Prophetic Politics: The Activity of the Authentic Church

“And they were deeply offended and refused to believe in him. Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his own family.””

Matthew 13:57 NLT

“It is important to remember that there has never been a conservative prophet.  Prophets were never made to conserve social order that stratified inequities of power, prestige, and wealth. Prophets were always called to change them so all would have the fullest access to the best fruits of life.”

— Obery M. Hendricks in The Universe Bends Towards Justice

There is unspoken debate within organized Christianity in regards to the Church's political activity that is shaped largely by self-labeled metaphors that originally were created to describe a reality, but interestingly, now serve to shape it. Christian leaders, like their secular peers use words like conservative, progressive, family valued,  right-wing, left-wing, etc.  All of these terms are political terms that are social constructs with a highly variable meanings.  Depending on who is using the description, any of these terms are tools for either solidarity or exclusion.  Rarely do they point to a clear, concise political reality, but are simply labels to ease our consciences and support our engagement or absence in the political arena of our choice.

Our desire to use these labels to describe our church communities, not only serves to be self-deceptive but also isolates the Church from the world it seeks to impact.  Christena Cleveland, in Disunity in Christ, her excellent analysis of Church dysfunction, states; “The simple act of using us/them distinctions leads us to prefer us over them.”  She boldly, and prophetically declares "“The blueprint of the household of God looks nothing like the blueprints of our own cultural and social cliques.”  We fail to understand how using these labels are simply tools for embrace and exclusion.

I take exception to the term "conservative" because it is the label most used by many evangelical Christians and in my experience, it is the label that has been used to legitimize all kinds of idolatry, cruelty, and behavior that is the antithesis of its name-sake.    Stripping away its meaning, conservative means to "conserve" or to preserve conditions and prevailing ideologies.  To those who have significant cultural and economic privileges, this is appealing.  Yet, to those who are burdened by inequity, injustice, prejudices, and lack of opportunity, it represents a real obstacle to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Pulitzer Prize winning author Eric Hoffer, in True Believers, clarifies this when he says "The well-adjusted make poor prophets".

Theologian Miroslav Volf describes authentic Christianity as a "Prophetic faith" (A Public Faith).  Prophetic in that its adherents have an encounter with God that leads to a personal transformation and a public reformation.  It is the transformative encounter that clarifies the divine mission in which followers of Jesus become agents of change for human good.  Imagine the Old Testament prophet who who has an encounter with God and then comes and proclaim the Word and will of God to change the world!  He distinguishes the prophetic faith from a mystical faith where the adherent encounters God and experiences transformation as an end to itself.  The purpose of a mystical faith is self-actualization and there is no obligation or mission towards the world.

While the Church is not conservative or progressive, it is to be prophetic.  Prophetic is not a label that describes a status, but a term that defines its mission.  This means the Church, should be an extension of Jesus Christ and should embody and proclaim His mission to sacrificially bless the world in a wholistic manner.  While operating in a prophetic mode, the church lives out its mission to demonstrate the Love of God through helping the marginalized, the misunderstood, and countering the malicious.  While practicing prophetic politics, we should lead in peacemaking and embrace the role of upholding the image of God in humanity in multitudes of ways.  Prophetic politics leverages its resources in order to be a blessing and refuses to be co-opted by any ideology or political movement.  The Church, operating in the prophetic role is not afraid to stand against every form of hate, discrimination, oppression and is courageous enough to start with itself.  Jim Wallis points out "“When the church refuses to face the stern reality of sin, it will have no credibility when it talks about its faith, forgiveness, and salvation”

So, let's get away from these political terms when it comes to the Church and understand that our role to bless our world is not only our mission, but it's our essence.  When we advocate, let us guard our words as we are advocating on behalf of the prince of peace.

I pray that the Church will have a deeper understanding of its calling and repent of not ministering out of the prophetic identity. I pray that it uses its profound resources to honor God and bless others.  I pray that the Church, most importantly, will be the Church.

God bless