What can and should a responsible, kingdom-minded citizen do in the political realm? This has been a recurring thought for me over the past several months.
Before 2016, I had a certain apathy toward politics. I voted when my ballot showed up but I saw the overt involvement of certain Christians during the election season as misattributed and over concentrated.
I grew up with the the color red being the proper party to vote for and that was equated with what it meant to be a Christian or at least how to vote your values. Once you voted then your duty was done and you could go on with life. Granted, none of these things were explicitly said but it was the tea I was steeped in and I have recently realized that I did not like the flavor.
"Surely, there are Jesus-loving Christians that align themselves with ideals and platforms of the blue", I thought. Certainly, I am called to do more than fill in a bubble and call my love of city and the people around me as completed for two years.
At the same time I have found our involvement as too narrow in scope and overemphasized in direction. I threw myself into reading and research on how our system works and pondering what was an appropriate and worthwhile level of engagement.
I am arriving at multiple conclusions.
1. There are values and stances in each party that should be attractive to a kingdom-minded Christian. No party has the monopoly on the label "Christian party".
2. Stopping engagement at the ballot is too soon. As kingdom ambassadors we are called to proclaim, reveal and spread the values of the kingdom wherever we are. A failure to do that is a failure to act as ambassadors for our king.
3. Engaging in politics, or public service, in at least the local level for the good of people, the bringing of grace, and the protection of the disenfranchised is a good and noble endeavor. Much of what we do as Christians, loving our cities, engaging with neighbors, leveraging resources for the good of children, the broken, and the hurting, are hand in hand with the values of good local government. Where our ends are the same as local involvement, let us walk together.
What does this practically mean? For my own life I am coming to a few conclusions.
I already want to meet my neighbors; I should attend my local neighborhood association and meet all the neighbors that love my neighborhood. I care about the lives of orphans and babies; I can be engaged in supporting child care systems in my county. I care for the safety of my neighbors so they can have a place to raise their children and be comfortable with our kids playing in the neighborhood; I can join the safety adivisory board to help toward that end.
If there is opportunity and resources to bring grace and goodness to the people around you as an ambassador of Christ I see it as a lapse in responsibility to not utilizes them to love people.
For those that may mishear me, I am not advocating a role or engagement in politics as a replacement for the Great Comission or discipleship. I, rather, see it as a companion of discipleship fueled by the same anticipation of the Kingdom initiated by the Gospel.