Understanding a Christian Approach to Political Advocacy

Last month, Transform Minnesota continued our Beyond Voting webinar series by exploring a Christian approach to political advocacy. Michelle Ferrigno Warren, President of Virago Strategies and adjunct faculty at Denver Seminary, expanded on the themes of the first webinar by explaining how Christian public engagement needs to emphasize leveraging public resources for the good of others.

Warren began by defining advocacy as “moving from thinking about things in your mind and heart to using your mouth to speak up for yourself and others.” The important reminder for Christians is that they are called to care for more than their own interests. Instead, Christians are called to lean into love for God and neighbor to make sure that the goodness of the world is for everyone.

The first step into this work is not directly into engagement. Warren described how the cycle of advocacy begins with awareness and education. “You cannot repair problems you don’t understand,” Warren said, “and you will never understand them from a distance.” She encouraged participants to get proximate to the issue by building relationships and following the leadership of people who are close to the pain.

If the determination is made to engage an issue, Warren laid out a framework for beginning the process of advocacy. After discerning the problem and defining the debate, it is important to identify which level of government or other authorizing environment has the authority to address the problem. The next steps include building a group of constituents and developing and implementing a plan of persuasion to advocate for change.

Warren also discussed the need to build relationships with representatives. She encouraged participants to “know your people so they can know you” by inviting them to events in the community and contacting them when they do something you appreciate, not just when they do something you don’t. Warren concluded the webinar by responding to participant questions during a time of Q&A.

The Beyond Voting series will conclude April 22 with Part 3: How Spiritual Formation Informs Engagement as we focus not just on personal formation, but ways you can learn to disciple a congregation to lean into their spiritual formation rather than partisan political formation.