Praying From Personal Freedom For Societal Change
In 2020, leaders around the world faced pressures unlike anything we had ever known previously, as we sought to lead people through the pandemic. All of the sudden, there was a demand to conform to a particular point of view:
“Pastor, you are either pro-vaccine or anti-vaccine! Choose! You will either post the BLM square or you are part of the problem. Choose! You will vote for my candidate or you are against all things good and decent. Choose! Either you affirm my identity or you are responsible for my potential suicide. Choose!”
I found myself wanting to pastor people effectively but dumbfounded at the choices presented to me. The implications were that I had to agree fully with a person’s convictions on issues and ideologies, or I would not have an opportunity to remain as a pastoral voice in their life. Agree and validate or else!
Honestly, on many matters, I was still learning and desperately searching for reliable information that wasn’t slanted to fit a certain agenda. I wasn’t sure if I was pro or anti-vaccine. I just wanted the pandemic to be over. I wasn’t sure if I should keep the church open and stand for religious freedom or if I should keep it closed and protect people’s health. I certainly didn’t want to be a “super-spreader!” It was bewildering! It was a leadership conundrum.
Eventually, I got my bearings. I worked through what I believed about every issue, in detail, from a Biblical perspective. Much of that I have articulated on the Allison Park Leadership Podcast, which we have defined as the proper place to have discussions about complicated issues.
At that time, however, I was longing to stay as a pastor's voice in people's lives. I was deeply desired to be part of the solution for the problems and polarizations that were happening all around us. So I needed to stay engaged with those who were expressing outrage toward me, but I could never satisfy their desire that I conform to their convictions.
In the summer of 2020, I wrote out a prayer that I have been praying ever since. This prayer has helped me immensely to remain internally free as I was regularly criticized for not doing enough for a particular cause, candidate, party, or situation.
A natural, fleshy response to this increased level of criticism and pressure would have been to get angry, to be defensive, to withdraw from leading or even engaging with people. Some leaders responded to the intensity of the season by picking sides and became very partisan and polarizing. But for me, I just wanted to follow Jesus. I wanted to keep his tone and approach. I wanted to be a pastor to everyone in my life, even those who were disagreeing with my decisions or had become hostile in some way toward me.
I did my best to follow the example of Jesus. He, as the Great Shepherd, laid down his life for his sheep. While no one was threatening to kill me physically, leadership always requires that I die. As a leader, I have to die to my rights and to my preferences and do what spiritual leadership requires of me, regardless of how I feel at the moment.
Here’s the five point prayer that I wrote:
I choose to yield my right to not be insulted. I choose to willingly absorb the pain of those who are being critical or hostile. I choose to forgive them and I release my hurt to God.
I reject expectations to conform to any ideologies that do not align with your Word, God. I will suffer in silence, for their sake, but that does not mean that I have to agree with what they think. I am free to disagree and yet still act in love.
I accept responsibility to be part of the solution for what is happening in the world. I will not run from the problems. I will stand in the gap and do my best to represent the will of Jesus in every situation, as an ambassador for the Kingdom of Heaven and, as a pastor to so many people inside and outside of my local church.
I declare that God has the capacity to defend his people and to defend the truth of his Word from a progressively pagan world. I release to him the responsibility to defend his cause because he is fully capable of defending himself.
Finally, I stand in agreement with Jesus. I declare that Jesus is able to defeat the strategies of the darkness inside and outside of the church. I believe that God is able to expose the lies of the enemy, destroy the works of the devil, and set free those who are held captive right now. May those who are wolves in sheep's clothing be revealed as such, and brought into God’s loving and redemptive discipline.
I pray these things in Jesus’ name! Amen!