The Church and Political Power

In our election year I admit I have my concerns for the future of our nation. What role should the church play in the political process? I don’t mind the conversations about politics or the conversations about the church. I do mind conversations about both the church and politics. In reading through John Piper’s, The Pleasures of God, I was struck by a quote that he uses from Patrick Johnstone’s book, The Church is Bigger than you think. Johnstone gives a summary of the role of the Church saying:

The church deprived of political power is free from the burden of trying to use human power to dominate and influence the world… Our reference point is not territorial or church growth aggrandizement, but building a kingdom that is not of this world, yet which will fill the earth as a contrasting society. (Johnstone, the Church is bigger than you think, pg. 263)

That is a very clarifying statement. A church that is free from political burdens is indeed free, and I would add faithful, to do the work of her calling which is to make disciples of all the nations (Matt 28:18-20).