In the aftermath of 2020, many church leaders continue to navigate fractured relationships and deep political division within their congregations. In his book Disarming Leviathan: Loving Your Christian Nationalist Neighbor, Caleb Campbell calls pastors to respond not with hostility, but with a missionary posture shaped by the way of Jesus.
The year 2020 was an apocalypse. I don’t mean the end of the world, zombies, Walking Dead-type apocalypse. I mean 2020 was a season of unveiling, revealing what was previously hidden underneath the surface. What started for many in 2015 as a general sense of concern or discontent exploded in 2020 to reveal division and disunity within their community.
Many churches, including the one I serve, have experienced substantial division and relational loss. Decades old relationships have been shattered over political and cultural views that erupted in 2020.
Even closer to home, many of us have experienced significant strain within our friendships and families. Members of our families who were characterized by their kindness, good humor, and gentleness are now frequently displaying anxiety and outrage. The stuff that comes out of their mouths, well, sounds unloving and unhinged. How can we respond in a healthy way?
Perhaps that is why you are reading this. You feel hopeless. You want to engage your loved ones, but it seems like most of the conversations end in rage, name-calling, or estrangement.
For me one of the most painful revelations of 2020 was that many within the American church were not placing their ultimate hope in Jesus but were instead buying the false promises of Christian nationalism—a movement that calls Christian followers to take government power at all costs to advance their preferred way of being in the world. For a few this term (and its eponymous movement) is not new. They have seen similar nationalistic movements rise in the past. But for the vast majority of us, including me, this was a newly discovered phenomenon. While it may seem novel, this great beast of Christian nationalism—which seeks to destroy dissidents, misappropriate Scripture for its purposes, and encourage acts of aggression, racism, and hatred—has been lurking in the shadows of the American church for years, spoken of in whispers behind closed doors. All of that notably changed in 2020 when the beast reemerged from the darkness.
Scripture often attributes such currents of evil to greater forces being at work in the world. These powers are often envisioned as a serpent, beast, or dragon—or sometimes, the Leviathan, an ancient mythical sea monster that lives in the disordered abyss (Job 3:8 and 41:1; Psalm 74:14 and 104:26; Isaiah 27:1). To the ancients, Leviathan was a vivid symbol for cosmic chaos and the evil powers that oppose the loving, orderly ways of God. They recognized that humans could choose to align with this dragon-like power to the point of becoming like dragons themselves. Leviathan captures both the material and spiritual reality of present-day American Christian nationalism.
But how did so many of our loved ones fall prey to this monstrous power? How could so many Jesus followers support such fear-mongering, rage-inducing, Bible-distorting, arrogant, deceitful, dehumanizing behavior?
In the recent atmosphere of political and social upheaval, many of our neighbors found comfort in the promises of American Christian nationalist leaders; they began looking to them for guidance, hope, and power. They were choosing to be shepherded not by spiritual leaders that look and act like Jesus but instead were being discipled daily (sometimes hourly) by organizations that championed Christian nationalists and by media outlets that leveraged anxiety about Covid-19, demonstrations for racial justice, and a contested presidential race to incite viewers and expand their influence.
These organizations then sold American Christian nationalism as a godly solution that would protect followers’ faith, family, and, of course, firearms. And a multitude of evangelicals bought what they were selling, supporting organizations that propagate this false gospel with time, energy, and money.
As a pastor of a suburban nondenominational Bible church, I felt like I had a good handle on the political leanings of my fellow evangelicals. I assumed most (but not all) would continue to endorse candidates that supported politically conservative policies. However, I was shocked to discover just how many of them were happily giving full-throated support to the ungodly leaders and organizations promoting American Christian nationalism.
I wondered how these beloved Christians could give allegiance to a movement that blatantly disregards the true ways of Jesus and instead embraces the power of Leviathan. It seems to me that they, like the first humans in the Garden of Eden, had been deceived into thinking that the way of the dragon is more powerful than the way of God.
It was in this apocalyptic season that I began to ask the Lord, “What should I do?”
In time, I realized that people influenced by American Christian nationalism were not an enemy to attack. They were a mission field to reach. So, I set out to be a missionary to American Christian nationalists.
Many of us who recognize American Christian nationalism as incompatible with the way of Jesus are feeling deep grief at the fractures within our communities. How do we move forward? How do we heal the broken relationships with our friends and family? How do we heal the fractures within the church?
I believe that we can approach American Christian nationalists as a mission field using the 2,000-year-old methods of Jesus and his earliest followers. Though this current season may seem hopeless, I encourage you to rest in the power of Jesus. He has risen from the grave conquering evil and death, as he is faithful to deliver and restore all who turn to him.
Our role as missionaries to American Christian nationalists is simply to point them back to Jesus, who loves them and you very much.
Disarming Leviathan: Loving Your Christian Nationalist Neighbor (InterVarsity Press, 2024) by Caleb Campbell is available from the publisher, Cokesbury, and Amazon.
Related Resources
- Part 1 — Loving Across the Divide: Conversations on Christian Nationalism featuring Caleb Campbell and Rachel Williams — Watch the Leading Ideas Talks podcast video | Listen to the podcast audio version | Read the transcript
- Part 2 — Loving Across the Divide: Conversations on Christian Nationalism featuring Caleb Campbell and Rachel Williams — Watch the Leading Ideas Talks podcast video | Listen to the podcast audio version | Read the transcript
- Leading Through Conflict by David E. Woolverton
- 5 Suggestions for Managing Conflict in Polarized Contexts by David R. Brubaker
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