Books
Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion & Truth in the Immigration Debate
Generous Justice: How God's Grace Makes Us Just
Video Webinar from World Relief
Evangelical Immigration Table
Thinking Bibilically about Immigrants and Immigration Reform
Podcasts
Church Politics Podcast with Justin Giboney
Theology in the Raw Podcast with Preston Sprinkle
Castellow’s Ministry Update
Stephen and Amy Castellow are currently ministering to Syrian refugees in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Stephen came and spoke at our church a few years ago. Here are a couple of their recent updates of what God is doing in that community.
Hey LifeBridge, I don’t do this often but with the news of late I feel compelled to record a podcast regarding immigration and how we should think through this moment. As you likely know in the last couple of months ICE’s activity in detaining immigrants has greatly increased. Tragically two protesters were killed in Minneapolis in these operations. Also, I hope this will add some context to my comments on Sunday when I taught on the parable of the Good Samaritan.
First of all, why am I saying something on this topic and not others? I obviously can’t comment on every political and social issue. So I reserve these comments for the issues that are most influential for Christians at LifeBridge to live the way of Jesus. Essentially I’m concerned that a lot of people in our church are allowing their political perspective, not their biblical perspective to inform their position on this issue and recent events. I may be totally wrong about this and this podcast may be a total waste of time. Whenever I comment on political issues the most common thing I hear is a challenge to why I didn’t comment on something the left did that is against Christian values. The simple answer is because pretty much everyone in our church already agrees that it was wrong. In cases like this however, I’m concerned that folks in our church are either unsure of how to process through what is happening or attempting to justify the evil that is being done.
The polling block that most closely aligns with our church is white evangelicals. Polls suggest that 80-85% of white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump in the last presidential election. So it’s reasonable to assume that most people at LifeBridge voted for Trump. When we vote for someone we are tempted to then justify everything they do as a way of justifying ourselves and our vote. If we didn’t vote for someone then we are tempted to demonize them and everything they do to prove ourselves right. So if I were to comment on things that Biden did that don’t align with the way of Jesus most people listening to me already agree. It would be like making a podcast to point out that the sky is blue. I’m not saying anything of value for your discipleship. In fact, I would make the case that it would be worse for discipleship because it would further the animosity many have towards their political enemies—those whom Jesus calls us to love.
Furthermore, the Right is claiming to be the party for Christians. This is really restricted to white Evangelicals because black Evangelicals tend to vote in roughly the same percent for the Left. I’m sure the Left makes moral arguments for their positions as the more “Christian positions” but I don’t hear the same sentiment as often coming from the Left—the sentiment that one cannot be a Christian and vote for the other party. This leaves us more vulnerable to political idolatry.
So I will make more comments when the Right doesn’t align with the way of Jesus than the Left, because we, in our church, are more tempted to miss the way of Jesus when it is coming from the Right. So, I know it’s frustrating because it only sounds like I’m criticizing “your side” and not affirming “your side”. I get it. I likely agree with a lot of your political opinions that I’m not commenting on because it just isn’t helpful for our discipleship to Jesus. That’s what we are after here—closer alignment to the way of Jesus.
So I’m seeking to help us think clearly about these issues from a biblical lens, not just a political lens. These two obviously crossover one another so it’s simply not enough to just say that pastors shouldn’t be political. Lot’s of political issues deal with moral issues. The political issue of abortion is a prime example of this.
My aim is to help the folks at LifeBridge Church think about these key situations with clarity, consistency and biblical fidelity. If you don’t attend LifeBridge and you are listening to this I hope this is helpful for your devotion to Jesus but know that this is primarily for those who consider LifeBridge their home church. We want to make it our aim to best represent Jesus and the way of Jesus. We believe that his way is better. So we are prioritizing the way of Jesus over and against the ways of either political party.