In my few decades in church life I have heard just about every sermon a dozen times – but very few about politics. This topic seems to be one that holds great uncertainty for many preachers, and even a sense of impropriety.

If it does come up in conversation, many believers nervously make a joke about it, change the topic or roll their eyes. If I talk about it some more, many will switch gears to encouraging me to pursue that “if that’s what God’s calling me too” – all too clearly insinuating they believe it’s not only a rare call, but certainly not their’s.

BUT, there’s a growing revelation that by keeping politics out of the pulpit for too many decades, we’ve inadvertently kept the Church from truly fulfilling its mandate to be the prophetic voice to society, and the results speak for themselves.

WHAT IF God actually wants all of us to do more than pray for our leaders? What if God wants all of us to do what we can to make our nation better, peaceful and prosperous, with whatever abilities and opportunities we have to do so?

What if every person in church this Sunday was also a member of a political party – helping choose which fellow member represented that party at the next election? Would we have more godly leaders? Would we have more leaders who represented biblical Christianity, and the heritage of our nation?

What if every person in church this Sunday took the free opportunity to participate in democracy as seriously as those who swarm the voting booths because of their passion for trees, penalty rates, or a balanced budget?

I know “mature” Christians who have voted for the most anti-God parties and policies one could imagine – but they have been trained and taught more by the media than the minister on these issues – and we can fix this with teaching.

People are “casting off restraint” and embracing evil, or as the King James version puts it, “perishing” – for lack of teaching in this area. It doesn’t matter if it’s uncomfortable, or people stumble on it. It doesn’t absolve us of the obligation to provide good teaching based in Scripture with love and wisdom – and boldness.

We have the media and world in general bombarding us and our children day and night with worldy wisdom, and many are straying from the Truth and creating a god in their own image, rejecting the One True Jesus because they’ve never been told or shown how Scripture makes sense.

This resource, “Rebuild The Wall”, will help pastors, parents, politicians and all people better discuss and appreciate the proper place of the Church in politics and politics in the Church.

Nehemiah invites us to rebuild the wall of protection around our nation once again with a weapon in one hand – prayer, and the tools of democracy in the other. Inside we will find shelter. Outside we will be mocked and jeered at. But together we can succeed.

P.S. This project is not partisan. That is, it is not designed to promote a particular party or philosophy, or come even remotely close to suggesting that somebody’s salvation is in question if they don’t vote the same way I do. This is a call for each believer to prayerfully and intelligently re-examine their vote at every election, and to not only vote the way they believe Jesus would in the cold light of Scripture, but to then help other people to vote the same way.

It is then critical that we appreciate that unity does not require uniformity. If someone has faithfully arrived at a different conclusion to me as to which candidate is the strongest supporter of Christian values, I praise God that there is more than one supporter of Christian values standing for election, and that differences must not dilute our unity.

The important thing is to shift our paradigms to constantly consider which issues are most important to Jesus and to reflect Him above all in our stewardship of democratic freedoms. Let’s not be content to watch silently from the sidelines when our neighbours are potenially harmed by our inaction regarding public policy.