Kingdom Allegiance in a World of Political Loyalties
Throughout the Bible, the people of God are identified as exiles on the Earth. This imagery reminds Christians that our allegiance is not to an earthly kingdom, but to a kingdom not of this world.
This is the idea that informed our Exiles conference breakout session, Kingdom Allegiance in a World of Political Loyalties. As part of the session, three pastors – Stephanie O’Brien (Mill City Church); Rick Henderson (Autumn Ridge Church); and Andrew Peterson (Park Community Church) – offered observations about how politics is affecting the Church, and how Christians can develop a kingdom mindset to engage society.
Through the discussion, three main takeaways emerged.
Too many Christians are overemphasizing their political identities.
Each of the pastors have seen different levels of political polarization within their congregations. But each has concerns about how Christians have been spiritually formed to order their identity. Many Christians “can rattle off their political ideology more quickly than they can the Sermon on the Mount,” O’Brien noted.
This is not a new challenge for the Church. Acts 1:6 shows that, even immediately after the resurrection, some of the disciples still expected Jesus to overthrow Rome and establish a political kingdom on Earth. The goal for leaders today is to help the Church develop a new sort of kingdom imagination. Little kingdoms that offer the ability to coerce are seductive, but Christians are called to a different Kingdom.
Our unity and our allegiance must be found in Christ
A prevailing thought in today’s political reality is that participation in politics requires giving allegiance to a party. This need for partisan alignment contributes to the idea that we cannot be unified because of our disagreements.
The Bible tells us this is not the case. Scripture tells us that we can expect to disagree with fellow believers. “Our unity,” Henderson observed, “is not based on agreement; it’s based on our inclusion in Christ.” Our goal, then, to develop a theology of disagreement which recognizes that unity as a body comes only through giving our allegiance solely to Jesus.
Christians need to be intentionally formed inside and outside of church
With the level of noise coming from sources throughout society, it can be hard to recognize where and how we are being formed. The goal for Christians is to turn down the noise and pursue intentional formation in every aspect of our lives.
This process needs to begin with the Bible. Peterson noted that the Bible speaks to our current political reality. Pastors need to both preach on this from the Bible and model their teaching in their lives.
Church leaders can also help by knowing their people and what they need. This can be done by listening and remaining curious while maintaining a non-anxious presence with church members. Henderson identified the need to help Christians understand not only what they “should” do, but to understand who they are becoming.
