{"id":23016,"date":"2022-10-31T09:58:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-31T16:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greaternw.org\/news\/?p=23016"},"modified":"2022-10-31T23:01:37","modified_gmt":"2022-11-01T06:01:37","slug":"a-purple-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greaternw.org\/news\/a-purple-church\/","title":{"rendered":"A purple church?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Pastor Scott Rosekrans<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I read an interesting article a few weeks ago where a study was conducted regarding the political persuasion of churches.\u00a0According to the report, churches that focused more on preaching salvation tended to be red and churches that preached a message of social justice tended to be blue. It wasn\u2019t exact or one hundred percent, but such were the tendencies. I found the article interesting and noted that they didn\u2019t discuss any purple churches and wondered if such a church was possible or a goal we should strive to achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Scott Rosekrans<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Admittedly, I preach more than my fair share of social justice, but that\u2019s where my passion lies, and it has little to do with my political persuasion.\u00a0I think my bent for social justice issues comes from my experiences as a police officer, a defense attorney, and a prosecutor, all of which exposed me to a wide range of social ills. Ills many aspiring politicians seize upon to scare you into voting for them. Don\u2019t believe me?\u00a0Stop reading, turn on the television, and watch some of these attack ads.\u00a0 But I digress.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did attend church during these periods, and honestly, I do not recall any of the pastors beating the social justice drum regularly. Most did preach salvation, but they may have been preaching to the choir, as most of those sitting in the pews would tell you they\u2019ve already been saved. It makes me wonder if our neglect of social justice issues has played a role in the decline of mainline denominations with more vacant pews as more and more people are questioning our relevancy.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was, after all, John Wesley\u2019s combination of salvation and social justice that propelled the Methodist Church into a recognized denomination with a worldwide membership in the millions, out of which grew major universities and medical centers that focused on the mind and body.\u00a0It begs the question as to whether or not our denomination has lost that focus. A strong argument could be made that we have as we face the all-to-real prospect of a split to where we can\u2019t really call ourselves \u201cunited.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ironically, over the past six years, I have had people ask me about the political leanings of our church. I tell them that I haven\u2019t taken a poll but that in my conversations with individual members of the congregation, I can get a feel for where they may be politically and that we actually have Democrats, Republicans, and Independents in attendance on any given Sunday. And they don\u2019t sit on either side of the aisle as they do in Congress, as far as I can tell.\u00a0Many who have checked us out and have stayed tell me that they like the genuine message of social justice, which I tell them was a seed planted long before I got here. I\u2019m just the associate gardener tending to the garden, hoping to play a part in producing more righteous fruit.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And just in case you didn\u2019t know, I didn\u2019t go to seminary, and I have said more than once that my knowledge of theology was not a pool you would want to dive into headfirst.\u00a0And I struggle with that because I don\u2019t want to be one of those one-trick ponies, which is why I rely upon the lectionary to provide a balanced variety of topics upon which to preach. I have noticed a sermon series often hidden within the weekly scripture readings.\u00a0I also rely on my annotated study Bible, a Wesley Commentary, and another very comprehensive commentary written by three theologians, all with Theology doctorates. I take these steps so if my preaching is questioned; I can point to my sources along with the Scripture and our beloved Book of Discipline.\u00a0So far, that\u2019s prevented a massive Sunday morning walkout. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, with all that being said, should it be a goal to be a purple church, or should we have a balanced blend of salvation and good works?\u00a0 I think we can find our answer in the words of Jesus\u2019 brother, the Apostle James, who said: \u201cMy brothers and sisters, what good it is if people say they have faith but do nothing to show it?\u201d You can\u2019t have one without the other and to have just that right combination takes an effort on our part as we follow the lead of the Spirit, who, as far as I can tell, is neither a Republican nor a Democrat. Instead, the Spirit leads us on the independent way of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Scott Rosekrans<\/strong> serves as pastor to the people of Community United Methodist Church in Port Hadlock, Washington.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Pastor Scott Rosekrans I read an interesting article a few weeks ago where a study was conducted regarding the political persuasion of churches.\u00a0According to the report, churches that focused more on preaching salvation tended to be red and churches that preached a message of social justice tended to be blue. It wasn\u2019t exact or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,74,16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-23016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-church-2","7":"category-opinioneditorial","8":"category-pacific-northwest-conference"},"yoast_head":"\nA purple church? - Greater Northwest Area | News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/greaternw.org\/news\/a-purple-church\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A purple church? - Greater Northwest Area | News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Pastor Scott Rosekrans I read an interesting article a few weeks ago where a study was conducted regarding the political persuasion of churches.\u00a0According to the report, churches that focused more on preaching salvation tended to be red and churches that preached a message of social justice tended to be blue. 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