By JIM MINNERY / ALASKA FAMILY COUNCIL
On Sept 17, 18, and 20, Alaska Family Council will be hosting dinners for ministry partners in Fairbanks, Anchorage and Soldotna respectively. Please CLICK HERE to get more details and to register.
Since 2006, Alaska Family Council has advocated for life, religious liberty, parental rights and marriage in the public policy, civic arena where faith and politics intersect.
We’ve done so with the help of countless Alaskans who believe that Biblically-aligned policies help communities prosper and that the election of biblically-aligned public officials can advance an agenda for our state to flourish as God intended.
Although we’ve been blessed to partner with numerous churches and their leaders across the Great Land, we’ve known for some time that we’ve really only touched the tip of the iceberg in terms of engaging the broad and diverse Body of Christ in a manner that transforms culture.
Although many churches have worked side by side with us to distribute our Values Voter Guides and equip their congregations to be involved in the civic arena, many pastors, leaders, and members of faith communities often feel conflicted about stepping into this fray. Navigating the cultural pressures, partisan politics, and mixed messaging from spiritual leaders can be confusing. Questions often wrestled with are:
“Isn’t there a separation of church and state?,”
“Is it worth it to engage at all?”
“How can I get involved without compromising my ministry?”
To address those questions, and to expand and enhance the work we’ve been doing for 15 years, Alaska Family Council is seeking to launch what we’re calling the Church Ambassador Network of Alaska to help more faith leaders effectively engage with the government sphere in a post-Christian culture.
This non-partisan effort will encourage a unified Church across the Great Land to engage winsomely in public life, connect the leaders of churches to leaders in state government for their mutual benefit, and foster collaboration between these two God-ordained institutions.
The Church Ambassador Network of Alaska will hold to the teachings of Scripture that government is an institution of God’s with the purpose of punishing evil and rewarding good, and that those who serve in it are God’s ministers. We will model the reality that government is separate from the Church and has its own unique responsibility. However, government needs moral guidance and counsel from the Church to fulfill its purpose to punish evil and reward good. It needs the true north that the Church provides through its head, Christ, and the Word of God.
Fundamentally, the Church Ambassador Network of Alaska will operate with truth that God desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of Him. That means people from all political parties and ideologies. 1st Corinthians 9 gives us a model for ministering in such a way: Paul ministered to both Jew and Gentile, so we will seek to tear down partisan walls by ministering to members of any political party.
The world left to its own devices will never fulfill what God instituted government to do. For righteous legislation to pass, for our government to restore its rightful role of justice, we need the Church to bring the Great Commission to the halls of government. We must lay aside partisan politics and engage government with the gospel and the timeless truths of the Scriptures. Alaska Family Council believes we can connect church leaders to do non-policy ministry, pairing shepherds of God’s Church with shepherds of God’s Government while concurrently doing the pro-family, pro-life policy work we have been engaged in since our inception.
Throughout history the shepherds of God’s institution of the Church have served as a moral compass and guide to the nations, whether that be Moses speaking to Pharaoh, John the Baptist to King Herod, Rev. John Newton to William Wilberforce, or Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to President Kennedy and U.S. Congress. It is our goal to have pastors and congregations engage government in a way that honors God and is effective under all forms of government, regardless of when and where.
We’d be honored to have you join us at one of our dinners as we cast this ambitious vision that will bring Alaska closer to a place where families thrive, religious freedom flourishes, life is cherished, and God is honored.
Jim Minnery is the president of Alaska Family Council.
