by: Kevin Miller
10/1/2007

For me as a layperson interested in the messy intersections of life that confront the serious believer, the issue of Christian involvement in politics holds particular interest. What does the Bible direct regarding involvement in the public square? Is it a specific calling or lay vocation for specific individuals? Or in a representative republic like the United States, should every Christian be expected to “render to Caesar” some level of active, informed, and influential political involvement?

Specific to this set of issues (for this essay, at least) is the question of pastoral activity in influencing the public square. It seems there would be one overriding question for a pastor: what does “obedience” of the undershepherd to the Good Shepherd regarding influencing the public square look like in this time and place and under this government…if appropriate at all?

The Competency Dimension

Pastoring is one of the most difficult vocations on earth. Rightly dividing the Word of God is no easy task, and shepherding the sheep in an American local church is often thankless and sometimes resented. Knowing the right answer for the especially messy intersections isn’t always so easy.

What makes it more complicated is that pastors often inherently “share” in the care of the flock. Where does pastoral counseling give way (or at least share right-of-way) to a doctor’s medical prescription for a troubled person? Is the pastor competent to give the full range of mentalhealth advice?

Where is pastoral direction on the full range of economic matters grounded? Perhaps the book of Proverbs and the New Testament provide key direction about the flock’s approach to personal savings and giving. But what about a balanced federal budget, marginal tax rates, and the Federal Reserve— were any biblically-grounded essentials of such topics covered in a class at seminary?

So it goes with the public square. So pastors may believe they know the proper policy prescription for murder or stealing or abortion. But how about complex economic issues? privacy issues? “fairness” issues? affirmative action? health care?

In businesses, CEOs exercise stewardship for multiple parties. So who does the airline CEO serve when setting prices for air fares: the elderly retiree on a fixed income who owns airline stock and needs the airline to make a healthy profit and declare a dividend; the airline baggage handler with four kids to feed who might just go to work for the post office if wages are too low at the airline; or the traveling customer who can switch easily to a competing airline if the prices are too high? of course, the Bible can—and probably should—be interpreted from various passages to answer, “all three.” This is what I call “competing stewardships,” and balancing competing stewardships is very tricky, even for a practicing expert.

Likewise with public policy: often an elected official’s very job is to make discerning choices in the face of competing stewardships. Is the traditional, inherently overcommitted, “well read but not necessarily well read in public-policy options” pastor competent to speak to complex publicpolicy issues?

But if not a seasoned pastor with significant life experience who works diligently to gain the competency sufficient to connect scriptural truths to meaningful contemporary issues in the public square, who then will help direct Christians, the very saints for whom the pastor is responsible? If the local pastor merely “exercises a pocket veto” and declines to speak to these issues, is the church properly and fully served?

The Confused and Conflicted Sheep Dimension

Pastoral care surely means, above all else, taking care of the sheep. The public face of the pastor has always been extremely important. If the well-informed, well-discerned, and nuanced stance taken by the pastor in the pulpit on a public-policy issue is directly in conflict with the deeply he