{"id":4620,"date":"2008-11-17T00:30:45","date_gmt":"2008-11-17T00:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2008\/11\/church-politics-1.html"},"modified":"2008-11-17T00:30:45","modified_gmt":"2008-11-17T00:30:45","slug":"church-politics-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2008\/11\/church-politics-1.html","title":{"rendered":"Church Politics 1"},"content":{"rendered":"
Here’s a letter I’m using with permission and Wednesday I’ll give my reflections. Have you seen this? Have you seen it the other way, too, with a person getting in trouble for being too conservative?<\/p>\n

<\/i>Scot,<\/div>\n

 <\/div>\n
Let me first say that your thoughts and writings has encouraged me
\nas a believer and pastor.  I am a pastor of a church plant.  We began just over four years ago. I would love your thoughts on something.  This election I voted
\nfor Barack Obama.  This is a break in my voting pattern.  I have never
\nvoted for a democrat and typically the abortion issue has been the
\nprimary issue that I filtered my choice through.  Over the past many
\nyears I have become frustrated with the abortion debate and the lack of
\nany movement due to partisan politics as well as my perception that the
\nchurch is only interested in the passing of a law.  It is all or
\nnothing.  Despite my frustrations on this specific issue, my decision
\non who to vote for was in no way easy.  I struggled with the complexity
\nof all the issues and specifically the abortion issue up to the last
\nminute.  I shared with many close friends within my church my struggles
\nand they listened and discussed the issues with me. <\/div>\n


\nIn the days after the vote, many within my church came to know of
\nmy voting decision as well as my wife’s vote which was the same.  It
\nwasn’t something I was declaring but it became known.  Since then I’m
\naware of a few families that are leaving our church and another that is
\nclose.  I am in shock.  I have been living life with these families. 
\nOur values declared by our life and words.  They’ve seen us pursue
\ndoing foster care.  They’ve seen my wife, me, and our teenage son continually pursue ways to
\nhelp the homeless in our community.  They’ve heard me teach.  In the
\nend, their perception is now that I am pro-abortion.  I’ve been told
\nthat I have likely disqualified myself from the pastorate.  We are
\nheartbroken.  I can’t eat.  I’ve missed work.  I’m utterly devastated
\nby what my choice may do to our community of faith.  We are not a big church so weathering storms like this gets very personal. <\/p>\n

 <\/div>\n
I guess my question is this, have I missed something?  Have I
\nentered into this decision unaware as to the expectation on pastors in
\nregards to how they vote?  Right now we feel very alone.  To see people
\nwho have lived life with me for years suddenly doubt my heart.  They’ve
\nseem my core values displayed in our choices and sacrifices.  All of
\nthat has become void.  Filling in a certain box with a marker has
\ncompletely changed how they see me. \n<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
I’d appreciate any thoughts.<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
In Christ,<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s a letter I’m using with permission and Wednesday I’ll give my reflections. Have you seen this? Have you seen it the other way, too, with a person getting in trouble for being too conservative? Scot,   Let me first say that your thoughts and writings has encouraged me as a believer and pastor.  I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":297,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-public-issues"],"yoast_head":"\nChurch Politics 1 - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2008\/11\/church-politics-1.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Church Politics 1 - Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here’s a letter I’m using with permission and Wednesday I’ll give my reflections. 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