Imagine driving along South Carolina’s beautiful back roads. Farmland stretches out in every direction. Occasionally you drive through clouds of dust kicked up by sharp discs as someone plows near the road. You smell the dirt as it gets churned up, ready for planting. You see islands of kudzu, too, dotting the fields like giant blobs of paint on a Kandinsky canvas. Kudzu-covered trees. Kudzu-covered power lines. Kudzu-covered buildings.
Christians are like the trees out in the Carolina field. Some are solid old oaks and some are tender young pines. Ever so slowly does the kudzu creep into the field like the impact of popular culture creeping in on our families. No one plants the harmful vine neither do they cultivate it. It seems to thrive in fertile soil as well as fallow ground. When in season, it can grow up to a foot a day, and if you cared to look at it closely, you’d see a lovely, small, seemingly insignificant reddish bloom. The vine does not discriminate against the trees or the power lines or the abandoned farm houses. It simply devours everything in its path. Long leafy ringlets take hold and strangle the very life out of anything it grabs. When Christians do not participate in shaping our laws, the tendrils of moral and social indecency slowly strangle the life from things that provide for overall good.
It is time to cut through the kudzu—a lifelong process that spans and overlaps many personal and public arenas. Tom Minnery so eloquently describes one reality in the book Why You Can’t Stay Silent, A Biblical Mandate to Shape Our Culture. Although the quote is about politics, this truth occurs in business, education and just about anywhere people work together…even the church:
Politicians inhabit a different world entirely. Theirs is a world of compromise, of halfway measures and tedious negotiations. They respond to pressure from voters because they want to remain in office. When that pressure comes from moral leaders, they feel encouraged to stand strong and compromise as little as possible.
It is our Christian responsibility to engage the culture through education, media, and legislation. Why is it our duty to be socially and politically involved? John Eldredge of Focus on the Family condenses the answer to four points: love compels us; evangelism depends on it; justice demands it; and the Christian view of government requires it.
The Bible commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves, to flavor the world as salt and to brighten lives with His light. This covers so much territory. To be sure, food pantries, clothes closets and thrift shops help the disadvantaged and they provide ministry opportunities for some. However, others want to invest in a different kind of ministry. Educating your congregation and your community on various laws or social and moral issues may be the opportunity you’ve been seeking. Informing others about happenings in today’s society is a vital role for the church in the community. It is crucial for people to be active in the public square to ensure a healthy, pro-family environment for the present and the future.
If Christians do not shape our laws, the boundaries of social decency and morality expand like the kudzu gobbling up the countryside. English theologian Dr. John Stott once said that evangelism is the proclamation of the Gospel but social action is the demonstration of the Gospel. Jesus’ life was an example of this proclamation and demonstration. Not only did He teach and preach; he also met physical needs wherever He went. His example was to love every person as himself. This Agape love must be practical and practiced. Building relationships with our legislators and other elected officials or encouraging Christians to be involved in the political process—in any way—can only bring about positive results. What a great way to impact thousands of lives at one time. Who knows, your witness may be the instrument God uses to prick some hearts at the capital.
If you’d like to start a Christian Life Committee, by this or any other name you choose, please contact Joe Mack or Janet Clonts in the Office of Public Policy. We look forward to helping you get started.
