Can we make a distinction between engaging our culture and engaging in politics? I think we can, and I also think we can make a distinction between what pastors do as church leaders, what the church does as the church and what individual Christians do as American citizens.

“But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” – Jeremiah 29:7, ESV

“Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious . . . ” – Acts 17:22, ESV

Can we make a distinction between engaging our culture and engaging in politics? I think we can, and I also think we can make a distinction between what pastors do as church leaders, what the church does as the church and what individual Christians do as American citizens.

In Acts 17, Paul engaged the culture of Athens on Mars Hill, confronting and correcting error, acknowledging and affirming truth and using culture as a platform for proclaiming the Gospel. Nowhere in Acts do we see any of the Apostles engaged in politics.

The church and her pastors have a Biblical responsibility to proclaim truth to the nations, which often means taking a prophetic stance and speaking out against cultural evils – abortion, pornography, human trafficking, same-sex marriage, racial discrimination, injustice and oppression.

This task is not easy, for three main reasons:

1. We all have our personal preferences and blind-spots, which can make our prophetic voice shaped more by personal agenda than by Biblical truth.
2. We all run the risk of the fear of man, being intimidated into silence by the risk of rejection. We may use nicer terms to justify or cover the real issue here, but it almost always comes down to a desire for acceptance and a fear of rejection.
3. The Bible gives us clear principles on moral and cultural issues, but the application of these truths to our particular cultural context is tricky and not often done well. (See #1)

Still, it may help if we consider some of the differences between engaging our culture and engaging in politics:

1. Politics is driven by the pursuit of power, power needed to effect change through elections and legislation. Engaging the culture is driven by love for our neighbors and a concern for the well-being of the land of our exile and pilgrimage. (Jer. 29:7)

2. Politics is held together by party loyalty, by building consensus and coalitions around key issues and priorities, where no complete agreement is possible. Cultural engagement must held together by loyalty to the Lord Jesus and by unity in the Holy Spirit.

3. Politicians say what needs to be said to get elected, engaging in message spin and voter manipulation in order to achieve a desired outcome. Cultural engagement must speak the truth in love but cannot compromise, adulterate or modify God’s truth for the acceptance of an audience.

4. Politics identifies and vilifies the opposition as “the enemy,” often engaging in slanderous accusations and deliberate distortion in the pursuit of power. Cultural engagement obeys Jesus’ command to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us and also remembers Paul’s admonition that we wrestle not against flesh and blood. (Eph. 6:12)

Individual Christians should vote and may be led to run for elected office. In doing so, they may engage in a level of politics, hopefully in a way that pleases God.

We are all commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves and that means we must care about our culture and our community. True love does not merely give the ones we love whatever they want, but rather prayerfully seeks the true good of the beloved. We need to be motivated by love and we need to be committed to speaking the truth. It’s not ever going to be easy and we can’t measure our success by our acceptance but, on our knees in prayer, we measure success by our faithfulness to God.

May the Lord give His church a strong and clear prophetic voice in our generation, to speak the truth in love for the good of the land of our exile!

Jason A. Van Bemmel is a Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian Church in America. This article appeared on his blog Ponderings of a Pilgrim Pastor and is used with permission.