4 reasons I’m not endorsing a candidate from the pulpit

Last updated on: October 27, 2016 at 9:16 am by Brad Roth

4 reasons I’m not endorsing a candidate from the pulpit 2016-10-25T17:36:46-05:00 Brad Roth

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I’m not endorsing a candidate from the pulpit this year. In fact, I never have. Here’s why:

By the time it hits the pulpit, I’m too late. We need to be in the practice of forming people in Christian virtue and character. If they haven’t caught on to virtue and character over the years of sermons, Sunday School, prayer, and long chats over coffee, they’re not going to get it from the pulpit. People are mightily wrapped up in their cultures–the good and the bad. Consumerism and nationalism and sports-ism have slunk into lives and faith. Politics is the least of our worries.
I want to be the pastor of everyone in my congregation. I hope our relationship lasts longer than this presidential cycle. People have complex reasons for voting the way they do, and I want to continue to be part of their lives–and continue the conversation with them.
I’m more concerned with the larger issues of allegiance than I am with any one vote. Our allegiance is to Christ. Period. There’s a risk of idolatry in the political process no matter who you vote for, and endorsing a particular candidate obscures the larger issue of nationalism that threatens our allegiance to Christ.
There isn’t a right answer. Endorsing a candidate from the pulpit gives the impression that the party binary has put forward a candidate who will uniformly do God’s will. But alas, neither Jesus nor one of the apostles is on the ballot. There is no perfect candidate–though some are certainly better than others.

My little congregation isn’t going to swing Kansas in either direction.

I’d rather focus on swinging my congregation toward the Kingdom.

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