The Good News of Church Politics, Ross Kane. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (ISBN: 9780802883834) 2024.

Summary: Proposes politics as a spiritual practice by which we love each other within and beyond the church walls.

When we hear the term “politics,” our minds often go to national politics. We center a lot of our focus on a single day every four years. But what about the rest of life? And particularly for Christians, what about our life together within local congregations.

Now I realize that for many of us the idea of church politics is hardly good news. We’ve been through power struggles, often over what seem small things like music in worship, or even carpet colors. However, Ross Kane believes that the church is a place where we can learn a redemptive form of politics. Specifically, we may learn politics as a spiritual practice of interdependence in our common life. And how we engage with each other can shape our engagement with the wider world. As Kane puts it, “organizing the church’s yard sale should be a model for how we engage politics in our cities and nations.”

Kane invites us to see our ordinary activities as political. Running our weekly food pantry is not mere service but an example of ordering our lives to love God and neighbor in the warp and woof of life. How we address competing interests can be exercises of ruthless power or gospel-centered service and a yielding to one another. How we welcome those who come through the door can communicate hierarchy or radical inclusiveness and worth. Loving God and neighbor in this way calls us into interdependence both within and between churches.

But is this idea rooted in the scriptures? Kane takes us through the terminology of scripture, observing how words for salvation and faithfulness have political overtones. Then there is language like kingdom, reign, people of God, community. Political imagery infuses our sacraments and hymns. All this reflects God’s good news for the politics of the church. Throughout, we witness a vision of interdependent, serving and sacrificial love. For God, politics is how we live in love with Him and each other.

Then Kane turns to politics as spiritual practice. Prayer is the starting place. He proposes that what prayer and politics have in common is “persistence, listening, and a commitment to mundane experience.” The realities of prayer open us up and sustain us in the realities of ordinary politics. The good news calls us to love our enemies. Learning to pray for and love those with whom we conflict moves us to a place of recognizing our interdependence even with those with whom we disagree. It also takes us into the place of forgiveness. Kane discusses forgiveness both as real reconciliation, rather than a forced papering over of wrongs, and as an act of self care, when reconciliation isn’t possible. He strongly emphasizes that truth-telling must precede reconciliation.

Kane believes the good news of church politics renews leadership. This includes the practices in our meetings that ensure that all are heard and that what they contribute is valued and weighed in the church’s deliberations. He explores how leaders exercise love as political power, considering the principles of Dr. King in non-violent action. He discusses how the church faces corporate sin with recognition, repentance, and restitution. In concluding this section, he elaborates the unusual authority of Christian leaders as that of serving and empowering others.

Finally, Kane shows how this “good politics” bears fruit beyond the congregation. He argues for an approach that is both locally focused and non-partisan. He uses the example of investigating and advocating the need for affordable housing (a challenge in my community). Kane also addresses the limits of hyperlocal politics. In particular, problems (and sins) in my neighborhood are often connected to wider problems and sins. Also, focus on one’s own community may deprive others. This leads him into consideration of seeking the welfare of our cities and of our national citizenship.

Ross Kane offer a convincing case for the good news of church politics. The church can indeed be the training ground for wider Christian political engagement. On the other hand, if we cannot practice the good news in and through our local congregations, we are not ready to do so more widely. This pithy little book is a great place for church leaders to begin. Each section offers questions for discussion and further resources. Kane roots his principles in congregational and community examples that will resonate with most readers. And he makes an argument that for most of us, our most important political work is the daily life of interdependent service with our own congregation and in our own community. This offers an attractive alternative to the often toxic character of our national politics. And this may be where the healing begins.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.