Missouri Baptists called to be salt, light in public sphere

KANSAS CITY – Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) President Chris Williams, pastor of Fellowship Church in Greenwood, has called his congregation to “contend for the faith in the public square in a manner that is gospel-centered and grounded in truth.” But Fellowship Church isn’t the only congregation equipping Missouri Baptists to be salt and light in their communities, state and nation.

‘Bring your faith into politics’

“Politics is important,” Williams told his church, March 3. In fact, Scripture is filled with examples of godly men involved in the public sphere, from the New Testament story of John the Baptist calling King Herod to repent, to the Old Testament stories of Joseph and Nehemiah. These stories reveal “what it looks like when a true, gospel-centered, Bible believer is leading. It brings flourishing to a land that is in despair.”

“Don’t buy into the lie that you can’t bring your faith into politics,” Williams added. After all, secular men and women bring their secular ideologies into politics all the time, and “their politics leads to death, (while) ours leads to flourishing.”

Williams outlined four ways Missouri Baptist church members can be involved in the public sphere:

• They should “pray for those in power … for their salvation, that they would reject ungodly counsel, and that they would understand they are accountable to God.”

• They must vote. To emphasize the importance of voting, Fellowship set up voter registration booths on its campuses to ensure that members are able to make their voices heard during elections.

• Run for office at the local, state or national levels, or actively support other Christians who are running for office.

• “Be prepared to challenge the government when needed,” Williams said. “When the Bible is clear on an issue like life, we’re going to speak on it boldly, loudly, gracefully. … We must do this as a church, we must do this as a network of churches, and we must do this as believers.” He encouraged members to email, call or meet with their elected officials to discuss issues they are concerned about.

Finally, Williams called church members to remember that, although “government and politics are important,” the gospel is most important of all. “When I get to heaven one day, all of this will fade away, all of this will burn up,” he said, and what is left standing will be “the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Watch the service from Fellowship here.

‘Be the salt of the earth’

A week earlier, on Feb. 25, Pastor Phil Hopper of Abundant Life Church in Lee’s Summit also called his church to be salt and light in the public sphere. He likewise called church members to vote and to consider whether God may be calling them to run for office.

Reading Matthew 5:13, he said Christians are called to be salt. “Our influence,” he explained, “should be a preservative morally, a preservative spiritually, to preserve society from decay.”

“You’re not being the salt of the earth if you’re not even registered to vote,” he said. “We live in the only time in church history, …, where Christians actually get to elect their governing leaders. (It is) almost unheard of in any place and time in church history, yet we get to do that. Register to vote.”

Hopper emphasized the importance of local elections, which have a direct impact on the community. He urged Christians to be a salt, especially, in local school systems – which are too often being overrun by godless ideologies. He said he often hears from parents about sexually explicit books shelved in the local public school libraries – books that share in detail about teenagers having sexual, and even homosexual, encounters.

“There is pornography in the public school libraries of our city,” Hopper said. “This is not education. This is called indoctrination. This is called sexualization of the youngest generation. What have we done to our kids? … How does it happen? It happens when godly people aren’t involved, (when) we’re just looking the other way.”

Urging church members to vote in local elections on April 2 and to become involved in local school boards, Hopper said, “We’re not abandoning the public school systems.”

He told his congregation, “Godly people involved in government bring godly outcomes.” To highlight this truth, he ran a video before his sermon, featuring church members who serve as elected officials on the local level. They included:

• Faith Hodges, Lee’s Summit city council member, who said, “We are called to be the salt of the earth, and salt is to delay decay. And we are to delay decay of the day by standing in the way, and that’s what I’m doing each day that I’m serving Lee’s Summit.”

• Heather Eslick, a Lee’s Summit school board member, who said, “We are called to take action, and I think if we sit on the sidelines with an attitude that nothing that I do will change the outcome – then nothing will change the outcome, nothing will get done. But there is strength in numbers, and if everybody adopts an attitude that ‘My vote matters, and I will do my part’ – I think we would all be very surprised at what good could come from that.”

• Lance Pollard, a Grain Valley school board member, who shared that for many years he waited for someone to stand up and fight for what is right. Then, he realized God was calling him to do this. “I began developing a passion for making a difference in the community, to be a voice for the voiceless, to help fight for what I thought was right.” He added, “I would encourage you to get involved. Be active.”

• Jennifer Foley, a Lee’s Summit school board member, who was convicted to serve after hearing the phrase from Esther 4:14, “for such a time as this.” She said, “I knew that this was the moment – ‘for such a time as this’  (Esther 4:14) – to get involved. … I think if more people get out and vote for godly leaders, I think we could have an incredible transformation of our nation.”

Watch the service from Abundant Life here.