The After Party Study

This 6-week study is open to all adult's on Wednesday Nights!

A move toward better Christian politics: the move from our current obsession with the “what” of politics to a Jesus-centered “how” of politics. The “what” of politics asks, “What policy, party, or candidate is most Christian?” The “how” of politics asks, “How do I relate to others — including those I might disagree with — so that I better reflect Jesus?”

Let me be clear: Christians should care about the “what” of politics. But in most cases, you cannot draw a clear and uncontested line from Jesus to a particular set of “whats.” Consider the Sermon on the Mount. You can try to connect Jesus’ words to a particular party’s policies on immigration, gun control, or aid to Ukraine; but your own chosen line is inevitably going to be fuzzy and contested. Other Christians — including perhaps some of your friends and family members — might draw them differently.

But all of us can and should draw a straight line from Jesus’ explicit teaching in the Sermon on the Mount to how you should relate to others around politics. That is, Jesus’ words on these themes are unambiguous. He explicitly commands his disciples to:
Show mercy (Matthew 5:7)
Make peace (5:9)
Refrain from angrily mocking your opponent (5:21–22)
Prioritize reconciling over winning disputes (5:23–25)

Stop for a moment and ask yourself, Does my experience of Christian political behavior today reflect these practices? 

Meet your instructors

Curtis Chang is the founding Executive Director of Redeeming Babel, host of the Good Faith podcast, and author of The Anxiety Opportunity: How Worry Is the Doorway to Your Best Self.

David French is a columnist at The New York Times and author of Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation.

Russell Moore is Editor-in-Chief of Christianity Today, the Director of its Public Theology Project, and author of Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America.