It’s when you start to talk about the practical implications of Christian Nationalism’s errors that you start to get some pushback. People will happily go along with discussion about its relative merits but I’ve found that the strongest resistance I’ve had has been to my suggestion that churches, networks and national leaders should act, not just speak.
So, I thought it might be helpful to say a little bit more about what I think should happen in practice and to make clear what I’m not saying. There is one caveat here though. I’m not seeking to be prescriptive. Local churches need to work through things for themselves as do networks and organisations.
Networks, organisations, events and partnerships
I’ve said that I cannot see how Evangelical networks and organisations can partner with those who commit to Christian Nationalism. Remember, that this is specific to those who are promoting a Christianised ethno-cultural nationalism. How might they go about it? Well, that would depend on the organisation.
For example, the FIEC have position statements on a number of issues that require churches and pastors to sign up to each year. For them, it would be a simple matter of writing a statement explaining the problems with Christian Nationalism and why they reject it and including it in the list of statements that pastors and churches are asked to agree to.
The New Frontiers Family tend to be much more informal but it would be possible for key leaders to teach on the subject so that this flows down into churches and shapes the culture. An event like the Keswick Convention might make a statement making clear why forms of nationalism and Christian Nationalism go against their motto of “All one in Christ Jesus.” This might put some people off from attending but they won’t actually be making decisions to exclude people from going. However, they can look at the track record of speakers and include this into consideration when deciding who to invite.
Eldership qualifications
I think that what got the strongest reactions in terms of what I’ve said and written were my suggestions that you cannot really be fully signed up to the Christian Nationalist agenda and be an elder. I’ve also talked about church discipline and that has proved a little controversial. I’ll come back to that shortly.
So, it is helpful to understand why I’m saying that this disqualifies elders. It’s not about seeking to encourage a witch hunt. Rather, I believe that potential elders should be assessed in terms of gifts, character and maturity. The crucial gift is “able to teach.” We should be looking at all areas of their teaching and looking at it holistically to make a decision. When you look at what some people have been saying both in terms of conclusions and their Biblical text work, it is so far removed from good Biblical interpretation and application that I struggle to see how you can hold that Biblical interpretation tightly along with the application and be seen to be able to handle God’s word correctly. We start to ask if you are able to teach? Of course, we need to consider the wider picture and how people respond to perfection because preachers and teachers are neither perfect nor infallible.
Church Discipline
I’d not initially set out to talk about church discipline but it did come up in conversation. I think that the big problem here is our understanding if discipline. For good or ill, our focus is usually on 1 Corinthians 5 but church discipline is about much more than excommunication.
So consider the scenario. Someone turns up at your church and they are covered with what looks to be far right tattoos. What do you do with them? Well, you should welcome them in, love them and tell them the Gospel. But then one Sunday they are missing, it seems out of character. The next week, you ask them where they were. They tell you that they went on the Tommy Robinson rally. What do you do then? I hope that we would not just boot them out the church and name and shame them. Though I fear that this can sometimes be our perception of church discipline.
I think that we have to be realistic that this may become a thing which requires that final act of church discipline, though always with the intent of seeking restoration and reconciliation. However, I hope that this isn’t the first place we instinctively go. My hope is that we will have been building a relationship with them which permits us to speak into their lives. I would want to spend time with them making sure we have a shared understanding of the issues, what God’s Word says and what we should do.
As with any other example of church discipline, this is surely about relationship and going at God’s pace. It also means that we don’t get ahead of teaching and discipleship. It means that our primary concerns are around teachability and willingness to receive correction.
Conclusion
We are not talking about knee jerk reactions or virtue signalling here. Instead, we are seeking to act relationally and Biblically, seeking to love and care for the whole congregation.
Faithroots 