Andy Flannagan calls for Christians to get involved in politics

Andy Flannagan

One of my favourite jokes as a teenager was, "How many church committee members does it take to change a lightbulb?". The answer was "Change?". I suspect that tells you all you need to know about what a geeky teenager I was, but also the prevailing perception of church life at the time.

It seems the word "change" gets its most active workout at election time. There is an inevitable clash between those calling for change and those hoping to keep the status quo. The mantle of "change-bringer" was in particular hotly contested in the last US presidential election.

Those whose job it is to stir us into voting for a particular party know well that we are desperate for change. But I want to spend some time dissecting whether it is an altogether healthy appetite that the media and politicos are feeding.

Of course as Christians we are into transformation. This is our story. We worship a God of transformation who has transformed us and the world and continues to do so, incredibly at times using us as his agents. We are on a journey towards a perfect future where this broken world will be fully restored. There will be "no more suffering, no more sickness, no more death". That sounds like change I can believe in.

But is that really what we are being offered? Is it not merely our superficial desire for novelty that is being fed? Our channel-hopping brains now have such short attention spans that we can watch TV all night, but not stay on a single channel for more than 5 minutes. When we are in company (even with our closest friends), we check our phones for messages and emails, we accept calls and we start to actually believe ourselves when we say, "sorry, I just need to take this". Instant status and significance is conferred by the immediate.

24 hour news convinces us that it is incredibly important that we both know about and see "breaking news" as soon as it happens. I'd love to say that it makes me pray about the situation, but most of the time, it just keeps me skimming the surface of the world, rather than going deeper. It's the "new" that we are addicted to. I speak with some authority as an addict. Do I really need to know those cricket results as soon as they happen?

Pop acts go from zero to hero to zero again in the space of just a few months now. Bands release their greatest hits after just 2 albums, and fashion provides a never-ending need to "change" to avoid being seen in the wrong colours or trainers.

Relationships are discarded when they no longer stimulate us, and electrical appliances and mobile phones must change regularly in case we get caught behind the latest technological curve. First we were told we needed 900 channels, then we were told our TV screens had to be flat, and now we are told we need HD to more clearly see the adverts for the gadgets which promise the next revolutionary leap forward. With all this "change", what have we changed into in the process?

We get caught up in the headrush of "progress", yet we are unsure of where we are progressing to. Our generation will send more messages and emails than the previous and fit more into our busy lives, but are we happier, more fulfilled, or achieving any more?
We also have to question the potential passivity of being asked to vote for change. Effectively we are hearing, "we'll do the change stuff for you". All you have to do is vote for it. Are we not called as Christians to be agents of change ourselves? Are we not called to lead in society, rather than just follow? Have we been sucked into the consumerist mindset of the sofa, reduced to choosing our leaders in the same way we choose those who we want to entertain us on reality TV?

We outsource blame and responsibility to someone else, as to be honest we can't take the heat. Just leave me alone with my West Wing box set, we cry. That's more than enough political involvement for me.

So this election season, could we grasp the nettle of journeying from commentators to participants?

As Christians in politics, we are not blindly claiming that the parties we represent are perfect. Hence we are calling Christians to join them to be a positive influence within our politics and to bring their unique experience from churches who serve communities for the long haul. The opportunities to be salt and light are enormous, both in influencing policy and building relationships. History shows that this Biblical approach of participation and service is so much more effective than endless petitions.

Now is as good a time as any to make a decision about which party to join, when their policies are being discussed in detail. So don't just vote for a party. Join one! No party is perfect, so let's stop waiting for the perfect one to appear and be part of bringing kingdom values to those that are here already. That's real change. It's change that involves people being changed through relationship, not just policies. It's change that involves hearts being changed and not just heads. That's the sort of change Jesus brought.