Political conversations are often difficult. Two people could watch the same news report, share the same political ideals, and still arrive at different conclusions about a specific issue. One person could be very passionate and opinionated, while the other might just shrug it off and move on to something else. But what happens when both of them are equally opinionated and unwilling to change positions? And what would it look like when you add a third, fourth, or fifth person into the mix?

This scenario is not hard to imagine—we’ve seen it play out in real life again and again. We’ve seen friends, church mates, officemates, and even family members go head to head against each other to attack or defend their political convictions. Some propose that what we all need to do is to calm down because it’s all “just politics.” Others argue that the future of our children is at stake so we must take a stand. So which one is it?

But this question is like putting the cart in front of the horse. The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ engages culture and politics not because the latest controversies demand a response but because this is God’s world and Christians are called to be salt and light in it. In other words, with or without political controversies, Christians have a stake in social discourse because God called us to proclaim the Lordship of Christ in the nations.

This Victory group material explores at least four practical ways we could respond to political concerns: prayer, participation in the political process, preaching God’s truth, and protesting when necessary. We do not presume that these are the only ways to address every political question. Christian engagement is too complex and multifaceted to be strictly reduced to four application points. This also doesn’t mean that we need to do all four all the time. Some may just pray and participate at one point; others might just focus on preaching because that’s the best course of action at the moment. But these are a good place to start. How we express our political involvement might differ in form or intensity but at the very core of our participation is our common identity in Christ.

As we seek to biblically engage our culture and make disciples in the area of public witness, we also develop a greater sensitivity to the Holy Spirit in becoming salt and light to the world.

Other materials available for Victory groups, which can provide a foundational understanding of God’s kingdom and our role, are:

• 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘥𝘰𝘮 & 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱
• 𝘎𝘰𝘥 & 𝘎𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵