“I have long been struck by how little anxiety there is in Scripture over government and politics,” said Bishop Keith Cowart as the Board of Bishops joined Brett Heintzman for a “Light + Life Podcast” conversation about navigating turbulent political times as a people centered on God’s kingdom.
“We have to remember that the New Testament in particular was written at a time where those who were writing it were living under an oppressive empire that was morally bankrupt in so many ways, being persecuted in ways that most of us in America can’t imagine, and yet there’s so little written about politics other than simply to say: Pray. Pray for the leaders. Pray that they’ll leave us alone. Pray that we can live in peace,” Cowart said. “I think our obsession with political power and political dynamics is really off base.”
Bishop Kaye Kolde echoed that sentiment as she described people seemingly replacing trust in God with a quest for power.
“We seem to be filled with panic and strategies, as Bishop Keith said, to take power from one group and to make sure it’s held by a different group whom we believe is correct in their ideologies. It’s not demonstrating trust in the Lord. It’s not demonstrating where hope truly lies,” she said. “We have an election every four years, and I feel that every four years in recent history, there’s almost a sense of hysteria where we really return to a place of panic. Instead, we need to remember and witness that we know where our hope lies, and He’s trustworthy.”
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“I believe it’s a call to the church to really pray.” – Bishop Kenny Martin
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Discerning + Repenting
Kolde noted, “We have to be careful to not misappropriate or misapply Scripture in these days.” Instead of trying to use the Bible to justify our political preferences, “a Christian can approach this election by spending the most time in the Word of God and in prayer, so that we can be discerning and being really wary of listening to all these voices.”
She added that the podcast was planned long before the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. She called “the very sad and tragic events” days earlier in Butler, Pennsylvania, a “symptom of greater unhealth in the country that, for me, is a source of grief but also a place where I know the church has something to offer that will be a part of healing around us.”
Bishop Kenny Martin said the bishops had already discussed the need for a call to prayer and repentance before the violent day that claimed the life of a rally spectator and injured Trump and two others before the gunman was shot by law enforcement.
“Joel 2 was already on my heart” Martin said. “This kind of magnified when we saw the violence and the taking of life, or the attempt to take Donald Trump’s life, and so there’s been a weight on my heart of that for the church to come together in prayer as we talk about unity in the midst of this political climate. … I think each church should gather — whether it’s a Tuesday or a Saturday — but I believe it’s a call to the church to really pray.”
Martin specifically referenced Joel 2:12–14, “‘Even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.’ Rend your heart and not your garments. … Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing.”
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“Our entire Chrisian life is a life in tension … a tension between the already and the not yet.” – Bishop Kaye Kolde
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Together in Truth + Tension
Martin acknowledged the overwhelming nature of division along political (and sometimes racial) lines.
“We are called to be the bridge builders and cross the bridge together, and many have already laid their lives down,” Martin said. “The body has to come together, and the world needs to see. That’s the Scripture: one Lord, one faith, one baptism. When we come together, the world will see.”
Crossing bridges does not mean compromising truth.
“We are committed as Free Methodists and as kingdom people that we must speak truth in love, and that’s where we stand,” Martin said.
Cowart has emphasized the middle way as the correct approach in some situations, but he cautioned that “there are some things where the middle way is not the right way. In other words, there are some things where we ought to be 100% all in, and part of the wisdom of maturity is knowing where the middle way is the right way. … For example, there is no middle way when it comes to our love and devotion to Jesus Christ, no middle way when it comes to our devotion to the kingdom of God.”
Kolde said that we “can’t confuse the middle way for compromise.” She explained that the middle way reflects that “our entire Chrisian life is a life in tension … a tension between the already and the not yet.”
As a result, “some things are not problems to be solved, but tensions to be managed,” Kolde said. “To live in a world where humans still rely on political systems, which are inherently going to be broken by the sin of humanity because they’re human systems, we know that there’s always going to be a tension in how we both engage in those systems and put all of our hope in Jesus Christ.”
The bishops discussed the need to communicate our beliefs clearly and carefully while listening closely to understand others’ viewpoints. Sometimes certain words can trigger reactions that cause people to miss the overall message.
Cowart said that Christians “need to commit ourselves to conversation that is rooted in not just telling, but listening and asking really probing questions to try to understand.” He encouraged people “to constantly keep everything in light of the ultimate mission. Sometimes these conversations can really be distracting from the mission … to reach the lost and make disciples and to give witness to the kingdom of God.”
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“Prayer brings us into alignment with God’s heart and will.” – Bishop Keith Cowart
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Partnering in Prayer
During Martin’s time as a pastor, he united his congregation with other community churches to pray together, and he witnessed “a transformation when pastors come together in the community to pray.” As a bishop, he said he is personally “praying for our churches to come together in community, where pastors will come together, to gather, to pray.”
Cowart said that in “the few scriptures that really do speak of how we as Christians relate to government or to all political realities, prayer is the primary instruction. … Prayer brings us into alignment with God’s heart and will.”
Kolde prays for the Holy Spirit’s voice to be the loudest voice in people’s ears. She said that includes praying “that we would be honest and we would repent of how much time we spend listening to the voice of the world, how much time we spend on social media listening to what people have to say about politics and politicians, how much time we spend with news channels on, how much time we spend complaining compared to how much time we spend in prayer, both alone and corporately.”
Click here for the full conversation on “The Light + Life Podcast.”
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