Isn’t political engagement a distraction from the real mission of the Church?
Question 3 in Faith Seeking Freedom: Updated & Expanded
This question is from Faith Seeking Freedom: Updated & Expanded, launching June 2026 in paperback, PDF, and Kindle. Subscribe to this Substack so you don’t miss updates, previews, and the launch announcement.
When a person gives their life to Jesus Christ, they are also giving their allegiance to a new king. Today this often does not amount to defying the current political regimes, but it does mean a new way of thinking, practicing, and evangelizing. Instead of allegiance to mammon, we preach allegiance to God. Instead of pursuit of pleasure for its own sake, we seek to enjoy all things to the glory of God. We honor the one true king when we promote the good news that Jesus is the messiah and through him we can have eternal life (which, by definition, begins before death).
To repent and believe the good news entails far more than what happens to us personally. It is not simply for us to have a private religious experience. Jesus inaugurated a Kingdom over which his rule would be established through what would become his followers: the body of Christ, or the Church. Kingdom people are his royal subjects, working to bring the whole creation to bear witness to the good news that Jesus is Lord, and Caesar is not.
To be engaged in spreading the gospel is to announce the arrival of God’s Kingdom, followed by an invitation to repent and participate in this Kingdom. Participation happens in a variety of ways, some of which look more “political” than others. But every one of our efforts are political in the sense that we are engaging the world around us in ways that bring about more flourishing, even if these efforts are not directly engaged in electoral politics.