Church Politics

An awareness of the political scene brought on suddenly by the impending presidential election has got my gears turning.  As a preacher, and simply as a Christian, I am aware of the moral status of the United States (and the world in general).  I am aware of the fact that bills are entertained and passed that conflict with, or at least display a sort of active indifference towards, God’s laws.  I am aware that many “Christian,” “conservative” groups, including churches and church leaders, make it their aim to uphold God’s laws and subvert these bills by attempting to influence the voting public, or by attempting to influence the elected officials. 

However (bet you knew that was coming), I wonder if a lot of time and resources are spent trying to influence in the wrong ways.

Simply Evangelize

I want to refer you to an excellent article on Dwight Whitsett’s site about why we are not fulfilling the Great Commission. You can read it here.

I also want to make a few observations about how we can start fulfilling the Great Commission now. Before I do, I think some explanation is necessary. It may be that when you read these suggestions you might think that they are too simplistic. You might argue that the problem is more complicated than I am giving it credit for. You might focus on the fact that God expects us to go into all the world, and think that the suggestions I give can only scratch the surface of the problem. And, you might be right. But that is no reason for us to sit back and wait for the perfect plan to come along, all the while failing to do the simple things that make an eternal impact.

The point is, you don’t have to be an expert to evangelize. You don’t have to have the “gift of evangelism” to evangelize. There might be wonderful programs just waiting to be discovered, but there are also things you can do right now, every day, to help fulfill the Great Commission. There might be complicated strategies that address all the needs of all of the people while giving them every spiritual answer they want, but you have talents and abilities to address some of the needs of some of the people while giving them some of the spiritual answers they want…and all of the spiritual answers that they need.

I am simply encouraging you to simply evangelize in the simple activities of everyday life. Here’s what you can do:

Just an Amateur

I don’t think I could cut it as a journalist. I don’t have the commanding presence, the go-get-em mentality, or the hair. But I especially couldn’t cut it as a journalist because I don’t know how to conduct an interview. The following is an example of a professionally conducted interview of a well-known sports coach: