Our political life and our spiritual life are not separate. We are formed and shaped by our political participation, and our spiritual formation—our corporate worship, our spiritual disciplines, the way we read Scripture—need to be strong enough to counter-form us. We point to the Kingdom with our whole lives, and our spiritual formation should address the inescapably political world we live in. Are we becoming the kind of people who can do faithful political work in our world?  

A friend of mine shared an article on social media with the caption: “Are they even reading the same Bible?” When it comes to Christian political engagement, many of us are basing our convictions on the same text and coming to very different conclusions. There are no easy answers, but there are better ways of reading and interpreting Scripture: recognizing our own assumptions and biases, reading the Bible with the historic and global church, and creating better principles for applying theological truth in our political world. 

What difference does Christ make in our political conversations? How can Christians of different political persuasions find common ground in order to seek the flourishing of their communities together? Is it even possible to talk about politics at church? I want to give you tools for starting (and finishing!) productive political conversations inside and outside of the church—conversations that lead to action. 

 When most of us think of “spiritual disciplines,” we think of solitary practices we do in order to become better people on the inside. Yet throughout the church’s history, spiritual disciplines have pushed Christians outwards—to love and serve our neighbors. When we are frustrated with our inability to create change in the world, spiritual disciplines offer an opportunity to form us into the kind of people who can seek true flourishing in our communities.