How Parents Can Model Faithful Political Participation for Their Kids
The transformational power of the ancient rabbinical system—the one Jesus and His disciples knew so well—was its immersive approach to formation. The teacher-student relationship (Rabbi-Talmid) was framed by a simple concept: rabbinical students grow into maturity through relational immersion in their rabbi’s life. That meant that a Talmid who was fortunate enough to “yoke himself” to a rabbi would leave his family, his home, and the family business to live in the rabbi’s home. Yes, the young man’s education included study, but the core impact came through relational immersion. Young students were “infected” by their teacher’s value system, priorities, practices, and passions.
Today we know that parents function much like the rabbis in ancient Israel. Their immersive impact is well-known and well-studied—they are the primary faith-formers in their kids’ lives. And their impact is “caught” through a kind of core-value infection. When we live out our authentic passion for Jesus in our everyday life, ordering our ways because of the way He has “relationally infected” us, our kids catch what is most true about us. Our values, priorities, practices, and passions seep into their souls. And that means parents have a profound opportunity to model what it looks like to participate politically, as a Christ-follower, as we approach one of the most consequential elections of the last century…
Last week, at one of Denver Seminary’s half-day “Compelling and Credible Witness” seminars, the modeling impact of parents in their kids’ lives carried new weight as I listened to Justin Giboney’s presentation. Giboney is an attorney, political strategist, and ordained minister in Atlanta. He’s also the Co-Founder and President of the AND Campaign—a coalition of urban Christians on mission to engage the sociopolitical arena with the compassion and conviction of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He’s the co-author of Compassion (&) Conviction – The AND Campaign’s Guide to Faithful Civic Engagement.
When Giboney asked Christians what they remembered about the last election cycle, they pointed to the challenges they faced in discerning the truth, dealing with out-of-control people, and the pain of losing friends and family members because of political division. “It’s obvious,” Giboney said, “that we need a change in spiritual disposition.” He went on to spotlight 10 “disciplines” Christians can follow to move through an election cycle faithfully. When parents model these practices for their kids, they infect them with a Jesus-centered way of navigating the stormy oceans of political engagement…
- See people, not political abstractions. The Core Value is “Human Dignity”—biblically grounded in James 3:9-10. And the condensed truth is that “someone’s vote can never tell us the whole story about them.”
- Be aware of the flaws on your side. The Core Value is Self-Examination—biblically grounded in Psalm 139:23-24. It means, says Giboney, that we have the courage to admit “my side is also broken… Christians can never allow themselves to be indoctrinated—which is uncritically accepting of party lines.” Our challenge, he says, is to list 10 things our political tribe gets wrong.
- Identify the virtue on the other side. The Core Values are Charity and Common Grace—biblically grounded in Acts 17:26-27. Can we, Giboney asks, “admit the one thing out of 99 that the other side gets right?” He adds: “Don’t be like the Pharisee who says, ‘Thank God I’m not like that tax collector.’” Can we name 10 things that the other side gets right?
- Public grace and courtesy. The Core Values are Self-Control and Kindness—biblically grounded in Matthew 5:46-8. “We have to persuade people to come to our side,” says Givoney, not harangue them into it.”
- Exercise media hygiene. The Core Values are Wisdom and Understanding—biblically grounded in James 1:19. In our culture we are struggling to discern what we truly know. And the way we form our opinions feeds into the truth of our opinions. Givoney says, “We need to hear the best arguments on the other side—from trusted sources.”
- Having an affirmative posture. The Core Values are Fruitfulness and Light—biblically grounded in Micah 6:8. “We can’t just fight against something bad,” says Giboney, “we need to replace it with something good. Christians cannot be primarily motivated by fear—don’t fall for it.”
- Discern partisan talking points. The Core Value is Discernment—biblically grounded in Proverbs 14:15. Giboney says, “We don’t listen to the cheerleaders to determine which team is really the best.”
- Pray for our political opponents. The Core Value is Praying for Our Enemies—biblically grounded in Matthew 5:43-44. This practice is at the core of our Jesus-centered “sacrifice of love.”
- Get involved. The Core Values are Self-Sacrifice, Love, and Stewardship—biblically grounded in James 1:22. “We need a local response,” says Giboney, “not a national response. We can have a bigger impact on our local community than whoever wins the presidency.”
- Commit to move forward constructively. The Core Value is Perseverance—biblically grounded in 1 Corinthians 15:58. Giboney says, “The election is significant, but not ultimate.”
By the way, in 2025 we’ll be introducing a whole new set of ministry “experiments” to the cohort of churches in our Fourth-Soil Parenting Project—all of them designed to help parents learn everyday ways to “accompany” their kids as faith-nurturing influencers, helping them fuel an everyday relationship with God as they face the complex challenges of the new millennium. You can read more about what we’re doing with the Fourth-Soil Parenting Project HERE.
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Help Is On the Way!
Fall is on our doorstep, and we innovative, practical resources that will help you infuse your ministry environment with “rich soil” for transformation. Releasing TODAY is our newest resource—The Sacred Stories Project. This multi-media resource offers your people a simple, safe, and “normal” way to share aspects of their story in natural, genuine ways. And you get a more connected, honest, and “known” congregation. It’s four guided sessions with accompanying video segments from Adam Young, trauma counselor and host of the podcast The Place We Find Ourselves.
And check out our new resource Listening to Jesus Together. It’s a set of six carefully crafted “listening encounters” designed for three people to experience together—online or in-person. The goal is to give people in your congregation a weekly “reminder habit” to help them listen to Jesus in the context of a short-term small-community experience.
Next, Following Jesus is a curriculum resource you can use with both adults and teenagers in your church this fall—help them explore what an ABIDING/REMAINING relationship with Jesus is like. It’s an experiential, highly interactive, co-discovery way to invite people into deeper intimacy with Jesus.
And The Life of Jesus TalkCards is a simple, devotional way to invite small groups into the heart of Jesus.
Meanwhile, check out our current Fall MasterClass! Join me as I lead a new two-session MasterClass called The Ministry of Presence: Unlocking Purpose In Your People—Wednesdays, Sept. 25 & Oct. 2. If you missed Session 1 and would still like to register, you’ll get the video recording of the first session with your registration. We know from current research into the state of U.S. congregations that many, many people sitting in our sanctuaries are lonely, sometimes dangerously lonely. They are unseen, even in communities of faith that have a mission to connect people in nurturing, faith-forming relationships. So, if we want to create an ecosystem of deeper connections, we’ll need to lean in to the Ministry of Presence—the Jesus-centered art and skill of pursuing people in a way that “unlocks” them. I’ll draw from decades of experience practicing the Ministry of Presence in groups of teenagers and adults, along with the “best practices” of others who are training leaders to seed environments of thriving connection. Register HERE.
Rick Lawrence is Executive Director of Vibrant Faith—he created the new curriculum Following Jesus. He’s editor of the Jesus-Centered Bible and author of 40 books, including his new release Editing Jesus: Confronting the Distorted Faith of the American Church, The Suicide Solution, The Jesus-Centered Life and Jesus-Centered Daily. He hosts the podcast Paying Ridiculous Attention to Jesus.
The Sacred Stories Project, a multi-media resource, includes individual guides for a Leader Session and three Participant Sessions—all designed to seed the start of a storytelling culture in your church. The simple goal is to invite members of your congregation into a simple, progressive way to tell the stories of their life. This process has the power to transform your community and open your people to new depth in their relationship with God. Learn More Here
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