The Devil's Foothold
American politics, transfer churches, and the sin of division
“There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to one hope at your calling - one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.” … “Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, and don’t give the devil a foothold.”
- Apostle Paul, Ephesians 4:4-6, 25-27
I’ve been meaning to put into words thoughts that have been ruminating in my mind ever since the 2016 presidential elections, the 2020 COVID lockdowns, and the subsequent 2020 presidential elections that we are idiotically running back - all as it pertains to a phrase I have begun to despise so greatly over the last few years.
Transfer churches.
Real briefly, “transfer churches” or “transfer growth”, is a term used to explain churches losing or gaining members as Christians move from church to church. Between 2016 and 2022, we saw this largely due to differences along political and social fault lines. Of course, theological differences undergirded how pastors and church leaders addressed whatever was trending on the news cycle.
In 2016, as Trump vs. Clinton came to a head and as a millennial church leader (I was 25 at the time), this was the first presidential election that showed me the intersection between American politics and the American church. It was the first time I realized I needed to understand American politics because so much of the (white) evangelical church was in bed with American politics. It was the first time I saw people trickle out of the church I was working at due to the division politics brought into the church. I was astonished because growing up in the immigrant Korean Church, though we experienced division, American politics was not one of reasons why.
And then comes 2020…
COVID lockdowns.
Black Lives Matter.
Trump vs. Biden.
In my naivety, something I did not expect to happen, happened. An exodus of people from their churches began; later we would see these folks went to the church down the road that seemed to align with them politically or socially.
Did the pastor vote for Trump (or do I perceive/assume they voted for Trump)? Then I’m there.
Are they brave enough to say, “Black Lives Matter” from the pulpit? Then I’m there.
Did my church go into lockdown longer than a month? Then I’m leaving because they’re too woke.
The list goes on and on.
What I’m writing is nothing new to the observant Christian. This is the phenomenon of transfer churches. Perhaps you too have experienced something like this among your church family.
But what genuinely grinds my gears is how little there is on this issue of transfer churches. In fact, if you Google “transfer churches” you may even find a couple of posts praising transfer churches! It boggles my mind. This personally crawls under my skin because of how extensively the Apostle Paul wrote about unity among brothers and sisters in Christ.
I understand there are issues to debate on, disagree on, and even issues to divide on (racism, sexism, misogyny), but have we, the Church, given that much weight to American politics? It’s a damn shame because the data shows we have.
Perhaps this sticks out to me because I personally still carry some church hurt from people who left while I was a leader at my previous church. These were folks whom I trusted and respected and surprisingly, some left shouting from the top of their lungs, (directly at me and other leadership) while others left in silence.
Both equally hurt.
And I realized the depth of this hurt when I attended a preaching conference in October 2022. Jon Tyson, lead pastor at Church of the City in New York, opened up the conference not with tips and tricks on preaching, but with an apology. It was an odd and unexpected way to begin his 45 minute long sermon to kickoff a preaching conference. But nonetheless, he began to talk about how we are in a different time for the church in America. And then began to share about a boom in his church’s growth, but owned up to the reality that much of it was from transfer growth. He owned up and apologized on behalf of other church pastors who also experienced transfer growth because that meant other local churches experienced transfer loss. Pastor Jon understood, under his care were now women and men who were previously under long-term care of faithful pastors and ministers, where for some reason (legitimate and illegitimate) left their previous church family. Pastor Jon apologized when I personally did not hear any apology from the pastors of other churches, where my church members had left to. This apology began to heal a part of my heart due to the loss of brothers and sisters in the faith - some long-standing spiritual mothers and fathers who departed for another church, some newcomers - all valuable people in the body of Christ.
You see, transfer churches are not just a phenomenon that has happened at an alarming rate in the last 4-8 years due to political and social differences creeping into the church. Transfer churches are a by-product of political and social division, the deceiver, the most cunning of all creatures, has deployed within the bride of Christ. I abhor transfer churches because it divides communities. It divides cities. It divides families. Friend groups. It creates bitterness among church leaders that can devolve into resentment if left untreated. It makes running into “that one family” at the grocery store awkward. It makes viewing “that church down the street” as part of the same family, bought by same blood of Christ Jesus, much more difficult to do. It makes collaborating with other ministries in the same city that much harder, inhibiting the church to be a city on a hill for all to see that beautiful, radiant, redeeming light of Christ Jesus.
Listen, I am not that naive to not understand people come-and-go between churches, especially here in America. I’m not saying you have to stay with one church forever; I understand things are more nuanced than that at times. I also understand some church pastors and leaders are the ones who abuse power, abuse theology and the Bible, and some pastors are just downright stiff-necked and stubborn - so yeah, maybe then it’s time to leave. But if you can get the attention of your leadership and they would be open to dialogue, I would personally challenge people to consider staying within their church, even if they may disagree on political issues. Why? Because the data shows we have much more reason to unite than to divide, especially as Christ followers. Therefore, if apprentices of Jesus in America would just follow the dang Scriptures and heed the call to unity, we would inadvertently refuse to give the devil a foothold to divide the church even further.
I don’t think this is a pipe dream because division existed in Ancient Israel, among followers of Jesus, and in the first century Church - and each time division occurred, there was a call to unity. For as much time as we Christians bicker back and forth about secondary issues, I wonder what better progress toward unity we would make, talking about our differences, while remaining unified as we share the same Spirit, same baptism, same Lord, same faith, and same God. I believe if we go that route (spelled out by the Scriptures), Christ would be glorified ten fold, the world would see the love of Christ at a magnitude unseen in modern times, and the devil would slip from his foothold. I don’t think this is a pipe dream because our Lord Jesus Christ even prayed this our Father in Heaven and I’ll end this post with His prayer:
“May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me. I have given them the glory you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.” - John 17:21-23