Devin Strong

Spirit of Peace Lutheran

Being a pastor of a congregation is tricky these days. Today, people are more passionately divided about a variety of social issues than at any other point in my ministry. Of course, these issues include abortion/the rights of women, immigration, LGBTQ+ folks, and much more. One problem for us clergy is that if you are talking with three Christians, you are likely to have three different and strong opinions on these topics, so it is hard for a pastor to say anything without offending someone!

But another challenge is that it is not faithful to stay quiet, either. As people of faith, ordained or not, we cannot just pretend that the world outside our church walls does not exist.

Jesus was political. He spoke up for widows, Samaritans, sick and disabled people. He even welcomed a despised tax collector into his inner circle. Our Lord taught us that how we live and the choices that we make matters deeply. What he was not, was partisan. Our Lord did not strut around Galilee wearing a pro-Roman or an anti-Roman t-shirt. It’s a tough line to walk.

Since 1954, the IRS, of all people, has helped us believers with this balance. The Johnson Amendment in the federal tax code makes it illegal for 501c3 organizations, including churches, to endorse political candidates or parties. Under this amendment, churches can: hold voter registration drives and candidate forums. Churches can even advocate for issues, under certain circumstances. What we can’t say, or even imply, is that “Lutherans should vote for _________.“ This has been an important and healthy boundary for all Christians. However, in a recent filing in a case in Texas, the IRS may be signaling that it is considering loosening political speech restrictions on 501c3 organizations.

Historically, the argument has been that since churches don’t pay property taxes, they should stay out of the political fray, and while employees of churches pay all the same taxes as everybody else, I firmly believe that all religious organizations should stay far away from endorsing individual candidates or parties. Our society is already deeply divided along political lines. Can you imagine if we put our congregations out there as “Republican churches” or “Democrat churches”?

As a pastor, I want to be intentionally welcoming of people of all political stripes because I hope the church can still be one place in our culture where we truly love one another despite our differences. In America today, who you vote for may be your most defining characteristic, but as Christians, we are convinced that that your identity as a baptized Child of God is a much bigger deal. That is ultimately the point. Jesus is bigger than all our politics. The Lord of Life is not a Democrat, a Republican, or an Independent because each of their plans and proposals are too small for the radical grace and discipleship to which our God calls us.

As individual believers, you and I must do our best to apply the teachings of Jesus to countless messy and particular situations in the world that we live in, but as church organizations, I hope that we continue to stay far away from partisan endorsements. We have enough to do trying to live the Gospel!