Don’t campaign from the pulpit

WHEN this Parliament rises in a matter of months prior to the 2017 elections, many may still remember Morobe Governor Kelly Naru for his defence of Prime Minister Peter O’Neill during the failed vote of no confidence earlier this year.
The lawyer-cum governor eloquently spoke of the separation of powers between the legislature and the judiciary and challenged a high court order to recall Parliament.  He did that convincingly but whether his speech had an impact on the outcome of the vote is a moot point given that the Government already had the convincing majority on its side of parliament.
Last Saturday, Governor Kelly Naru strongly defended his right to preach the gospel at a big Lutheran Church gathering in the Bulolo district.  He did because factions of the church were beginning to feel uneasy about politicians preaching the Gospel.
Maybe now Naru, a devout Lutheran, is testing his theological prowess this time with another thorny issue – the “separation of powers” between the clergy and the layman/politician.
Prior to politics, the governor was a successful lawyer who was well-known by a lot of church congregations and other groups for his generosity in assisting them financially when they most needed it.
He was and is a layman preacher.  But for him to continue to preach as an elected official before church congregations is going to be unlike before.  There is bound to be some opposition.
The head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church Bishop Jack Urame, when taking office, had pointed out that he did not support the idea of politicians taking the place of ordained church workers and preaching.
In his defence, the governor said he was a layman of the Lutheran Church and a student pastor in the Martin Luther seminary.
“If this does not give me the right to preach the Gospel what else can give me this right? I see that there is no wrong in leaders preaching the Good News,” Naru said.
Perhaps there is nothing wrong for Naru as he sees himself uniquely qualified to preach the gospel from the pulpit.
However, there is a possible danger when the congregation does not know when a politician’s personal social or economic agenda ends and the pure Gospel begins.
A pertinent question at this time is: Should politicians be allowed to preach from the pulpit?
The below observations by an American theologian may be relevant both for the believer-voter and Christian politician.
In order to promote and align themselves with certain social and political causes, some churches invite politicians to address them from their pulpits. What’s wrong with that is that it tends to wrongly identify politicians and their political ideas with the authority of God’s Word. Only God’s Word actually carries the divine authority and power to bring genuinely new life, light, and holiness to sinners.
Some churches view their pulpits as a convenient platform to help congregants better understand relevant socio-political issues and their voting options. Usually they intend to better equip church members to properly exercise their rights as citizens.
Despite good intentions, this also confuses the purpose of worship gatherings. It is right to encourage the saints to practice good citizenship as an implication of the gospel.
Some pastors even offer their church’s pulpit to politicians as a personal or political favour. There is no real need to elaborate what is wrong in this.
Some pastors’ sermons sound so much like political action speeches that congregations don’t know where the role of social activist ends and pastor begins. It confuses pastoral authority and gospel authority.
This pastor/politician identity crisis is a major trend today.
There is nothing wrong with well-meaning Christian politicians preaching the Gospel. It does a great good in their personal lives in trying to live the message they preach.
However, there is a real possibility that politicians may also allow their personal political, social and economic convictions or party policies to taint the gospel message and thereby confuse the congregations and voters.
Christian politicians would be walking a fine line if they choose to use their church pulpits also as campaign platforms.
In fact it might even be disadvantageous to them because of negative public perceptions it could attract.
It is something that politicians should consider well as they prepare for the elections.