Endorsements - A Misunderstanding of the Call to Preach

With just one day before the presidential election I've heard several anecdotal stories of pastors endorsing specific candidates. When the do so they often site their own personal freedom as Americans or their freedom as pastors to preach what they want from the pulpit. Sometimes they talk about their responsibility to their congregation.

Most of the above is just bunk to find a way to try to tell your congregation that they should vote the way you'd like them to. Why is it bunk?

1. Our freedom as Americans - Christians are to be Christians first and Americans second. And, Pastors are to answer to their call first and to the freedoms second. The call to preach is a call to interpret the scriptures for God's people. It isn't and avenue for us to push our own opinions or use our pastoral power to campaign for a candidate.

2. Pulpit Freedom - This one is a real misnomer. Pastors are not free in the pulpit. We aren't free to preach our own opinions. We aren't free to use the pulpit as a soap box for subject matter outside of the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. When a Christian pastor stands in the pulpit she or he has a sacred responsibility to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else.

3. I have a responsibility to my congregation to tell them what is right - Now how paternalistic is that? Congregations of Christians are thinking people who also have the Holy Spirit. Pastors are not the spiritual nanny for the congregation. Again, it is the gospel we are called to preach. We aren't their to interpret partisan politics, explain the economy, or tell them how or what to think. We are there to "rightly divide the word of truth."

Does this mean that I and other pastors shouldn't have political opinions? No indeed! I have my own opinions and have already voted my conscience in early Iowa voting. What it does mean is that I don't have the right to act as if my opinions are the same as God's opinions, my church's opinions, or my parishioners opinions. I only have the right to speak for God where God speaks. And, even then, pastors must do so with humility recognizing the fallible nature of our understanding of the will of the Almighty.

Churches Choosing to Violate the Law for Partisan Politics

Today some pastors of churches are participating in a movement to violate federal law by endorsing a candidate from the pulpit. They believe that their right to preach as they feel led is being infringed upon. However, what they are choosing to do violates both the separation of church and state and their duty as a pastor to represent their whole congregation.

When a pastor stands in the pulpit she or he is represented God and their congregation. It is their responsibility not to put personal opinions out from the pulpit, to act as if they know the mind of God were the mind of God has not been revealed, or to misrepresent that the members of their church ought to vote for a certain candidate to be a good Christian.

According to Americans United for Separation of Church and State, all non-profit organizations have to follow these same rules of not endorsing candidates. This does not mean a pastor cannot state opinions about legislation, moral issues facing our nation, or other areas of politics. It does mean that the pastor is prohibited from engaging in partisan politics.

"The only thing houses of worship may not do is endorse or oppose candidates for public office or use their resources in partisan campaigns. This restriction, which is found in federal tax law, is not limited to churches and other religious ministries. In fact, it is applied to every non-profit organization in the country that holds a tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Contrary to the claims of many in the Religious Right, the IRS is not singling out houses of worship for special regulation. Thousands of educational, scientific, charitable and literary organizations hold the 501(c)(3) status, and all must abide by the legal requirement barring involvement in elections." from AU Website at http://projectfairplay.org/brochure/.

The pastors who choose to endorse a candidate today are irresponsibly risking the loss of their church's tax exempt status. But, far worse they are allowing their own personal politics to take precedence over their call as a pastor to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Local Church Autonomy

If you were to draw a diagram of ABC structure you would find an upside down pyramid in which the churches are at the top, the regions are beneath them, and the ABC is at the bottom.

The ABC is a congregational denomination in which each local church runs its own affairs, elects its own officers, chooses its own pastors, and decides how its mission dollars will be spent. The ABC/USA is actually not a denomination in the same sense that the United Methodists or the Roman Catholics are. We are really a federation of Baptist bodies who come together for missions.

The upside of the system is that each church can follow God as we are led. The downside for some is that it does not create a cohesive system where we all agree on doctrinal issues. American Baptists accept the Bible as our sole authority but, no other document, body, organization, or entity has final authority over a Baptist church.

This mean we are in a body of believers where we have to respect differences and cannot tell another American Baptists church or how to do its ministry.

Local church autonomy allows for exciting ministry as long as you don't have feel like we have to walk in lock step to walk side by side.

I Had Hoped We Were Past This

I guess I should have known better. The ABC of the Pacific Southwest split off from the ABC as "Transformation Ministries." The word I heard from persons in that region was that it was their intention to go do their own thing. They disagreed with the direction of the ABC and wanted to move in a different direction.

Before the split and during the split Dennis McFadden spent a lot of time on his blog "His Barking Dog" blasting the ABC, our direction, our views of local church autonomy and freedom, and our refusal to disfellowship churches and individuals with dissenting views from the majority.

At one point Mr. McFadden seemed to express a desire to tone down the rhetoric and promised to quit talking about the ABC. And, given that he an his colleagues are no longer American Baptists (even though Mr. McFadden still receives salary as an employee of an ABC affiliated institution) you would think that he could move on, and let Transformation Ministries do its own thing and the ABC continue to move in the direction of openness to dissent that has characterized our denomination. But, so much for staying out of it.

Just this week McFadden decided to post another slam article aimed at the ABC and our dedicated General Secretary Dr. A. Roy Medley (with a photo of Roy that he might as well have drawn a bulls eye on). He gleefully posted information about Dr. Medley's visit to one of Welcoming and Affirming congregations. This congregation is a church in good standing in the ABC. And, while many disagree with its views, this church gives to the ABC, participates in the ABC, and certainly has as much right to host the ABC General Secretary as any other ABC church who is in good standing with the denomination. But facts like that don't matter to Mr. McFadden. Dr. Medley, I am sure, also visits many more congregations with views in opposite directions from this church, but McFadden didn't post any articles about those visits.

McFadden uses this smear piece for a self congratulatory pat on the back in the continued hope of justifying the split of PSW (TM) from the ABC. Sad indeed. But, why now? Are some TM related churches realizing that leaving behind their family wasn't all it was cracked up to be? Is McFadden hoping to bolster his cause and does that mean it isn't going that well? Or, does Mr. McFadden just get his kicks attacking his former family?

He asked if it was necessary for PSW to leave the ABC and struggles to prove that it was. The truth is that further dividing the Christian and the American Baptist family was neither necessary nor desirable. McFadden fantasizes that the ABC leadership wanted to get rid of them even though the ABC President, the General Secretary, and others did all they could to try to hold the family together.

No Dennis, no one tried to get rid of PSW; the ABC didn't want the split; many of us bent over backwards to try to keep PSW in the fold. The division was never really about the Welcoming and Affirming Churches or homosexuality. Most American Baptists hold the same majority view that PSW does on the issue of W&A. No, the division was over a non-Baptistic polity which PSW wanted us to adopt which would require us to push out dissenting churches of one kind now, and open a can of worms for disfellowshipping any other dissenters later, anytime that group wasn't in the majority, until no ABC church would be safe from the long arm of a denomination which can kick you out for being Baptists.

That's right, a denomination founded by dissenters from the Church of England whose first church in America was founded by a dissenter who was kicked out of Massachusetts to found the Rhode Island Colony, and whose pastors were even often imprisoned for their dissent, was being asked to kick out churches who were dissenting from the majority view.

The ABC refused to veer off its historic course to become a narrow sectarian denomination and preserved its historic polity of local church autonomy, priesthood of believers, and soul competency.

Someday I hope Mr. McFadden can find a better reason for blogging than being anti-ABC.

Freedom makes a difference!

I'm one of those few Americans that still loves to watch the political conventions.

American Baptists, as a racially diverse, ethnically inclusive denomination that affirms men and women in ministry has been a part of the civil rights movement, both through Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and many other American Baptist leaders.

Whomever you are voting for in this election, it should be recognized that it is significant that we have finally reached a place where an African-American has an opportunity possibly be the next President of the United States. For the first time a woman candidate for President came very close to receiving the nomination for President.

As a nation we have come a long way in civil rights for all Americans. We have a long way to go but, we have made progress. And, I believe that American Baptists are one of the groups that has made a contribution to that freedom!

How were we able to be a part of that? Because of our belief that the Bible teaches us to be a free people serving God and that God loves all people equally no matter who they are.

At times Baptist freedom is very frustrating as we see people abuse their freedom, use their freedom to preach hate or intolerance, or use their freedom to try to take away the God given freedom of others.

We have a long way to go but, we have come a long way!

FreeBaptist.org now redirected here!

I have now redirected FreeBaptist.org to point to this blog so, either update your bookmark to freebaptist.org or freebaptist.blogspot.com!

Sub Jacobi Conditione

From the FBC Des Moines/Johnston August Newsletter.

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13 Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.' 14 Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.' 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. James 4:13-16

James reminds us that as much as we make plans, as much as we work to get ready for the future, and as much as we think we are in control we have no real control over the future!

You are receiving this newsletter very late this month because a lightening storm decided to play a trick on us a couple of weeks ago. In a flash we lost our phones, Barb's computer, and our internet. You do not realize how dependent a modern office is until you can't answer the phone, can't type a letter, and can't send or receive email! For more than a week this reminded all of us in the FBC office that while we think we know what is going to happen tomorrow everything is a "mist" and can just as easily vanish.

James reminded his readers in James 4 that to think that we are control of the future is a form of arrogance. Only God truly knows what will happen tomorrow. So, this calls us to be humble in all of our planning for the future. We should always seek to take account of God's will. We should always declare "If the Lord wishes" rather than "I will do..." How easy it is for us human beings who think we are so powerful to be humbled by a simple lightening storm, a tornado, or a flood. Some Christian writers have been known to end their manuscripts with the Latin phrase "Sub Jacobi Conditione" which means "under the condition of James" referring to James 4 as a reminder never to take for granted that it is God calling the shots!

These little (and large) mishaps of life remind us that we need to trust even more in God through Jesus Christ who holds the future in His hands!

In Christ's Service,


Timothy Bonney
Sub Jacobi Conditione