WHAT THE HARRIS CAMPAIGN CAN TEACH THE CHURCH

Never before have I drawn learnings from a political campaign for local churches, but, in 2024, why not?

United Methodist General Conference in May 2024 delivered an unexpected surprise in the force and massive majorities it delivered in repudiating all semblance of discriminatory language towards LGBTQ people in the UMC Book of Discipline.  In turn, this energized younger and progressive people in our denomination like nothing I have seen in my nearly forty years as a UMC clergy person. Especially among our newer churches and within the Western Jurisdiction (where I live and worship), the new momentum is palpable.  I said to a friend: “Both my church and my nation have come to a crisis point, and my church, at least, has done the right thing.”

Then, two months later, as we milled about at fellowship time after worship on Sunday, July 21, word began to circulate that President Biden was ending his reelection campaign and endorsing Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination. Within hours, young people were fired up and money began to flood her campaign coffers. Three weeks later, the presidency is hers to lose… the biggest election year change of trajectory that I can remember.  And, now, I am beginning to think, to allow myself to deeply hope, that both my church and my nation could be saved in 2024. Just astounding.

Watching the Harris campaign, with largely the same management team as Biden was losing with, there are numerous clues that churches would be wise to note.

1. The team that was losing with Biden was, in fact, deeply talented.  But all the talent in the world could not overcome the big structural issues that had set in against President Biden.  The church’s challenges in this century are largely (not entirely) structural.  We have aging, mostly white, members.  We have serious cultural and generational gaps between the folks who call our churches home and everyone else. But we probably have talent enough for quite a few winning seasons.

2. Once young people get fired up, you have a movement on your hands. Without them, simply without their zest, very little thrives in this world. Most protestant denominations have been hemorrhaging young people for more than two generations. These Xers, Millennials and Z’s are not necessarily choosing to be nones or dones: but we have offered them few viable options to stay connected.  The Disciples that Jesus collected were a rag tag group of young adults.

3. Church renewal is always, to some degree, an energy proposition. Any church’s energy is related to clarity of its vision, compelling values and its relevance to the community’s heart.  When a church speaks deeply to a community’s heart and finds resonance, it’s hard to lose.

4. When we fail to listen deeply to what a community is saying, we will lose that community.  It is not about positioning on a left-right continuum of ideas. It is about taking seriously the Holy Spirit heartbeat of a community and aligning ministry to it. Both church and campaign still have much to learn here.

5. Once we find the way Spirit is moving, we must travel that direction.

A lot could change between now and November 5.  But the stronger the momentum and the resonance with young adult values, the easier it will be to navigate the tough places and hang together as fellow pilgrims.

What a year we have gotten ourselves into!