New thoughts on local politics

If you haven't guessed, I, like many in the faith circles I run in, believe that American Evangelicalism has been co-opted by political conservatism and has seriously gotten off track in its calling to follow Jesus. On the other hand, I, and many in my faith circles, are concerned that we not repeat the mistake, by simply switching parties. I believe that followers of Christ are called to a greater allegiance to Him than to any political party or even national boundary. Still, the Bible does not refrain from discourse on the responsibilities of government and I see no benefit in repeating the behaviors of previous generations of Christians that viewed politics as dirty and taught that Christians had no business being involved. As a friend said to me recently, "In politics, there are players and there are victims." If you remove yourself from the process you will become a victim of those who have not.

Coupled with these ideas, I have struggled with the issue of Christian unity. At Doxology, we take pleasure in the fact that in our gatherings both liberals and conservatives can come together and worship despite their political differences. How then do we make a unified call to action in the political arena? Yesterday, in a conversation that I was privileged to participate in between two evangelical Christian leaders and one of my professors, a possible answer began to arise in my own thinking.

This professor, whom I greatly admire, challenged my evangelical friends with the question, "When was the last time your churches announced that there would be a city council meeting on Thursday and the issue of affordable housing will be on the agenda?" LOCAL POLITICS. Certainly, I am aware of the importance of local politics. Often the decisions of local city councils have a much more immediate and significant impact on the lives of citizens than the decisions at the state or national levels, but citizen participation in local governments is appallingly low.

Further, local politics generally do not share the partisan nature of state and national politics. As Christian church leader, I know that my church can come together in unity on issues of local social justice, even as they disagree about appropriate solutions at a state or national level. Let's face it, local problems are more discrete and concrete. Do we build a electric transfer station in the Mueller development? Do we grant a permit for Foundation Communities to build an affordable housing complex across the street from the church? I'm not saying that these questions are simple and without debate, but they are certainly easier to wrap your head around than questions about immigration reform or Medicaid eligibility requirements. The answers are also less clearly defined in terms of "Democrat" or "Republican."

Am I saying that Christians should not be involved in state or national political issues? No. I am saying, though, that we might at least pay some attention to the issues of injustice in our own backyards. Whether or not everyone believes in global warming, those who believe in the Bible should agree that that the poor neighborhoods should not have to house ALL of the landfills and water treatment facilities, that mold in schools is bad no matter which side of the city they are on, and that city pools should be opened and maintained on the same schedule no matter which neighborhood they are in.

In fact, I suspect that if Christians turned their attention to cleaning up our cities and caring for the disenfranchised within them, many issues that consume so much of the national debate could be minimized or eliminated. With this in mind, if you live in Austin, plan to attend "In the City, For the City" at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, on November 15. The two evangelical leaders that I mentioned are part of the group hosting this event and it will be worth your time.