FromtheEditor

Thismonthwearecontinuingwiththethirdinstallationinour discipleshipseries.Weareverygratefultothosewhoare contributingtotheseries.Thereareadditionalresources availableontheWMCANZwebsitetosupportchurchesonthe journeyofbuildingdiscipleshippathways.

Wehearanencouragingstoryfromoneofourpastorsabout howGodhasguidedhimandmadeconnectionsonhisjourney andwealsocelebrate10yearsoftheWesleyanMinistry Institute.

Haveyounoticedtheincreasedattentiononthepolitical landscape?Theelectionissomemonthsawaybutit’sprobably agoodtimetobelistening,watching,seekingandpraying.

Prayersandblessings,

DeniseBarrington Editor

Rev. Brett Jones: National Superintendent

We’ve reached that time in the election cycle when political parties are beginning to orient their actions and messaging towards the General Election on 14 October. This election comes as globally we are observing an increasing suspicion of authority, a greater level of polarisation between left and right and an acceleration of social change (somewhat fanned by the pandemic and social media). We are seeing some of this global influence reflected in our national politics with a challenging economic climate, a higher level of vitriol being directed towards politicians in general and the legacy of pandemic-related government action. So how might we approach our opportunity to vote? And in particular, WWJV? What Would Jesus Vote?

I’m helped in my own response by the WMCANZ statement on elections (included in this edition). But beyond that I am being shaped by some key thoughts.

Celebrating King’s Birthday, this year, got me thinking about the other King, who’s birthday we celebrate in December. Jesus is our King and we are first and foremost citizens of his Kingdom. Jesus’ kingdom plays by some very different rules as we discover when Jesus was cross examined by Pilate:

36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” (John 18:36)

We will be very disappointed if we try to overlap Jesus’ kingdom with the secular kingdom of the nation state. We are seeing the rotten fruit of this positioning in American politics and it is compromising the witness of the church as a countercultural movement of Christ followers. In fact, there is no single political party that adequately expresses the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the kingdom that has come and is coming. It is possible to discern echoes of gospel imperatives in virtually all political parties, but the reality is that different people will exercise their conscience in different ways.

The truth is Jesus never voted. His society did not offer him that opportunity. John Wesley had this to say about elections:

“October 6, 1774 I met those of our society who had votes in the ensuing election, and advised them.

1. To vote, without fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy

2. To speak no evil of the person they voted against, and

3. To take care their spirits were not sharpened against those that voted on the other side.”

In a world which is increasingly divided, this would seem to be Good News. We don’t know how Jesus would have voted, but we do know how he acted. We know Jesus cared deeply for the poor and marginalised in our society. We know that Jesus was deeply concerned with unjust structures and systems that disadvantaged people. We know that Jesus was concerned with both personal sin and judgmental mobs. We can guess that Jesus would have called us to the way of love as John Wesley did. Perhaps the most important contribution we can make to the election process is to live out Jesus’ call to us in the Beatitudes to be peacemakers. To love God and people. Two ticks love.