I Didn't Move; You Did" (Part 7): For the Health of our Nation (2014) and The Seoul Statement (2024)

In my first post of this series, I explained why I have become increasingly uncomfortable identifying as an evangelical. I encourage you to read it so you understand what I am doing.

Since then, I have been highlighting parts of mainstream evangelical Declarations and Statements that highlight expected orthopraxy (right actions) for evangelical followers of Jesus. This will lead into a much closer look at what kinds of shifts have taken place in the past 15 years. So far we have covered:

• the Chicago Declaration of Evangelical Social Concern (1973) , and the Lausanne Covenant (1974)
• the Manila Manifesto (1989)
• the Amsterdam Declaration (2000) and The Health Of Our Nation (2004)
•  the Evangelical Manifesto of 2008
• the Capetown Commitment (2010)

Finally, we will look at two in this post before wrapping up this portion of the series. As before, I am not focusing on the orthodoxy (right belief) part of the statements. I am focusing on orthopraxy (right practice).

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For the Health of our Nation (2004) was updated in 2018 by the National Association of Evangelicals. Here are some highlights from a list of topics under "Principles of Christian Political Engagement": 

Protecting Religious Freedom and Liberty of Conscience: "People should have equal access to public forums, regardless of the religious content or viewpoint of their speech. Likewise, judicial standards should protect religious belief, expression and observance..." 

Safeguarding the Nature and Sanctity of Human Life: "Christians must be committed to a consistent ethic of life that safeguards the essential nature of human life at all stages, with  special concern to protect the lives of the most vulnerable.The unborn, the very young, the aged, those living in poverty, the chronically or terminally ill, those with disabilities and those with genetic diseases deserve our particular care and protection."

Strengthening Marriages, Families and Children: "We oppose government efforts to trespass on the integrity of the family; for example, by encroaching on parental responsibilities and rights to educate their children, separating nuclear families through deportation or creating economic disincentives to marriage. Similarly, labor, housing, healthcare, tax, immigration and education policies concern not only individuals but can significantly affect families..."

Seeking Justice and Compassion for the Poor and Vulnerable: "The vulnerable include not only the poor, but those with less power, such as women, children, the aged, persons with disabilities, immigrants, refugees, minorities, the persecuted, prisoners and victims of human trafficking...We urge Christians who work in the political realm to shape wise laws pertaining to the creation of wealth, wages, education, taxation, immigration, consumer protection and health care that will protect those trapped in poverty and empower them to improve their circumstances....We further believe that care for the vulnerable should extend beyond our national borders... We urge our leaders to negotiate trade agreements that broadly benefit those of modest means while protecting human rights and the environment. We also believe effective aid and other initiatives for the reduction of global poverty should be a central concern of American foreign policy."

Preserving Human Rights: This addressed religious liberty; the "right not to have one’s life taken unjustly, the right not to have one’s body mutilated, and the right not to be abused, raped, violated, molested, maimed, tortured or starved; protection from sexual harassment and violence regardless of their gender, race, age or socioeconomic standing; concern for the plight  of refugees, with "churches and ministries to continue welcoming, resettling and assisting in the integration of refugees"; and the penal system.

Pursuing Racial Justice and Reconciliation: "When accompanied and sustained by imbalances of power, prejudice moves beyond individual relationships to institutional practices. Such racial injustice is the systemic perpetuation of racism. Its existence has unfairly benefitted some and burdened others..."

Promoting Just Peace and Restraining Violence: "We urge governments to pursue domestic, foreign and security policies that encourage justice and peace by preventing conflict. We urge governments to thoroughly pursue nonviolent paths to peace. If governments use military force, they should deploy it justly in the service of sustainable peace and not to serve narrow national interests.

Governments should at a minimum restrain violence by applying classical just war principles, which are designed to clarify the limited conditions under which military action is justifiable, and establish standards of right conduct in fighting a war...As such, we urge the Body of Christ to engage in sober, practical peacemaking, nonviolent conflict resolution and citizen diplomacy at local, national and international levels."

Caring for God’s Creation: "We have depleted and devastated many of creation’s resources instead of working to conserve and live in balance within the created order. We have polluted the air, water and soil with thousands of harmful chemicals... Clean air, pure water and adequate resources are crucial to public health and civic order. Therefore, government has an obligation to protect its citizens from environmental degradation and from human suffering that it causes.

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The Seoul Statement (2024) is a 97-point theological document released by the Lausanne Movement at the Fourth Lausanne Congress in South Korea. It drew over 5,000 attendees from more than 200 countries. The Seoul Statement “was designed to fill in some gaps, to be a supplement in seven key topics that we have not thought enough about or haven’t reflected or written enough about within the Lausanne Movement,” said David Bennett, Lausanne’s global associate director.

As with the previous statements from Lausanne, it begins with a thorough restatement of the core statements of faith in evangelicalism. As with my previous posts, I will be highlighting the orthopraxy (right practice) revealed in the document. I encourage you to read the whole thing, as it is wide-ranging and thought-provoking.

"[The church] has all too often succumbed to the allure of political power, of cultural approval and of the world’s pleasures, abandoning its mandate to be God’s prophetic witness in the world. In such instances the church becomes an instrument of oppression, complicit in acts of injustice, and loses its credibility in the world... 

"Just as the world hears Christ in gospel proclamation, it can also see Christ through our love for one another and our neighbours, through how we care for his creation and do excellent work in our daily callings....These works promote the common good, prioritise care for the poor and most vulnerable, and advance the cause of justice following the example of our Lord. (Matt 5:16; John 13:35; Eph 2:8-10; Luke 4:18-19).

"We grieve the tragic loss of life [wars] exact and the massive destruction to societies, which deny future generations their opportunity to flourish. We repent of our failures to condemn and restrain violence by remaining silent, by promoting nationalism, or by unjustly supporting conflicts through deficient theological justification.

We condemn those who use their influence in world affairs to promote avoidable conflicts and wars, merely to further their economic and political interests. We are saddened by the immense suffering their actions have caused. We believe that they will be held accountable before God on the day of judgement.

We call all Christians to serve the vulnerable in contexts of war by pooling our resources and supporting the relief efforts of churches and humanitarian organizations that are situated near conflict zones...

Christians at various times in history have not only promoted violence and war but also remained silent in the face of such atrocities rather than speaking with prophetic integrity and courage…. We echo the Cape Town Commitment in calling “for repentance for the many times Christians have been complicit in such evils by silence, apathy or presumed neutrality, or by providing defective theological justification for these.” 

It is critically important that Christians think clearly about biblical peoples when they (e.g. Israelites, Egyptians, Syrians) are associated by name, history, geography, or ancestry with modern nation-states (e.g. Israel, Egypt, Syria) and the peoples who live under the political sovereignty of these states (Jews, Palestinians, Arabs, Copts, Druze, Armenians, Kurds, and many more)... In the Middle East, and elsewhere, Christian leaders must work to correct theological errors that provide ideological justification for unjust violence against innocent civilians or seek to legitimise violations of international humanitarian law.

We lament that some Christians have looked to the state rather than the gospel as the key means for bringing about God’s intentions for the world. This takes an especially regrettable form when wed to nationalism—here defined as the belief that every state should have a single, national culture and no other—or ethnonationalism—which is the belief that every ethnic group should have its own state. This is a great evil in our world. 

We lament that many Christians have been sadly complicit in it, as well as in the claims of ethnic and racial supremacy it fosters. Against this, we assert that no modern state is able to claim or will ever be able to claim to be the special agent of God’s saving rule.

What stands out to me:

• The ongoing insistence that a pro-life stance is a pro-all of life stance. It must include caring for life after birth.
• The holistic view of what it looks like to support families. 
• The warning that the church becomes an instrument of oppression, complicit in acts of injustice, and loses its credibility in the world” when it gives in to the allure of political power. 
• The continued, detailed insistence that we care for the poor, including the global poor.
• Creation care and social justice (with the ongoing reminder that racial injustice is a systemic issue).
• A warning against nationalism and the unjust support of conflicts through deficient theological justification.
• Warning against the promotion of avoidable conflicts and wars, merely to further their economic and political interests, and the insistence that we work as peace-makers and care-givers in the midst of conflicts.
• A strong denouncement of Christian nationalism, with a pretty clear critique of the racism that inherently accompanies it. 
• A carefully worded but pointed challenge for how evangelicals view what is happening in the Middle East: call out "unjust violence against innocent civilians" and do not "seek to legitimize violations of international humanitarian law."

And now, with this historical groundwork in place, we are ready to begin looking directly at where evangelicalism has moved in contrast to where it has claimed to stand for so many decades.