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Creating a theologically diverse Evangelical community in midst of political polarization and tribalism

Creating a theologically diverse Evangelical community in midst of political polarization and tribalism

Last updated on: November 9, 2016 at 10:52 pm by Guest Contributor

Creating a theologically diverse Evangelical community in midst of political polarization and tribalism 2016-11-09T22:52:18-04:00 Guest Contributor

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Editor’s Note: This is the first in a 3-part series on creating a theologically diverse community.

Andy Hale

Andy Hale, a CBF Church Starter, oversees CBF’s Church Starts Initiative.

Breaking News: We live in an extremely polarizing climate.

Unless you just woke up from a nearly 18-month coma and missed the entire presidential race, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. (My apologies to those who did just wake up from an 18-month coma.)

But it’s not just politics, Americans are divided on almost everything these days, from social policy to police brutality against certain ethnicities, from foreign policy to economic solutions, and from who should make it into the NCAA College Football Playoffs to the credibility of the Walking Dead show runners for not keeping the show honest by killing off major characters.

We can’t seem to agree on anything.

I’m trying to remember a day when people could disagree about economics, politics or faith, yet they could still enjoy a conversation and go on their merry ways without a denouncement of each other’s character.

If it doesn’t fit into our particular ideologies, then frankly we don’t want to see or hear it. So we unfriend on Facebook, delete that person from our contact list and avoid her/him entirely.

Tribalism on the Rise

With the ever-increasing opinion divide on almost all issues, a surge of tribalism has arisen.

We all would identify ourselves as part of some tribe; you may not realize it that’s all. You may say, “War Eagle.” While I would say, “Roll Tide! Roll!” If only our dividedness went as far as blind collegiate affiliation…

Yet we gather in tribes over issues of race, sexuality, faith, party allegiance, ethical dilemma and an infinite list of other matters.

There is nothing inherently wrong with surrounding yourself with likeminded folk. However, tribalism comes with a host of downsides, such as feelings of superiority, faultlessness and self-righteousness. Let’s not forget isolation of your mind from the way others think, the quarantining of your eyes and ears from the stories of people different from you and the exclusion of those not up to your standards.

There is a great danger in seeing things from only your point of view, even if you are right…

Tribalism cannot be reasoned with. Instead of listening to different perspectives, a tribe will feel threatened and entrench itself deeper in it’s ideology. This is how the tribe believes it will feel safe, secure and certain.

Tribalism in the Church? No…..

Of course we know that the church is not guilty of tribalism…

Shall we take a brief glimpse into our history?

I’m sure those early Gentile believers might argue a different story. Ask the Barbaric tribes defeated by the sanctified Roman Empire how their mass baptism or death option went down. And we certainly won’t peak under the rug to see opinion on the 1525 Peasant Revolt, the fight against the abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage, or the white-hot racism and segregation in the South.

The church has from time to time created a proverbial line in the sand when it comes to social issues, ethical opinions, political endorsements, matters of sexuality and theological stances.

Is Tribalism What God Has in Mind for the Church?

Each time the line is drawn in the sand, our beloved stances create isolation, exclusion and fragmentation. Too often the church is forcing people to make a decision of right or wrong, black or white, to leave or to stay, to conform or to depart.

I thought we were supposed to be known by our love, humility, meekness and compassion?

Sure, there are plenty of theological disagreements within the Bible. Nearly 1/3 of the New Testament is the Apostle Paul addressing some sort of conflict, whether it be the circumcision of Gentile converts or the edibility of pagan-sacrificed meats.

Let us not lose sight of the fact that it is okay to disagree. When there is too much uniformity, one might wonder if there is any allowance for free thinking.

Yet one thing is certain, we do not see within the scriptures a call to the ordained fracturing of the church, self-righteous triumphalism or entrenchment propelled by bigotry and blind loyalty.

So is tribalism really what God has in mind for the church? Could it be that we have confused the mission of being “right” over the mission of being the presence of Jesus in a polarizing world?

Could it be that the church needs a fuller spectrum of theological perspectives, shaping the way that we see and interact with each other and the world?

Could it be that the church does not need to draw a more defined line in the sand, but to expand its landscape to hear and to share more diverse stories?

Even the Apostle Paul, in his theological letter of turmoil to the Galatians, calls this divided church community to love one another, saying, **“**If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”

Now it is a bit ironic that Paul calls the people to love and in the very next verse, Paul tells the agitators to go emasculate themselves…

So what does this look like? How do you create a more theologically diverse church community?

Andy Hale leads Church Starts Initiative of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Hale is a CBF church starter who serves pastor of Mosaic of Clayton in Clayton, N.C. For more information about CBF’s Church Starts Initiative, click here. Subscribe to the CBF Church Starts Conversation Podcast in iTunes.

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