Area church leaders navigate potential political polarization within a congregation
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) – Election day is quickly approaching, and tensions are high among Americans who have thrown their support behind opposing candidates.
The split is even creeping into some church congregations. So much so, that one group hosted a seminar on how to lead a 'purple' church in a sea of blue and red opinions.
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"We're wider than we used to be on most issues," Pastor Frank Broyles said. "It's complicated in our day in time to find the balance."
Broyles is the director of Diakonia, a community chaplain seed ministry. He's also a member of the Huntsville Association for Pastoral Care. That group sponsors monthly Lunch-and-Learn meetings. Broyles said it was important to use one of them to discuss the current political climate and how church leaders can navigate tensions among congregants.
"We are charged to be ambassadors for reconciliation," he said.
"You hear stories constantly about how complicated politics is. How do you navigate through the political landscape? I mean, we all have to do that. But how does a pastor do that; a chaplain, someone who is responsible for the care of a community where there are going to be different opinions. More than ever, you'll be hearing about those opinions often from the people that you're serving?" he said.
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That is the basis for his seminar, The Purple Church. It is an idea that has spread nationwide, and Broyles studied many publications that explained how a Purple Church operates. It starts with the plan starts with creating an atmosphere for conversation and dialogue, based on a mutual respect for an opinion that is different than your own.
"Can't we find some common ground? And when you can't find common ground, at least respect our differences," Broyles said. "We're responsible as ministers to preach a variety of subjects and topics, and people have opinions about them. You can address political matters, but you don't do it from a partisan or controlling standpoint. You do it with sensitivity and knowing that there is a diversity out there."
The Purple Church Lunch-and-Learn included an open invitation for church leaders like Pastor Michael Bowe to attend.
"It's incredibly difficult. We always feel like we're having to walk this tight wireline and be very careful of anything you say, [or] else you fall off the tightrope one way or the other because some of the smallest things that you don't mean can be misinterpreted to be highly political when you never meant it to be that way," Bowe said.
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That pressure, Broyles said, can make it a lot harder for clergy to execute their calling.
"You have to be what's called a non-anxious presence, as much as you can be. Be present to God, to yourself, and move in with a calm and a sense of security within," he said. "If you don't take care of yourself as a congregational leader, you will become anxious and dissonant. Then you can't deal with dissonance if you don't have inner unity."
Broyles said the hope is that as church leaders learn how to effectively pastor in polarization, the hope is congregants follow suit.
"By cultivating within, models of where, even within we can have these deep conversations and then we can go out in public life [away] from the church and deal with the differences we have with others," Broyles said.
Chaplain Donnell Harris said as he listened, there was one thing that lingered on his mind: Christians are called first to follow Jesus.
"That polarization is veering away from Jesus because he didn't polarize. In fact, he brought peoples together. And when I say people, I pulled an "s" on that. It was plural- peoples together. He knew how to make the enemy the hero. In the case of the Good Samaritan, the person that they would normally want to hate, he is the person that he makes the hero in the story," Harris said.
Both Harris and Bowe said the seminar had helpful takeaways.
"The best part that I learned was a bit of how to comfort people who are grieving through some of the political conflict that's going on. People feel like they've lost a part of the world. One of the ways we can minister to people [is to] show the love of Christ through people that are hurting. They feel like they've lost a lot through some of the political moves that have happened," Bowe said.
