Discipleship in a Politically Polarised Age
I am a Pentecostal, I am not Evangelical, whilst also serving for a time on the board of the Evangelical Alliance in the UK. I say that to say many of the challenges written in “Losing our Religion”[1] and “Jesus and the Powers”[2] are not unique to Evangelicalism in America. The globalisation of the world has changed the way national and religious cultures now interact. Similarities abound globally.
What do you currently believe about the relationship between Christian faith and political engagement?
The relationship between Christian faith and political engagement is a contested space, filled with passion, history, and, too often, compromise. I grew up with an instinctive wariness of politics in church spaces. Formed by Scripture, pastoral experiences, and public failures of Christian leaders, I have understood the tension between prophetic engagement and perceived partisan entanglement. Scripturally, the gospel is not apolitical. The early church’s declaration that “Jesus is Lord” was a confrontation of Kingdoms. Yet this engagement continues to demand wisdom, not domination. Jesus’ political posture, as N.T. Wright and Michael Bird argue that power structures are challenged through sacrificial love, not coercion.[3] Still, many Christians and Pastors are hesitant when faith becomes publicly political, unsure whether it’s discipleship or ideological drift. Our formation in culturally saturated, media-driven environments can often shape our instincts more than the words of Jesus. The result is a deeper tension, the call to witness versus the fear of worldly corruption, and for many pastors, the impact it has on the attendance and giving rates of church congregations.
How do you understand the rise of Christian nationalism, and in what ways have evangelicals, particularly in Western democracies, been complicit in fusing faith with political identity?
Nowhere is that tension more visible than in the rise of so-called Christian nationalism. In Losing Our Religion, Russell Moore speaks with the pain of someone who has seen his theological tribe barter orthodoxy for access.[4] Nationalism, particularly in the American context, at times, seems to disguise political idolatry in religious language. Sceptics may argue that Evangelicals, seeking to preserve influence, have sometimes theologically merged partisan platforms as kingdom agendas, forgetting that Jesus challenged all ideologies, including right and left. Faithful public witness, as Moore and Wright intimate throughout, is marked by cruciform courage and by control. Christians must be in “the room where it happens,”[5] as Wright puts it, but never to endorse power for its own sake. The litmus test seems simple. Does our public faith look like Jesus, humble, just, sacrificial, and merciful? Or are we using Jesus to bless our friends and curse our enemies?
How do progressive Christians, including those who have left traditional church structures, risk becoming captive to political and consumer ideologies?
Progressive Christianity, often emerging in post-evangelical spaces, risks replacing Jesus with a skewed “kingdom” ideology. In some corners, theology is subordinated to justice slogans, inclusion becomes a doctrine in itself, and the church becomes a community centre for progressive values. When Jesus Christ becomes functionally absent, replaced by vague spiritualism or political rhetoric, we lose the transforming centre of our faith. Oliver O’Donovan reminds us that Christian political engagement must remain anchored in the gospel’s vision of justice and peace, not the latest cultural consensus. He says, “Theology is the politics that says that God is king, that there is authority that is given, external to us, and recognition of this authority is the beginning of our politics and the possibility of public well‑being.”[6] Even justice, severed from the just One, loses its power to redeem. The church’s role is not to echo the left or the right, but to be an alternative politic altogether.
How can Christian leaders disciple communities whose political and moral imaginations are shaped by social media, party politics, or identity movements rather than by Scripture or the life of Christ?
This raises a critical question for leaders today: how do we disciple people whose imaginations are shaped more by TikTok than by Timothy, more by party politics than Scripture? Our role as preachers is to reframe narratives, exposing anything that rivals Christ. Not in a militant manner, but with grace. It is what Hauerwas and Willimon describe as a “colony of heaven,”[7] distinct but engaged, holy but not aloof. This means forming communities marked by biblical practices, cruciform leadership, and humility. We must help believers develop theological reflexes, not just political opinions. Our pulpits must become places where people learn not what to think, but how to think Christianly in a complex world.
After engaging with the texts and these questions, what do you now believe about politics, faith, and the dangers of ideological discipleship?
I am more convinced than ever that ideological discipleship apart from scriptural hermeneutics is a threat to the gospel. But I am also hopeful. At least we are now talking about it. It is now in print in books. There are enough dissenting voices not to merely flow with the Zeitgeist of the era in which we live. Our Christian political witness must be both prophetic and pastoral, graciously naming idolatry and nurturing hope. As a leader, I want to disciple people into this paradox, to be both courageous and kind, engaged and distinct, clear and compassionate.
[1] Russell Moore, Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America (New York: Sentinel, 2023).
[2] N.T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, Jesus and the Powers: Christian Political Witness in an Age of Totalitarian Terror and Dysfunctional Democracies (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2024.
[3] Ibid, 3–15.
[4] Moore, Losing Our Religion, 7.
[5] Wright and Bird, Jesus and the Powers, 37.
[6] “Oliver O’Donovan on Political Theology,” Resources for Christian Theology, accessed September 5, 2025, https://resourcesforchristiantheology.org/oliver-odonovan-on-political-theology/.
[7] Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon, Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989), 38.
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