Not in It to Win It: Why Choosing Sides Sidelines The Church

by Andy Stanley

When the Jesus movement was fueled and informed by his new-covenant command, it was neither pathetic nor weak. It was unprecedented. It was unstoppable. It was notable and noticeable. It was, well, it was pretty much everything we collectively have ceased to be. It was what we must become once again. Doing so will not require political alignment or a new political movement. It will require something far more demanding. It will require us to step back onto the original foundation of our faith. It will require us to embrace the new-covenant ethic Jesus introduced and illustrated. It will require us to love one another. Not in our hearts. It will require us to love one another on both sides of the political aisle with our words and with our deeds, with our social media posts, our responses, our resources, and our sermons. It will require us to stop sizing people up and writing them off because of their political views. To do anything less is to declare through our actions that we are greater than our Master. We’ve protested and boycotted. We’ve posted and tweeted. We’ve called people out. We’ve called people names. We’ve stereotyped. Shamed. Blamed. We’ve taken sides. We’ve politicized our churches.