Written by Rev. Calvin Lindstrom

Seven years ago I heard a fascinating lecture by Professor Gregory Athnos of North Park College. A musician by training, Prof. Athnos had the opportunity to spend significant time studying the artwork found in the Roman catacombs. It was an eye-opening experience for him and a relevant study for Christians today. While today the cross is one of the most identifiable symbols for Christians, the early church in their artwork focused more on the theme of resurrection. This was in no way a diminution of the suffering of Christ but rather an expression of their hope that the Lord Jesus Christ died for sinners and was raised to new life.

What is also significant is how the early church took key stories from the Old Testament and used these stories as celebrations of triumph over death. The story of Jonah and Daniel in the Lion’s Den are often featured in artwork found in the catacombs. Though technically not stories of resurrection, they do point to God’s mighty power and deliverance over death. Certainly these stories foreshadow the greatest triumph over sin and death in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I think for just about every Christian the last several weeks have been, at minimum, unsettling. There is still much that concerns us. We mourn with those who have lost a loved one to this terrible virus or have gone through a time of great testing. We weep with those who have lost employment or who face great uncertainties for their business or ministry moving forward. We are alarmed at the rapid expansion of government power at the city, state, and federal level. Can we even contemplate the cost of this pandemic to our nation? So yes, it is proper to weep and be greatly concerned about what is taking place. But in the midst of this, there should be hope.

 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. (1 Thessalonians 4:13)

We do not sorrow as those without hope.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (1 Peter 1:3)

It is significant that this is the first major holiday that we will not celebrate as we normally would. But this shouldn’t mean a diminished celebration. While your gathering might be much smaller or more subdued than normal, if you are focused on the triumph of the Lord Jesus Christ, how can you not be filled with joy and hope?

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. (Romans 8:37)

Though this time is difficult for many, we have an opportunity to share the hope we have with those who are fearful and anxious. Because we have placed our trust in Jesus Christ, we have something unimaginable to look forward to.

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined the things that God has prepared for those who love Him.” ~1 Corinthians 2:9

Like those in the early church who suffered, let your focus be on the joy of Christ’s resurrection and your resurrection to come.

Rev. Calvin Lindstrom is the pastor of Christian Liberty Church and Schools in Arlington Heights. Christian Liberty Academy is a private Christian institution that was founded in 1968 to meet the educational and spiritual needs of families in their community. He also serves as a board member for Illinois Family Action.

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Today, as our world is gripped by uncertainty and fear, we could all benefit from some encouragement, hope, and laughter. The Rev. Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer masterfully delivers on all three counts. In his presentation “When the State Becomes God,” Pastor Lutzer asks a crucial question – “Who plays the role of God in your life?” Drawing from the Book of Daniel, he encourages us to be prepared, to stand firm in our faith, and to refuse to bow. To conclude his address, Pastor Lutzer fields audience questions on a variety of topics including civil disobedience, immigration, religious freedom, persecution, “tolerance,” and more.

Dr. Erwin Lutzer is pastor emeritus of The Moody Church in Chicago and a prolific author. His legacy book, The Church in Babylon, is a must-read, filled with biblical insight and wisdom that shines God’s light on our ever-darkening culture.

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The events of recent days have thrown all of us into unchartered territory. With schools, restaurants, libraries, events, and even churches suspending normal operations, our lives have been disrupted in ways large and small. The impact is real, and depending on how long this lasts, it has the potential to deepen even further.

How should God’s people respond?

In Acts 10:38, in the midst of his sermon to Cornelius and his household, Peter tells us that Jesus “went about doing good.”

That’s an interesting—and compelling—description. Too often, I think we view Jesus’ ministry exclusively through the lens of spiritual redemption. Yes, that was His main point and purpose in coming to earth, but He underlined His concern for our spiritual well-being by meeting countless physical needs. He fed the hungry, healed the sick, raised the dead, and washed dirty feet. He mourned alongside Mary and Martha and cooked fish for hungry disciples. He was concerned about every dimension of the well-being of those around Him.

Likewise, the early church acted with radical self-sacrifice to help those with needs. The idea that Christians should only be concerned with the spiritual well-being of others isn’t found in Scripture. Yes, we should be concerned for the lost, but like Jesus, we can go about doing good—spiritually and materially. Sometimes helping others in the material realm will be the door God uses to allow us to minister spiritually.

I don’t pretend to have all the answers about how the church can serve our communities in a time of pandemic. There are cautions to be observed, to be sure—both for our own safety, and for the safety of those we would help. But even with those cautions, we can be alert to opportunities to meet needs around us. And when we do, we’ll not only be a blessing to our communities, we’ll be following in the footsteps of Jesus.

How can we serve? That’s a conversation my wife and I been having recently. We’ve made ourselves available to help one of our next-door neighbors with errands. He’s an older fellow believer who lives with a compromised immune system. Why should he go out to the store when he has young(er), healthy neighbors who can do it for him? I’ve also told our pastor that we’re available to help out other church members if there’s a need for a meal delivered or groceries picked up.

We’re also planning to assist my elderly grandparents in any way we can. My grandmother has been declining mentally for the past several years to the point that she’s become very difficult for my grandfather to care for. It used to be a relief to him to be able to get both of them out of the house a few times each week to meet friends or family at a restaurant for dinner. With all restaurants closed, he not only has lost that diversion, he also has the added burden of extra cooking. We plan to help ease that burden as we’re able.

These are small things, perhaps, but if we all take care of our own small acts of kindness toward those around us, perhaps we can lessen the burden of the coming weeks or months. Even a cup of cold water given in Jesus’ name is worthy of notice in God’s eyes.

Many families may also be facing financial hardships as the economic fallout builds. Perhaps there’s a single mom near you who just lost her job and doesn’t know how she’ll cover her bills. Or maybe there’s a small business owner who wants to keep his doors open after all of this is over but can’t pay the rent when he doesn’t have any customers due to the virtual shutdown. If God has given you the financial means to bless others, now would be a great time to look around to see who needs help. Ask your pastor, friends, or neighbors if they know of anyone who’s been hit hard and see what you can do.

I don’t know what additional opportunities we may have to serve others in the coming days. We all have our own families to think about and provide for, but I certainly want to be alert to opportunities as God brings them along. I challenge you to do the same.

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Our season of sheltering-in-place provides the ideal opportunity to prepare for the next season when we will re-engage in the public square. One of our responsibilities as Christians is to help foster an environment in which truth prevails and families flourish. Just before our home-sheltering began, Illinois Family Institute hosted our annual Worldview Conference, this year titled “Thinking Biblically About Our Corrosive Culture,” with speakers Dr. Michael Brown, theologian, author, and radio host; and Dr. Robert A. J. Gagnon, theologian, author, and professor at Houston Baptist University.

In his first presentation, Dr. Gagnon exposed the myriad ways that the “LGBTQ” heresy is making inroads into the church, including in evangelical churches that many assume are impenetrable by heretics. He begins by briefly outlining how mainline denominations were infected by sexuality heresy and then provides evidence that the beginnings of a similar trajectory are present in evangelical churches.

He examines the troubling rhetoric of Preston Sprinkle, president of the theologically conservative Center for Faith, Sexuality & Gender, of J. D. Greear, president of the culturally influential Southern Baptist Convention, and of Revoice and the “spiritual friendship” movements, both of which are movements led by and appealing to Christians who experience homoerotic attraction but affirm biblical sexual ethics.

Dr. Gagnon concludes by urging Christians to prioritize political issues rightly when voting and clarifies the monumental stakes for Christians should “progressives” take control of the U.S. Senate and White House and pass their chief legislative project: the culture-transforming, rights-nullifying, pernicious Equality Act.

Please make time to watch Dr. Gagnon’s important presentation.

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In 2016, IFI was fortunate to have as our annual banquet keynote speaker former Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, a strong and consistent voice for pro-family values. A former candidate for POTUS, she not only distinguished herself by forming and chairing the Tea Party Caucus in 2010 in the U.S. House, but as a courageous and outspoken pro-life leader, as attested to by her rating of zero from the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL).  First elected in 2006 and stepping down in 2014, Congresswoman Bachmann understands well the gravity of our diminishing civil freedoms and has experienced, first hand, the relentless and intolerant attacks of the Left on people of faith.

In this presentation Mrs. Bachmann speaks on Christians’ responsibility to defend truth in our country. Using the example of the Pilgrims, who came to found a new community on Christian principles, she argues for the good that Christians can do in a society to preserve its culture and uphold truth. The spirit of the United States did not originate with the U.S. Constitution or with the Declaration of Independence, she argues; rather, it comes directly from God, who upholds man. With the spirit of the Pilgrims’ Christian community, we can preserve this country, and this speech may well inspire more Christians to do so.

Mrs. Bachmann is a graduate of Anoka High School and Winona State University. She and her husband, Marcus, live in Stillwater where they own a small business mental health care practice that employs 42 people. The Bachmanns have five children, Lucas, Harrison, Elisa, Caroline, and Sophia. In addition, the Bachmanns have opened their home to 23 foster children over the years, which was the inspiration for Michele’s advocacy and work for foster and adopted children, earning her bipartisan praise for her efforts.

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Written by Dr. Everett Piper

Ray Comfort, in his book “Spurgeon Gold: Pure and Refined,” describes Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the 19th-century preacher who ministered in the streets of London during the cholera pandemic of 1854. Spurgeon’s words, says Mr. Comfort, were pure and refined. They were rhetorical and theological gold. Spurgeon, “had the ability to take the hammer of eloquence and nail a particular truth, to pull back the veil of the eternal and give us a fleeting glance.”

Mr. Comfort continues. “Gold holds its market value. Heaven’s everlasting streets are paved with it … Gold is not meant to sit on the shelf of a rich man. If it does, then it becomes worthless. Its real value will be seen in its being spent on the cause of the Kingdom.” In other words, the gold of truth earns its value only through the spoken word and the active life of men of virtue and valor. The gold of integrity must be “spent.” It cannot be hoarded. It only earns its value if it is invested.

As COVID-19 hysteria sweeps across our nation, the tens of millions of us who still claim to be followers of Christ might do well to consider, not only these words from Ray Comfort, but also the words and actions of Charles Spurgeon of some 150 years past.

They are so good.

They are so faithful.

They are so pertinent and so prophetic.

They are gold.

One can almost hear Spurgeon bellowing from the podiums of New York City and Washington, D.C., as he did from his pulpit in Essex England — “Christians take heart! Be not afraid! Your Savior and your God, is with you! Be steadfast and immovable! Be strong and courageous! Be not afraid! Always abound in the work of the Lord!”

If you listen carefully, this man, known as the Prince of Preachers, a man with a golden tongue and a refined soul, is shouting — “Never let a crisis go to waste. Run toward the storm, not away from it. Embrace this calamity. Have courage! This is your time. This is your destiny. This is your opportunity. Shine with the light of salvation and the love of your Redeemer. Be the Church, for Jesus, himself, has told you the gates of hell will not prevail against you! Put your trust in God, not in yourselves, and not in government. Believe in His sovereignty. Walk in His grace. March with confidence in your King!”

But enough of the dross of my speculation. Hear the exact words of Spurgeon:

“At first, I gave myself up with youthful ardor to the visitation of the sick, and was sent for from all corners of the district by persons of all ranks and religions; but, soon, I became weary in body and sick at heart. My friends seemed falling one by one, and I felt or fancied that I was sickening like those around me. A little more work and weeping would have laid me low among the rest; I felt that my burden was heavier than I could bear, and I was ready to sink under it.

“I was returning mournfully home from a funeral, when, as God would have it, my curiosity led me to read a paper which was wafered up in a shoemaker’s window on the Great Dover Road. It did not look like a trade announcement, nor was it, for it bore, in good bold handwriting, these words: ‘Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.’

“The effect upon my heart was immediate. Faith appropriated the passage as her own. I felt secure, refreshed, girt with immortality. I went on with my visitation of the dying, in a calm and peaceful spirit; I felt no fear of evil, and I suffered no harm.

“The Providence which moved the tradesman to place those verses in his window, I gratefully acknowledge; and in the remembrance of its marvelous power, I adore the Lord my God.”

Let me repeat … “Faith appropriated. I felt secure, refreshed, girt with immortality. I went on in a calm and peaceful spirit; I felt no fear of evil, and I suffered no harm!”

This is gold. Pure gold. Refined gold.

Whether it be a bad market or a bad disease, lovers of Christ should be the first to show the world that our security is not in hand sanitizers but in our Savior.

“Don’t let this crisis go to waste!” shouts Spurgeon.

Show the world what love, joy and peace, truly look like.

Show your neighbor, your city and your nation that even though we walk through dark valleys, fear has lost its victory and death has lost its sting.

Dr. Everett Piper, former president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, is a columnist for The Washington Times and author of “Not A Day Care: The Devastating Consequences of Abandoning Truth” (Regnery 2017). This article was originally published by the WashingtonTimes.com.

When it comes to addressing complex issues of our day – homosexuality, trans-ideology, and abortion, just to name a few – most pastors choose to remain silent and “safe,” rather than boldly confront our culture with the Truth of Scripture. Why are pastors so reluctant to teach their congregations how the Word of God must shape and inform the everyday life of His people?

Please watch and listen to this short video as Dr. Michael L. Brown illustrates why pastors ought to view speaking out on cultural, even political, topics and shepherding their parishioners as they navigate social and moral landmines as equally important as their calling to proclaim the gospel and make disciples.

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

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President Donald J. Trump has called for a National Day of Prayer this Sunday. While there is never a lack of serious issues to pray about, the level of anxiety and even fear among citizens is at a level many of us have never seen before. The need for national corporate prayer by Christians is indisputable.

While some politicians and media pundits are working overtime to have us believe that the federal or state government can save us, we know that God is sovereign (Psalm 103:19) over the affairs of all creation. It is to Him we must turn when we encounter various trials. While we should heed the recommendations of scientists about hand-washing, social-distancing, and stocking our pantries, we shouldn’t panic or worry. (Mat. 6:34)

The Apostle Paul tells us:

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ~Phil. 4:6-7

Work places, schools, churches, sports stadiums, casinos and even the state legislature are closing due to the coronavirus. This is a serious pathogen that can become dangerous, if not deadly, for many of our vulnerable family members, neighbors, and friends. It is wise to take precautions so as not to allow it to spread. But it is infinitely more important to bow our heads and bend our knees before Almighty God to make our appeals known to Him. Again, the Apostle Paul exhorts us to rejoice in hope, persevere in tribulation, and be constant in prayer. (Rom. 12:12)

• Please pray for the peace of Christ to rule and reign in our hearts, so that we may shine the Light of Jesus to those who are without hope. May we cast all our anxieties on Him, and let Him sustain us. (1 John 4:18; 1 Peter 5:7)

• In this time of trial and testing, pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that we may know His peace. May God help us to be patient and kind to one another.

• Pray for one another as we face this difficulty. Pray that through this tribulation, Christians will grow nearer to our Creator, and that the Lord will use it to sanctify us and give us many opportunities to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel.

• Pray that our rebellious, agnostic, and/or unbelieving neighbors will wrestle with the reality of their own mortality and diligently seek God. (Deut. 4:29; Prov. 8:17; Jer. 29:13; Mat 7:7; Luke 11:9; Ps. 105:4)

• Pray that God would bring peace and healing to those who are afflicted with the illness, to provide supernatural strength and protection for the medical personnel struggling on the front lines, and to bless every official at every level who are working to help the people affected by this pandemic. Pray that they would seek and acknowledge God’s loving, omnipotent purpose for all of this.

This situation also provides us a perfect opportunity to pray for and communicate with our state lawmakers who will be spending more time in their district offices now that next week’s Springfield session has been cancelled. Introduce yourself to them if you have never met with them. Encourage others to make calls as well.

You can begin your conversation by thanking them for their public service, which they likely do not hear very often. You can relay your concerns about bills that have recently been introduced or are still alive from last year.

Click HERE for the list of bills IFI is watching for this session.

To find the contact information for your state senator and state representative, click HERE. Once you enter your zip code and address, these 2 officials will be at the bottom of the section for Your State Officials.

Additional Prayer Points:

• Pray that God would intervene in the hearts of lawmakers who are sponsors of the anti-life, anti-family bills.

• Pray that Christians would go to the voting booth on (or before) Tuesday and vote to elect people who align with God’s principles of life, marriage, and sexual purity and monogamy within marriage, etc.

• Pray that President Trump would continue to seek God’s wisdom during these tumultuous times.

• Pray for the decision-makers, who decided to cancel events and restrict travel.

• Pray for God’s mercy on Illinois and our nation.

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Between the increasingly bitter political divisions, intensifying anti-Christian hostility, and coronaviral pandemic, it is becoming challenging to feel hopeful. But there are many reasons for Christians to feel hopeful.

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)

But there remain many temporal reasons for hope as well. Allan C. Carlson, senior editor of Touchstone Magazine, founder of the World Congress of Families, and author of Conjugal America: On the Public Purpose of Marriage, offers hope for a Republican Party led by true conservatives who understand the value of each and every human life and the critical importance of true marriage and properly ordered sexuality. Watch this short video and be encouraged!

“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” (Romans 12:12).

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

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Written by Emily Carder

A meme circulating Facebook depicts a disconcerting dystopian scene: A man in a trench he cannot climb out of is warming himself before a fire; he has used the rungs of the ladder he could have used to climb out of the trench to build the fire. So, he has destroyed his own means of freedom for temporary comfort.

Vice President Mike Pence openly prays to His Heavenly Father for guidance before taking action. He is currently being chided for his 2015 response to an AIDS outbreak in Indiana. Does anyone seriously think the time Pence took to pray is actually responsible for more AIDS infection? Yes. Read for yourself:

Pence’s slow response to the quick spread of HIV in Scott County, Indiana in 2015 led to the infection of over 200 people. When the idea of a needle exchange to slow the infection rate of the illness was presented to Pence he responded by saying, “I’m going to go home and pray on it.”[1]

There you have it. The spread of AIDS in Scott County, IN, is Pence’s fault because he took time to pray.

Fast forward to the current “crisis,” the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Pence is now spearheading the government’s response. What is his first course of action? To pray. To which Fox News’s Jessica Tarlov snarks,

“Well, with climate science, he thinks you should pray on it,” Tarlov replied. “If you have HIV, you should go to a doctor. If you have a Coronavirus, you should go to a doctor. And this isn’t about insulting prayer, it’s just saying that that kind of policy and that kind of thinking is outdated and has no place in modern society.”[2]

When was the last time Newsweek or anyone in the MSM spoke against euthanasia? Anything other than glowing approval of abortion up to birth? Giddy joy for no medical care for born-alive aborted infants? I have a question for those, like Tarlov, who warm themselves at the self-conceited bonfires du jour: How many living infants were left to die following abortions; how many infants were dismembered in utero; how many children began transsexual disfigurement, chemical or surgical, in the time it took for her to utter her ill-considered denouncement of Pence and prayer? Though she claims this is not “about insulting prayer,” it is precisely that. Rather, it is about insulting the one to whom prayer is addressed. It is blatant and open anti-Christianity. Pence is unqualified because he is a practicing Christian according to Tarlov.

It’s not as though the Newseek authors and Tarlov don’t have their own religion. They do. When Newsweek suggests Pence’s prayer caused greater suffering, and when Tarlov dismisses prayer as a rightful response in the modern era, it is because they have different gods. When government is looked to as the solution for all needs, it becomes a god. Not too long ago some were suggesting a “Scroogian” resolution to the climate crisis: reduce the surplus population. [3]  It still needed to be decided who the surplus were, and who decided.

Yet, we are well on our way with the likes of Bernie Sanders and the advocates of euthanasia. Still, with the advent of COVID-19, it seemed rather ironic there was so much panic in the face of such a natural population eliminator. In all seriousness, what this demonstrates is that those who celebrate abortion but then panic over COVID-19 actually do hold life to be valuable. It is the Creator of life they reject. When lives are in the trenches, it’s the ladders they don’t mind burning.

In his explanation of the First Commandment Martin Luther wrote, “To have a God properly means to have something in which the heart trusts completely.”^[4] He builds on that thought in both his Morning and Evening Prayers when he borrows from Christ’s own praying of Psalm 22 on the cross, “For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things.”[5] If we return to the image at the beginning of this short piece, a ladder is the answer to a prayer sent into the trench (i.e., a crisis) in which we live. Either we use it as God intends, or we burn it. It all depends on who we believe sent the ladder, on how we treasure Him and His gifts.

If God is the Creator of all that is seen and unseen, then He is the one who also sustains it. And it is He who daily and richly supplies all our needs. We need daily bread, that is, food. His Son taught us to pray for it. Yet it does not magically appear on our tables. God sends farmers. God still sends favorable weather for crops in due season. We pray for bountiful harvests. Likewise, we pray for good government and peace in our nation, that all our economic efforts may be productive.

We need each other’s vocations, neighbors serving neighbors through our various careers and interests. We live in union with each other. In Luke 12:22-28 Jesus teaches us how the Heavenly Father regards the least of His creatures, birds of the air and lilies of the field. If they do not have a care because He feeds and clothes them, why should we, who are His treasured ones, the ones for whom His own Son died? In all ways it is a matter of perspective. If God is the giver of all good gifts, then we are also the stewards of all He gives.

Pence isn’t only praying—as Newsweek’s and Tarlov’s derision suggests. The VP is also working with people of differing vocations. His COVID-19 Task Force consists of members from many disciplines. Among them are,

Ambassador Debbie Brix, White House Corona Virus Response Coordinator; Secretary Alex Azar, Department of Health and Human Services; Dr. Robert Redfield, Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Dr. Anne Schuchat, Principal Deputy Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Dr. Stephen Hahn, Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Food and Drug Administration; Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.[6] (not exhaustive)

When God answers prayers, He sends people of various vocations to be in service to each other through acts of mercy to each other, to be stewards of His gifts to and with each other for the greater good.

So, in the depth of life’s trenches, we pray. (And when aren’t we in the trenches?) He surrounds us by a host of angels. For, He is our refuge and strength (Psalm 46; Psalm 91). Sometimes we might even imagine He sends us a ladder in the form of soap and water to wash our hands, often and much.

Footnotes:

[1] https://www.newsweek.com/mike-pences-pray-it-plan-combat-indiana-hiv-outbreak-resurfaces-after-trump-taps-vp-lead-1489344

[2] https://www.rawstory.com/2020/02/fox-news-pundit-slams-mike-pence-for-pushing-prayer-over-science-he-shouldnt-be-anywhere-near-coronavirus/

[3] https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/population_and_sustainability/climate/; https://www.inverse.com/article/48236-population-control-can-help-climate-change; https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/population-climate-change-1.5331133

^[4] Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 366). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.

[5] Rydecki, Paul A. (Tr.). (2018) Luther’s Small Catechism; An Introduction to the Catholic Faith. (p. 39). Paul A. Rydecki.

[6] https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/03/06/vp-mike-pence-provides-coronavirus-task-force-update-grand-princess-cruise-ship-has-21-testing-positive/

Written by Dr. Anne Bradley

It’s election season in the U.S., and we are hearing a lot about voting. I saw a public service announcement on television, and a Hollywood actress asked us to vote. I suspect she wouldn’t want my vote if she knew what it was, but she was encouraging voting nonetheless.

On Election Day, Americans proudly wear the red, white and blue “I voted” sticker, which is kind of a badge of honor. There are many in the world who are denied the benefits of democratic institutions, and this keeps them oppressed.

It is important, but is it the most important voting that we do? This prompted me to think about why we put so much emphasis in voting on Election Day and proudly wearing our stickers, when the “everyday voting” we do is so important yet never discussed.

The Voting We Do Everyday

You vote every day when you go to the grocery store or the gas station, pay your rent, purchase a washing machine or buy a latte. You are voting with your feet and sending important messages about your preferences and desires to the folks who are trying to give you what you want.

In some ways, this is very different from political voting. When we go to the ballot box, we are not afforded the luxury of voting with precision. I vote for a person who I think believes what I do on at least more issues than not, and then I hope he or she wins.

If my candidate doesn’t win, I am out of luck until next time, which could be four years later. If they do win, then I hope they stay true to their promises. If they don’t stay true to their promises, it is difficult for me to keep them accountable.

I can send an angry letter (which will be read by a staff intern), place an angry phone call or go to social media. However, these aren’t good accountability mechanisms, and they don’t always result in changed behavior and apologies. Mostly, I have to wait for their term to end and hope to vote them out; this depends not just on me, but also how others feel about the performance of this person.

In short, it’s complicated and has some accountability issues. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be involved, but it does mean we aren’t going to get what we want, and the consequences of bad political behavior are high.

How Voting with Your Feet is Different

This operates quite differently in economic exchange. When I go to Starbucks to purchase a latte, I am buying one thing, so there is precision and transparency. This is also true when I buy a house—even though the house is more complicated than the latte. I know what I want and have good reason to believe I will receive it. If I don’t get what I want, I have many methods to hold the seller accountable.

Let’s face it. We are fallen sinners, and mistakes happen. Starbucks may mess up my order, or the contractor may install my plumbing incorrectly. One of these is easier to fix than the other, but what matters is that they can, and often do, get corrected.

Why is this so? Because when I don’t get what I have been promised, I not only write letters, place phone calls and go to social media, but these actions also bring about changed behavior and corrective action. They do that effectively because Starbucks wants me to come back, and they want my friends to come. They want me to keep voting for them with my dollars. The minute they let me down without fixing it, I am afforded the opportunity to leave. I can leave because I have a great deal of alternatives.

The private voting we do through economic exchange is possibly the most important voting that we can do: It brings about change, it helps us express our values and it serves the public good in awe-inspiring ways.

That I can go to the grocery store and have a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables from which to choose, in the middle of winter when I could not grow them on my own, brings about peaceful cooperation. I am cooperating with farmers, truck drivers and grocery store managers, whom I do not know, but we come together. I am served with fruit and vegetables, and I reward all those involved in the process by paying for them.

Most important, it allows people to use the gifts that God has given them to serve not just their family but also strangers.

Glorifying God with Our “Voting”

We are made in the image of God with a command in Genesis to be fruitful and multiply. Part of being fruitful is using the gifts God has given you to serve his creation and others. This brings him glory and offers more flourishing on earth.

Voting with our feet through the market provides countless opportunities for us to use our God-given gifts to help others. This is true whether you are a janitor or a CEO. If God has created you to do these things, your job is to do them well. As customers, we vote with our feet and send signals about the value that others are creating, and this encourages even more human creativity.

The voting that happens in economic exchange brings peace and greater levels of human flourishing. The more voting we do in economic exchange, the better off we are, and in doing so, we can compete to see who serves strangers the best. In the market, we encourage others to do just what God has commanded us: use our creativity to be fruitful and serve.

This article first appeared at The Institute for Faith, Work & Economics.

In its new State of the Church 2020 study, the Barna Group has uncovered how Americans are maintaining their connections to churches while at the same time “renegotiating” what those connections look like in terms of today’s society.

The study divided participants into two groups–practicing Christians and churched adults. According to Barna, practicing Christians attend services at least monthly and claim their faith is very important. Churched adults have attended church at least once in the past six months.

One of the study’s major findings was that nearly two in five churchgoers regularly attend multiple churches, which seems to indicate that loyalty to a single church body may be becoming a thing of the past.

Illinois Family Institute Executive Director David E. Smith noted:

This report confirms that church attendance is becoming more fluid. Their poll of church attenders finds that loyalty to their congregation has declined for many. That is so very sad, because we are called to be the local Body of Christ, dedicated to “each other,” bearing one another’s burdens and preserving under trial and in the faith. Faithfulness to one another, it would seem, is closely related to agape love of your fellow church member.

Barna refers to this declining loyalty as “church hopping” and noted that it “is becoming a common feature of churchgoing.” The study found that church hoppers were just as likely to attend weekly church services as those who loyally attend a single church. However, they select services from among a small group of churches that they attend.

According to the Barna Group, 63% of churched adults and 72% of practicing Christians attend church services with a single congregation. A small minority, or nearly two in five church adults (38%), and just over a quarter of practicing Christians (27%) “at least occasionally attend” other churches.

The report also finds that church membership is less important to Gen X (born 1965-1983) and Millennial (born 1984-1998) Christians than it is to Boomers (born 1946-1964). Nearly 7 in 10 Boomers (68%) officially join a church compared to 51% of Gen Xers and 48% of Millennials. Younger generations were also more likely to mark “not-applicable” on questions regarding church-membership. No significant differences appeared in membership rates between denominations.

Smith shared,

The results seem to indicate that many American churchgoers may be viewing their church attendance based upon personal choice or pleasure, much like a consumer looking at “what’s in it for me?” when purchasing a product.

The study also found that churchgoers are divided on the value of church. “Those who frequent worship services do so largely because of personal enjoyment, but many churchgoers also readily admit that they believe people are tired of church as usual,” observed Barna President David Kinnaman.

Sixty-five percent of churched adults say they attend church because they enjoy it, as do 82% of practicing Christians. Seventeen percent of churchgoers reported they attend because they “have to” and 15% do because it’s a habit.

Nearly half of Christians (48%) and more than half of churched adults (57%) admitted “people they know” are tired of the usual type of church experience. The report was careful to note that the “data showed no significant difference across denomination, generation or faith segment.”

Churchgoers also reported that for the most part they “experience—and have come to expect—positive emotions and outcomes by going to church.” Churched adults say they leave services feeling inspired (37%), encouraged (37%), forgiven (34%), connected with God or experienced his presence (33%), and challenged to change something in their life (26%) “every time.” At the same time, 32% reported feeling disappointed at least half the time and another 40% said they felt guilty.

The study also revealed that Christians and non-Christians are questioning the church’s relevance to the community. Practicing Christians believe churches “have a strong community impact”—66% very positive, 28% somewhat positive. However, not everyone sees it that way. Just over a quarter of Americans (27%) think churches “have a very positive impact”—the same percentage (27%) who say it has “no effect at all.” A plurality of Americans (38%) think the church has just a “somewhat positive” impact. Non-Christians reported indifference (39% no impact) or found churches’ local contributions to be “very negative” (8%) or “somewhat negative” (10%).

Younger generations of Americans were more likely to hold a negative view of the church. Barna found the “same percentage of practicing Christian Millennials who agree the Church is irrelevant today is the same as non-Christians who hold this view (25% each definitely agree).”

Responses were collected online between December 5-18, 2019 among 1,003 U.S. adults and 603 practicing Christian adults.

To read the report, visit www.barna.com/research/current-perceptions.

TOMORROW! IFI is hosting our annual Worldview Conference on Saturday, March 7th at the Village Church of Barrington. This year’s conference is titled “Thinking Biblically About Our Corrosive Culture” and features Dr. Michael Brown and Dr. Rob Gagnon. For more information, please click HERE for a flyer or click the button below to register for the conference.

In this, IFI’s final excerpt from the outstanding interview Derek Buikema, pastor of Orland Park Christian Reformed Church, conducted with Benedict Option author and blogger at the American Conservative, Rod Dreher, they discuss the critically important issue of anger. Pastor Derek asks Rod whether there is a place in the church for anger, and if so, what does that look like. Rod offers both a corrective and a warning about the place of anger in a society awash in grievous injustice and “defiling” wickedness being promoted even to children.

Please take four minutes to watch this excerpt, perhaps with family members with whom you can discuss the ideas Rod Dreher illuminates.

IFI is hosting our annual Worldview Conference on March 7th at the Village Church of Barrington. This year’s conference is titled “Thinking Biblically About Our Corrosive Culture” and features Dr. Michael Brown and Dr. Rob Gagnon. For more information, please click HERE for a flyer or click the button below to register for the conference.

In Part 6 of Pastor Derek Buikema’s interview with Rod Dreher, author of The Benedict Option and blogger at American Conservative, Pastor Derek asks how Christian colleges can stay faithful to Christ. Rod’s edifying, inspiring, and convicting response encompasses far more than suggestions for Christian colleges. He offers a vision of the narrow gate and hard path that is now set before Christians in America, and what this will require of us if we seek to remain connected to God. He warns especially about the failure of Christians to “fully grasp how much the world gets into us.”

IFI urges you to watch this short video with your family and share it with your friends.

IFI is hosting our annual Worldview Conference on March 7th at the Village Church of Barrington. This year’s conference is titled “Thinking Biblically About Our Corrosive Culture” and features Dr. Michael Brown and Dr. Rob Gagnon. For more information, please click HERE for a flyer or click the button below to register for the conference.

In Part V of Pastor Derek Buikema’s interview with Benedict Option author Rod Dreher, Pastor Derek asks what communities that seek to cultivate a deep and abiding faith within our increasingly anti-Christian culture will or should look like. Rod explains that there is no formula and that different cultural milieus will produce different kinds of communities. He shares what one such community looks like and looks forward to seeing what kinds of diverse communities will develop.

Watch: part 1, part 2, part 3 and/or part 4.

IFI is hosting our annual Worldview Conference on March 7th at the Village Church of Barrington. This year’s conference is titled “Thinking Biblically About Our Corrosive Culture” and features Dr. Michael Brown and Dr. Rob Gagnon. For more information, please click HERE for a flyer or click the button below to register for the conference.