Christian Apostolic church’s policy regarding politics & appeal for prayer for elections
Please be in prayer for all elections in the United States, whether for President, Congress, or state and local government, as they are very significant in setting the direction of our nation.
As a church, we do not endorse political parties or candidates. The primary reason is that we should not state or imply that people must adopt our political views in order to attend church, be a church member, or be saved. We don’t want to turn away souls because they do not accept our political views. While the voice of the church is crucial regarding certain issues that are affected by politics, we are careful in any official statements regarding such issues, and we seek to be respectful always.
At the same time, we can and should emphasize the right and responsibility of Christians to participate in the political process, to pray for the nation and its leaders, and to vote according to conscience based on moral values and scriptural teachings. We can and should urge people to prayerfully choose leaders who are most likely to preserve freedom of religion and speech, to uphold moral values that are important to a healthy society, to help the country remain strong and free, and to help us deal successfully with the many economic challenges. We should pray and vote for effective leadership so that America will be a positive influence in world affairs, the American people will be able to support the church, and the American church will be able to support world missions.
This policy does not preclude individual church members, including church staff, from having and expressing their own views and supporting their chosen party or candidate in a personal way. Personal views should not be misconstrued as official church endorsement, and ought not be presented as such. Furthermore, we encourage all individuals to dialogue respectfully, avoiding use of pejoratives (derogatory terms), and we discourage used of ad hominem arguments. “An ad hominem (Latin for ‘to the man’), short for argumentum ad hominem, is an attempt to negate the truth of a claim by pointing out a negative characteristic or unrelated belief of the person supporting it” (Wikipedia). Such tactics are ineffective and can be detrimental to our Christian witness. No matter which party or candidate a person chooses to support as an individual, he or she can still attend church, be saved, and be a member while adhering to our membership policy.
