In general, I’m not quick to sign petitions. But last Friday I did add my name to a document called Our Confession of Evangelical Conviction, and I’d encourage you to consider doing the same.
You can find the full text of the confession by clicking here or by scrolling to the bottom of this post. But let me first add some context and commentary, to make clear why I signed this document.
Primarily written by Skye Jethani (The Holy Post Podcast), the confession begins by echoing one of its historical models: the Barmen Declaration, the Confessing Church’s 1934 response to the Nazi revolution in Germany. “We affirm that Jesus Christ is God's Son and the only head of the Church (Colossians 1:18),” it begins. “No political ideology or earthly authority can claim the authority that belongs to Christ (Philippians 2:9-11). We reaffirm our dedication to his Gospel which stands apart from any partisan agenda.” Like Barmen, this modern-day confession then pairs its affirmations with “We reject” statements: first, “We reject the false teaching that anyone other than Jesus Christ has been anointed by God as our Savior, or that a Christian's loyalty should belong to any political party. We reject any message that promotes devotion to a human leader or that wraps divine worship around partisanship.”
Given that this is an explicitly evangelical confession shared in a political environment where 80% of (white) evangelicals keep voting for a single political party, no matter the character and quality of its nominee, you don’t need to be a politics maven to catch the subtext. Make no mistake, this confession is a rebuke of Christians who forget that their “true hope is not in any party, leader, movement, or nation” — not in the reelection of Donald J. Trump as president of the United States and his increasingly vacuous pledge to Make American Great Again — “but in the promise of Christ's return when he will renew the world and reign over all things (1 Corinthians 15:24-28).”
I can’t imagine how anyone who can affirm this document could support a politician so fond of two strategies rejected in Article Two: “the stoking of fears and the use of threats as an illegitimate form of godly motivation, and we repudiate the use of violence to achieve political goals as incongruent with the way of Christ.” Moreover, voting for Trump is clearly antithetical to Article Seven’s commitment to “evaluate leaders based on their actions and the fruit of their character and not merely their promises or political success (Matthew 7:15-20).”
But since I’ve already articulated my own reasons for wanting to see the Republican nominee defeated soundly, know that I wouldn’t have signed this confession if it were purely an anti-Trump polemic.
It’s much more than that. The confession’s critique of fearmongering, bad faith argumentation, and abusive leadership could apply to the Church itself as much as any politician or party. And even to the extent that its signers mean to signal their opposition to Trumpian politics, they also affirm that “the counter-cultural unity of the Church is to be a sign to the world of God's love and power (John 13:35; 17:20-21).” They refuse to accept “limitations on the command to ‘love your neighbor’ that Christ himself removed,” and they reject “any attempt to divide the Church, which is the Body of Christ, along partisan, ethnic, or national boundaries” (plus the white nationalism present in some corners of evangelicalism).
So I add my name to this confession for two larger reasons that I hope will endure long after the 2024 campaign fades into memory and history.
First, it calls me to account for my own behavior as a citizen, scholar, and church member. For example, readers and students should expect me to use my writing and teaching “to reconcile people to one another by addressing issues of justice, righteousness, and peace (Amos 5:24).” That doesn’t mean avoiding hard questions or stifling necessary critiques, but it does mean “loving our neighbors (Mark 12:31), and… engaging our public life with humility, integrity, and a commitment to the common good as defined by our faith in Christ (Romans 12:18).” Furthermore, if I affirm “that all people bear God's image and possess inherent and infinite worth (Genesis 1:27)” and I commit “to advocate for the value of everyone our society harms or ignores,” then I should be as ready to critique Democratic as Republican politicians when their policies neglect such image-bearers.
Second, while I have my own reservations about the term, I continue to think of myself as an “evangelical” (more on that Thursday) and want to see evangelicalism experience the awakening that the confession prays for in its conclusion: “that God’s Spirit will revive our Church and strengthen Christ's people to be agents of his presence and blessing in this turbulent age.” So I want to stand in solidarity with the current and emerging leaders who stuck their necks out as the first, most public signers of this document.1
That includes lots of fellow Christian historians. But more importantly, leaders of what we might call institutional evangelicalism, who have too often worried about offending the very people they’re supposed to lead. So when I read the list of initial signatories, I was glad to notice the names of the president of the National Association of Evangelicals (Walter Kim), and that organization’s VP of government relations (Galen Carey), plus those of the current editor-in-chief of Christianity Today (Russell Moore) and one of his predecessors (David Neff), two recent presidents of Fuller Seminary (Rich Mouw and Mark Labberton), the provost of Calvin University (Noah Toly), the president of the Evangelical Philosophical Society (Michael W. Austin), and the head of Christians for Biblical Equality (Mimi Haddad).2
(Not to mention a founder of another kind of evangelical institution: Veggie Tales. Yes, Phil Vischer — Jethani’s podcast partner — not only signed this document, but produced a new cartoon to accompany it, one of several resources supplementing the confession itself.)
Then the endorsement from Kim, the first non-white president of the NAE, also underscores the diversity of signatories. While there’s so much attention paid to white evangelicals — particularly as they behave politically — that PRRI’s new religion census doesn’t even try to break out evangelicals from other Christians of color, this is an avowedly evangelical document endorsed by Asian American, Latin American, and especially African American leaders and scholars. To cite just a few names besides Kim’s that caught my attention: Claude Alexander, Bryan Carter, Ray Chang, Christina and Mika Edmondson, Dennis Edwards, Justin Giboney, Derwin Gray, Lisa Sharon Harper, Hyepin Im, Lecrae, Dwight McKissic, Bruce Reyes-Chow, Gabriel and Jeannette Salguero, Sandra Van Opstal, and Rich Villodas.
So I sign this confession in the hope that it helps mark the end of one era in evangelicalism and the beginning of another, one in which a more diverse leadership (including women and men alike) helps the Church “[stand] apart from earthly political powers so that it may speak prophetically to all people, the society, and governing authorities.”
Our Confession of Evangelical Conviction
In this moment of social conflict and political division, we confess the following Christian convictions:
ONE: We give our allegiance to Jesus Christ alone.
We affirm that Jesus Christ is God's Son and the only head of the Church (Colossians 1:18). No political ideology or earthly authority can claim the authority that belongs to Christ (Philippians 2:9-11). We reaffirm our dedication to his Gospel which stands apart from any partisan agenda. God is clear that he will not share his glory with any other (Isaiah 42:8). Our worship belongs to him alone (Exodus 20:3-4), because our true hope is not in any party, leader, movement, or nation, but in the promise of Christ's return when he will renew the world and reign over all things (1 Corinthians 15:24-28).
We reject the false teaching that anyone other than Jesus Christ has been anointed by God as our Savior, or that a Christian's loyalty should belong to any political party. We reject any message that promotes devotion to a human leader or that wraps divine worship around partisanship.
TWO: We will lead with love not fear.
We affirm that God's saving power revealed in Jesus is motived by his love for the world and not anger (John 3:16). Because God has lavished his love upon us, we can love others (1 John 4:19). We acknowledge that this world is full of injustice and pain, but we are not afraid because Jesus Christ has promised to never abandon us (John 16:33). Unlike the false security promised by political idolatry and its messengers, the perfect love of God drives away all fear (1 John 4:18). Therefore, we do not employ fear, anger, or terror as we engage in our mission, but instead we follow the more excellent way of Jesus which is love (1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13).
We reject the stoking of fears and the use of threats as an illegitimate form of godly motivation, and we repudiate the use of violence to achieve political goals as incongruent with the way of Christ.
THREE: We submit to the truth of Scripture.
We affirm that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, authoritative for faith and practice (2 Timothy 3:16-17). We commit to interpreting and applying Scripture faithfully, guided by the Holy Spirit, for the building up of Christ's people and the blessing of his world (John 16:13). We believe any true word of prophecy must align with the teachings of Scripture and the character of Jesus (1 John 4:1-3). Likewise, to lie about others, including political opponents, is a sin (Exodus 20:16). Therefore, we commit to speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15), knowing deception dishonors God and harms the reputation of his Church.
We reject the misuse of holy Scripture to sanction a single political agenda, provoke hatred, or sow social divisions, and we believe that using God's name to promote misinformation or lies for personal or political gain is bearing his name in vain (Exodus 20:7).
FOUR: We believe the Gospel heals every worldly division.
We affirm the unity of all believers in Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:28), and that through his sacrificial death on the cross, he has removed the barriers that divide us (Ephesians 2:14-18), making people from every nation, tribe, people, and language into one new family (Revelation 7:9). We are called to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9), and the counter-cultural unity of the Church is to be a sign to the world of God's love and power (John 13:35; 17:20-21).
We reject any attempt to divide the Church, which is the Body of Christ, along partisan, ethnic, or national boundaries, and any message that says it is God's desire for the human family to be perpetually segregated by race, culture, or ethnicity is a rejection of the Gospel.
FIVE: We are committed to the prophetic mission of the Church.
We affirm that Christ's kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36), therefore the Church necessarily stands apart from earthly political powers so that it may speak prophetically to all people, the society, and governing authorities. The Church has been given a divine mission of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-21). First, we call everyone to be reconciled to God through the proclamation of the Gospel as we teach people everywhere to copy the way of Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20). Second, we seek to reconcile people to one another by addressing issues of justice, righteousness, and peace (Amos 5:24). We accomplish this by loving our neighbors (Mark 12:31), and by engaging our public life with humility, integrity, and a commitment to the common good as defined by our faith in Christ (Romans 12:18).
We reject both the call for the Church to withdraw from societal issues out of fear of political contamination, as well as any attempt to distort the Church into a mere vehicle of political or social power.
SIX: We value every person as created in God's image.
We affirm that all people bear God's image and possess inherent and infinite worth (Genesis 1:27). Jesus bestowed dignity upon those his culture devalued, and he taught us that our love, like God's, must extend even to our enemies (Matthew 5:43-48). Our faith in Christ, therefore, compels us to act with love and mercy toward all from the very beginning of life to the very end, and honor everyone as an image-bearer of God regardless of age, ability, identity, political beliefs, or affiliations (John 13:34-35). We commit ourselves to advocate for the value of everyone our society harms or ignores.
We reject any messages that employ dehumanizing rhetoric, that attempt to restrict who is worthy of God's love, or that impose limitations on the command to "love your neighbor" that Christ himself removed.
SEVEN: We recognize godly leaders by their character.
We affirm that the character of both our political and spiritual leaders matter. Within the Church, we seek to follow spiritual leaders those who display evidence of the Holy Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Jesus warned us to be on guard against false teachers who come as wolves in sheep's clothing (Matthew 7:15). These voices will tempt us with flattery, bad doctrine, and messages we want to hear (2 Timothy 4:3). They serve the false idols of power, wealth, and strength rather than the true God. Outside the Church, we will evaluate leaders based on their actions and the fruit of their character and not merely their promises or political success (Matthew 7:15-20). When any leader claims to have God's approval, whether in the Church or in politics, we will not confuse effectiveness for faithfulness, but carefully discern who is truly from God (1 John 4:1).
We reject the lie that a leader's power, popularity, or political effectiveness is confirmation of God's favor, or that Christians are permitted to ignore the teachings of Christ to protect themselves with worldly power.
Conclusion
We stand united in our confession of faith in Jesus Christ, resolved to uphold the truth of the Gospel in the face of political pressure and cultural shifts. We commit to being a light in the world (Matthew 5:14-16), and faithful witnesses to the transforming power of Christ's love. We pray that God’s Spirit will revive our Church and strengthen Christ's people to be agents of his presence and blessing in this turbulent age.
To him who is able to keep us from stumbling and to present us before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. (Jude 1:24-25).
As of this morning, the organizers hadn’t yet added the names of people who signed after the document’s release.
There’s also a Pastor John Jenkins listed, though I’m not sure if that’s the Baptist pastor who both chairs the NAE board and recently became the first Black president of Bethel’s sponsoring denomination. The signatory list doesn’t include institutional affiliations; instead, a footnote emphasizes that “All signers affirmed this Confession in their personal capacity” — as I did.
I read this yesterday after seeing your mention of it. Like you, not a big "sign here" person, but this is really spot on,Chris. Thanks for making us aware of it.