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn.

• Read The Next Evangelicalism by Soong-Chan Rah

• Read Ta-Nehisi Coates’ article, The Case for Reparations. 

• Watch these videos to hear first hand accounts of what our black brothers and sisters live. Then read everyday people’s experiences through the hashtag #realizediwasblack. Share with others.

• Watch movies that portray the realities of America’s history Roots, 12 Years a Slave, and Selma are great films to begin..

• Check out black movies, TV, and other media that show persons of color as lead characters and in their full humanity. 

• Watch “13th” - a documentary on the American criminal justice system and mass incarceration of African Americans.

• Watch “The House I Live In” - a documentary on the American criminal justice system. 

In sum, diversify your bookshelf and your watch/listen lists to include authors, speakers, stories and story-tellers of color. 

Give, Buy, Share:

• Donate to groups dedicated to ending racial injustice and uplifting minority communities. A few we are particularly fond of are: The And Campaign, The Witness, The Witness Foundation, and Be The Bridge.

• Support black businesses. Find them on WeBuyBlack, The Black Wallet, and Official Black Wall Street.

• Don’t buy from companies that use prison labor. Find a good list here.
  

Advocate, Vote, Volunteer:

• Engage in local elections, especially those involved in the criminal justice system, and advocate for legislative criminal justice reform. We tend to focus our attention on federal elections, but local and state elections (e.g., solicitors, sheriffs, town and county council) are very important as well.

• Research your local police department. Do they currently outfit all on-duty police officers with a body-worn camera and require that the body-worn camera be turned on immediately when officers respond to a police call? If they don’t, write to your city or town government representative and police chief to advocate for it.

• Multiply your voice by soliciting others to advocate as well, writing on social media about it, writing op-eds, etc.

• Sign and share The And Campaign’s 2020 Presidential Statement.

• If you are an educator, buy books that feature people of color as protagonists and heroes. A few good lists are here, here, here, here, and here. And/or purchase educational toys that feature people of color, such as finger puppets, Black History Flashcards, etc for their classroom. Use these items year-round, not just in February. 

• Work on ensuring that black educators are hired where black children are being taught. Listen to this episode of Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast to understand why this is important and the difference it makes. 

• Work with your HR department to recruit African Americans. Recruiting from HBCUs is a good start.

• Learn about criminal justice disparities and advocate for policy changes to address them by contacting your state representatives. For example, read up about mandatory minimum sentences and watch videos about this on Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM’s) website. Call or write to your state legislators and governor about reducing mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug crimes.

• Research your local prosecutors. In South Carolina, our prosecutors are called solicitors. Solicitors have a lot of power in their decisions about which crimes to charge a person with, when to schedule cases (yes, solicitors schedule cases in SC not judges), and what sentence to recommend.

• Find out how slavery, the Civil War, and the Jim Crow era are being taught in your local school. Advocate that history is taught correctly and certain parts are not skipped over or barely mentioned. Advocate that many voices be used in the study of history. Often these decisions are made by the local school board or set by the state Department of Education. Find out who makes the decisions and reach out to them. For example, when talking about slavery, is your school showing images such as Gordon’s scourged back, a slave ship hold, and an enslaved nurse holding her young master? Are non-white explorers, scientists, politicians discussed? Are non-white male and female authors on reading lists? Are Japanese internment camps being discussed? There are a lot of great resources out there with a little googling, like PBS’s resources for teaching slavery, this People of Color Online Classroom blog, Teaching for Change, and The National Association for Multicultural Education.

• Get to know your local police department. Call and ask to meet the officers who work in the region you live in or set up a time for them to come meet you and your neighbors. Most departments have programs in place to set up these kinds of events.
  

Relationships, Parenting, and Etc:

• Listen without ego and defensiveness to people of color. Truly listen. Don’t scroll past articles written by people of color — Read them.

• Buy and read God’s Very Good Idea by Trillia Newbell with your children. Consider buying to give to others as a gift, too!

• Provide and read books that feature persons of color as protagonists and heroes. The previous lists here, here, here, here, and here may be a helpful place to start.

• Seek out a diverse group of friends for your kids.

• Seek out a diverse group of friends for you. Practice real friendship and intimacy by listening when people of color talk about their experiences and their perspectives. They’re speaking about their pain.

• Don’t be silent about that racist joke.

• If there are black children/teens in your life, contribute to their college savings plans.

• Be honest about your history - both American history and your own.

• If you have a close relationship with a young person of color, make sure he/she knows how much you love them. Love and affirm that child.

• Talk to the white people you know who aren’t clearly upset by white supremacy. Use “I” statements and “I care” messages (“I feel [feeling] when you [behavior]”). They need to know you see a problem. Call them out, and call them in.