by Bret Capranica | Jul 5, 2009 | Culture, Featured Articles
With Independence Day a day beyond us, how should the church engage its culture? Especially when we gather as a body, what is our responsibility to our nation? The following is an article from Pastor Michael Lawrance, of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington D.C. What do you think – what is the most biblical approach to engaging the issues of our country? (See also Bob Kauflin’s excellent article along these lines also). When I look out the windows of our church, I see the marble frieze of the Supreme Court and the massive dome of the Capitol Building rising just behind it. Being the associate pastor of a church that sits a mere five city blocks from the seat of legislative and judicial power in America, I am constantly reminded of the need to equip the members of Capitol Hill Baptist Church to be salt and light for the Kingdom of God in the midst of the quintessential city of man. How do we go about that task? Here are four steps that we have taken. Citizens of Heaven First, each Sunday we gather as citizens of heaven, not America. The good news of the Gospel is that the dividing wall of separation between Greek and Jew has been torn down and in Christ any of us can become citizens of heaven. (Eph. 2:14-22) And so breaking with decades of tradition at CHBC, we have removed the American flag, not only from the platform, but from the building. Being a major tourist destination, every Sunday we have visitors from around the world. But it”™s not just our visitors that...
