An Election Reflection
By: Pastor Stephen Mitchell
It was a polarizing, deeply divided election season. It was, “the most important election of our lifetime”. Both sides felt that it would be the absolute apocalypse of America if the candidate of the other team won. Election day came. I remember having excitement and dread at the same time. I stayed up late watching the results as they came in. Who will lead our country, and which political party will have power? Before going to bed, George W. Bush was declared the winner. Then I woke up in the middle of the night and saw that Al Gore was the winner, I went back to sleep. I woke up in the morning and saw that George W. Bush was declared the winner again, and then a month of non-stop legal challenges and crises hit the country to see who would ultimately lead the country.
It was, of course, the 2000 election that I’m recalling for you, but it was then that I learned a very important lesson and truth, which I’ve held with me ever since the pandemonium of that election: No matter who wins, no matter which party is in control or who is in the White House, Jesus Christ is still King, and God is ultimately Sovereign over history. As Christians we tend to echo that truth easily when politics are going the way we want, when the candidates we vote for and the party, we vote for are in power, but for some reason, when the other team wins, we succumb to doom, gloom and fear and as if to cope, we struggle to remind ourselves God is in control. The biblical and theological reality of course is that Jesus is above all powers and authorities in the elections that go the way we want as well as in the elections that don’t go the way we want. God’s plans for you, for the church, and over history are not dependent upon the outcome of an American election.
Yet, in the last few days, with the massive democratic party victory in the 2026 midterms, many politically conservative leaning evangelical Christians are talking as though spiritual revival and awakening was somehow dependent upon political forces and election outcomes. In fact, in the run-up to the election, one political candidate said the election needed to go their way to help, “sustain Christianity in our country.” That kind of thinking showcases just how idolatrous the altar of seeking political power at all costs has become for much of evangelical Christianity. Jesus Christ said that “The gates of hell shall not prevail against my church” (Matthew 16:18). How small does your god have to be for Christianity to need political power and influence to be sustained? That’s a pretty small god. The God of the Bible is the alpha and omega, the Scriptures say, “He who sits in the heavens laughs” (Psalm 2:4) at any attempt by earthly rulers to overthrow or undo His power and authority. The political pendulum may swing back and forth between elections, but Jesus is still Lord of all.
Historically and even today in many parts of the world, Christianity flourishes best under pressure and persecution. Still, certainly we as Christians should care about influencing the direction of our country on various issues, impacting our culture and participating in the political process to safeguard our own freedoms and rights. Yet, having said that, what has become increasingly concerning over the last several years, is the idolatrous focus the evangelical world has had on marrying Christianity with partisan politics, whether it be with the political right or left. Some churches, Pastors, podcasters, and Grifters online have intertwined our faith with political commentary and rhetoric to such a degree that we have forgotten that our mission mandate as a church is to win souls with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not win elections. To share and show Jesus with our neighbor demands that we must love them, not hate them.
We must not be willing to compromise the moral credibility of our Christian witness for the sake of obtaining political power and influence, because that reduces evangelical Christians to just another special interest group that can be bought, no different from others. Christians are called to be different. Laws matter, politics matter, and elections matter but the Gospel matters more because it is the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:17) and is the ultimate means for bringing about real change and real revival in our nation. As an example, Roe V. Wade was successfully, and thankfully, overturned by the US Supreme Court in 2022 but the numbers of abortions have gone up, not down in the years since, thanks to abortion drugs now available by mail. Those relaxed drug restrictions were set in place by the Biden administration but have been allowed to stay in place under the Trump administration. A democratic administration and a republican one have facilitated this ongoing moral tragedy.
Jesus is not anyone’s political mascot, even as both the left and right claim Him as one. The reality is that if we truly want to approach various issues that should matter to us as Christians, from a biblical perspective, we will never entirely fit in with one political ideological tribe, and we shouldn’t. As Andrew Welker said, “we cannot allow political tribal markers to define our identity more than the blood of Christ.”. Our faith should inform our politics, not our politics inform our faith. However we reacted to election night, we have an opportunity to be reminded of what our priorities should be in the light of political reality. The political reality is that no political figure, or party will be able to save Christianity in America. They will let us down. Winning an election while compromising our witness is not really winning. There is only one Savior, and His name is Jesus. The Bible’s book of Proverbs tells us, “Many seek the face of a ruler, but it is from the LORD that a man gets justice” (Proverbs 29:26). Who are we seeking? We should be seeking to know Christ and make Him known.
Rebecca McLaughlin recently posted on X saying, “Jesus is the hope of the world. The local church is the hope of the world. The church is Jesus’ body on earth, so both these things are true. You know what isn’t the hope of the world? Any political party or leader.” What should we do in the aftermath of the midterm election? We should do what we always are called to do whenever the political pendulum swings: Pray for our leaders, love our neighbor, live out our faith, be hopeful not fearful and speak biblical truth in love.
“Some trust in chariots and some in horses but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.”- Psalm 20:6-7
“Republicans and Democrats will come and go, but Christ’s reign is secure.”- Kevin DeYoung
Pastor Stephen Mitchell is the Senior Pastor of Trinity Bible Church in Maryland. He also is the host of a podcast, Real Christian Talk with Pastor Steve, available on all podcast platforms.
