Should Politics Be Part of the Christian Life?

Tim Keller

Don’t Marry Your Faith to a Party

1950–2023 · Redeemer Presbyterian, New York City

Keller pastored in New York City — worlds away from our quiet backroads — but he understood people, especially when it came to how the church deals with culture. What he meant by that quote: if you ignore justice, poverty, racism, or life issues, you’re taking a political stance whether you mean to or not. Silence in many cases speaks volumes.

But he also warned against fusing faith to a political party. No matter which side you lean, there’s no perfect political expression of Christianity. Some parties care about the unborn but ignore the poor. Others cry out for the oppressed but shrug at sexual sin. Keller urged Christians to engage politics with integrity, but not to idolize it. The early Church, he often said, didn’t go left or right — they were a new kind of community altogether.

So in our town, that means this: vote your conscience, but keep your cross higher than your campaign signs.

Tony Evans

Kingdom Voting, Not Culture Wars

b. 1949 · The Urban Alternative · Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, Dallas

Evans doesn’t say Christians should ignore politics. He says we ought to be involved — but from a Kingdom-first perspective. His “Kingdom Voting” framework means that when you vote, speak, or act in public life, you do so based on the values of God’s Kingdom, not just your own comfort or tradition.

That doesn’t mean we’re trying to set up a theocracy. We’re not electing Jesus to be president — He already rules the universe. But it does mean we care about what God cares about: justice, life, family, order, compassion, and truth.

In this valley, that might look like showing up to a school board meeting to stand up for what you believe. Or volunteering to help fix a neighbor’s roof instead of just ranting online about government waste. Your faith should influence how you vote — but more importantly, how you live. The platform matters less than the person you are on Tuesday morning.

Beth Moore

Prophetic, Not Partisan

b. 1957 · Living Proof Ministries

Moore has been a voice for women, for truth, and for integrity in the Church. She has also taken some hits for calling out political idolatry — the tendency of Christians to align themselves so tightly with a party or a politician that they lose sight of Jesus. When that happens, she warns, you stop speaking prophetically. You start speaking politically. And those are not the same thing.

The prophets in Scripture didn’t pander to kings. They called them out. They held them accountable. They stood in the gap when no one else would. That is what the Church is supposed to do — not play politics, but speak truth with love, no matter who it offends. We ought to be known more for our courage and compassion than for our party platforms.

In our community, that means being consistent. Year-round truth-tellers who live what they preach — not people who only get loud every four years.

John MacArthur

Preach the Gospel, Not Politics

b. 1939 · Grace Community Church, Sun Valley

MacArthur has always been steady on one thing: the primacy of the gospel. When churches get too deep into politics, he warns, they risk confusing their mission. In some congregations, sermons have become stump speeches — and when unbelievers walk in, they leave thinking Jesus came to save America rather than their souls.

That is a warning worth hearing. The gospel changes lives, and changed lives do change the world. But the sequence matters. You can’t preach Jesus and a party platform at the same time with equal emphasis. One will always start to overshadow the other. Let your politics flow from your faith — but don’t let your faith be defined by your politics. Those two things move in only one direction properly.

Russell Moore

Faithful in Babylon

b. 1971 · Christianity Today

Moore talks a lot about what it means to live in exile — like Daniel in Babylon, faithful to God in a cultural context that does not share his values and sometimes actively opposes them. Christians aren’t meant to hide from society, nor to blend in so thoroughly that no one can tell the difference. We’re meant to be salt and light (Matthew 5:13–16): preserving what is good, exposing what is dark, and pointing toward what is eternal.

That means showing up, speaking out, and sacrificing when needed. It means not being surprised when we don’t fit comfortably with either the left or the right. Our true citizenship is elsewhere (Philippians 3:20) — and that gives us the freedom to engage any political question without being captured by it.