Here’s a headline from Christianity Today: A Year After the Election, Trump’s Effect on Evangelical Churches Lingers. The subtitle says: Political tensions in the pews have calmed, and another survey shows leaders’ Trump support yielded more positives than negatives for evangelicals. That’s all well and good for the feelings of the individuals from a political point of view. However, is it good for spreading the Word of God? You know, for fulfilling things like the Great Commission?
Trump’s Effect on Evangelical Churches Lingers. Good or Bad? is article #1 in the series: Evangelical Churches and Trump. Click button to view titles for entire series
Here’s another way to put that question, based on the image to the right (or below). It’s a question for the Evangelicals who see more positive than negatives from this “Trump effect”. When you look at that image, is your hope placed in Trump or in Jesus?
It’s an important question, for a variety of reasons. One of them comes from what we know of Jesus’ involvement with the Roman government. Or should I say, His lack of involvement?
Where was Jesus’ hope? Where is our hope? And where should we, as Christians, encourage others to put their hope? Or, since this article is in a Category titled Is your allegiance to God or country? – where should our allegiance be? To God? Or to our country / someone leading this country?
Where should Christians place our allegiance? Trump? Or Jesus?
So, as we go through some of what’s in the Christianity Today article, we’ll consider things from the viewpoints just expressed, rather than from what makes some people feel “warm and fuzzy” in our earthly lives. After all, the stated purpose for our lives as Christians isn’t to support the government. Nor is it to support any one person in the government. Or recently in the government.
Jesus Prays for All Believers
Jn 17:20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Jn 17:24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
Jn 17:25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
I included this passage as a message to pretty much everyone.
To Christians, Evangelical or otherwise, because we all need to be reminded once in a while that our promise on becoming Christian is to bring glory to God. Not to ourselves, not to anyone but God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
It’s a message for non-Christians as well, for the exact same reason! Yes, sometimes we do try to bring glory to ourselves. And in the process, we become inglorious to God! (I’m a bit surprised to find that inglorious is apparently a word, since it didn’t get flagged as a typo.) And that’s why, more and more, I include things for non-believers in what I write. It’s an attempt to show that, regardless of how we might fail to live up to Jesus’ commands to us, that non-Christians shouldn’t judge God by what we sometimes do. Rather, by how we’re supposed to live.
Trump’s Effect on Evangelical Churches Lingers
I was going to do just one article on this topic. However, after going through what Christianity Today wrote, I changed my mind. There’s far too much to cover. I would have done just one in the past. But I always wondered how many people I lose because it’s just too long and takes too much time to read. With our busy lives, it happens. So I’m trying to not do that anymore.
Another issue has to do with the variety of things CT included. Any given topic will be interesting to some people, but not everybody. And so, I’m going to break it up. A different article for each topic.
I’ll update this one as topics get added, with links as each one is published. If you’re interested, feel free to come back and check this page. Or, an easier choice is to subscribe to the site using the link at the top right of the page – bottom if you’re on a cell phone.
To give you an idea of what’s included, here’s the excerpt for the first topic.
Around half of Americans believe evangelical leaders’ support of Trump hurt the church’s credibility. One in four say evangelical support for Trump reduced their desire to participate in religion. And among evangelicals, 33 percent say their leaders’ support of Trump made personal witness to friends and family more difficult.
There are some really interesting things in those percentages. For instance, around half of Americans believe evangelical leaders’ support of Trump hurt the church’s credibility. Is the half who think it hurt mostly made up of non-Evangelicals, mostly non-Christians, or were there Evangelicals who realized that their allegiance to Trump hurt the church’s credibility?
There are some detailed numbers available for the results given in the Christianity Today article. I’ll go through them, see which ones are relevant, and then give the survey results and my own feelings about these issues – from a Christian, but not Evangelical viewpoint.
Conclusion – Trump’s Effect on Evangelical Churches Lingers. Good or Bad?
So here’s what’s (going to be) in this series.
- Impact of Evangelical Leaders’ Trump Support – The year after the 2020 election, respondents were asked what they thought about evangelicals’ and evangelical leaders’ embrace of President Trump.
- Church Engagement After 2020 Election – Most evangelicals said evangelical leaders’ support of Trump did not impact their involvement with church. But around a third said they were more engaged as a result.
- Most Evangelicals Proud of Efforts to Separate the Gospel from Trump – Respondents were asked whether they agree with the statement, “While not popular with some, I am proud that some in the evangelical community are seeking to separate the gospel message from Trump and toxic politics.”
- Evangelicals’ Assessment of How Their Leaders Addressed the 2020 Election – Self-identified evangelicals rated evangelical leaders and their own pastors on how they spoke about the last presidential election.
The 4 items above are the main topics. Some of them appear rather involved. As such, they may be divided into smaller segments. I’ll know that, and update the list accordingly, as I get to them.
By the way, in case you need a refresher, here’s when Jesus gave us the Great Commission.
The Great Commission
Mt 28:16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
So, what we’ll be looking at is the impact of the Trump effect on our ability, as Christians, to do things like teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. For instance, do people even want to listen to us, let alone actually learn what Jesus taught and then be willing to follow? Or will they be turned off to the message because of this Trump effect?
Hope to see you in the next installment where we begin to look at Impact of Evangelical Leaders’ Trump Support.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay