There are moments when silence carries consequences. I believe the American Church is living in one of those moments right now.

For too many years, Christians were told that faithful citizenship and biblical engagement with government were somehow outside the proper boundaries of the Church. Pastors were warned away from subjects that might be considered “political.” Congregations learned to separate what happened on Sunday morning from what happened at the ballot box.

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And while much of the Church stepped away, our culture did not stand still. The government continued making decisions about human life, marriage, sexuality, children, parental authority, religious liberty, education, justice, and freedom. Policies were enacted. Institutions changed. Cultural assumptions shifted.

We should not be surprised that when Christians remove their voices from the public square, biblical principles have less influence there. It is time to put our voices back in.

Pastor, Your Voice Matters

I am speaking especially to pastors of every-sized congregation. Whether you shepherd 75 people, 200 people, or 2,000, your voice matters. You do not need a national platform. God has already given you one: your pulpit.

Your congregation contains parents, grandparents, teachers, business owners, community leaders, young adults, and voters. They are making decisions that will help determine who writes our laws and what principles guide our communities. Equip them. Teach them what Scripture says about life, family, sexuality, justice, government, authority, freedom, and responsibility. Teach them to pray for those in authority, to understand the issues confronting our nation, and to evaluate public questions through Scripture rather than social media, political advertising, or cultural pressure.

And teach them that voting is not disconnected from their Christian lives. Our involvement in elections is important because we are citizens, but for Christians, there is something more. We carry biblical convictions into every sphere God places us, including the public square.

We Gave Up Ground

For generations, American Christians benefited from a culture deeply influenced by biblical principles. But somewhere along the way, many believers began assuming those principles would remain embedded in the nation whether Christians actively defended them or not.

They did not.

We withdrew, others stepped forward, and America changed. We cannot spend decades removing biblical voices from government, education, culture, and civic life and then wonder why those institutions increasingly reflect values contrary to Scripture. This is not a moment for Christians to retreat further. It is a moment to reengage.

The Pulpit Once Helped Shape America

This would not have seemed unusual to many pastors in America’s founding era. Clergy preached about liberty, government, moral responsibility, and the great public questions confronting their generation. Ministers served as chaplains, wrote pamphlets, participated in legislatures and constitutional conventions, and helped form the moral understanding of the people who were building a nation.

The American pulpit helped form the American conscience. We need courageous pulpits again.

Southern Baptist Convention President Willy Rice recently issued a remarkably simple challenge:

“I think the pastors need to step up.”

He is right. Many of the questions confronting America are not merely political questions. They are questions about what it means to be human, what human life is worth, what marriage is, what responsibilities parents possess, what freedom means, what government may rightfully do, and where authority ultimately comes from.

Those are profoundly biblical questions. Pastors should not surrender them because politicians are debating them.

Prayer Must Move Us to Action

At Intercessors for America, we believe deeply in prayer. But biblical prayer does not train us to become passive spectators. Nehemiah prayed and then approached the king. Esther fasted and then walked into the king’s presence. Daniel prayed and faithfully represented God’s truth inside the government of Babylon. The apostles prayed and then went out and spoke boldly.

Prayer prepares God’s people for obedience and action. We cannot pray for righteous government and then ignore the opportunity we have to participate in choosing those who govern. We cannot pray for the protection of children and remain uninformed about policies affecting them. We cannot pray for religious liberty and then neglect elections in which those freedoms are affected. Prayer should sharpen our discernment and move us toward faithful action.

Pastors, Lead

This is my appeal to America’s pastors: preach biblical truth boldly and teach your congregation how Scripture applies to the issues confronting our nation. Talk about the sanctity of human life, marriage and family, children and parental responsibility, religious liberty, justice, government, and the responsibilities of citizenship.

Help people register to vote. Make sure they know when elections are taking place. Encourage them to research candidates, their records, their stated positions, and the policies they support. Urge them to pray for discernment and to carry their biblical convictions with them when they vote. Do not assume someone else will do it. You are the shepherd God has placed before your congregation. Lead.

Christians, Show Up

And to Christians sitting in America’s pews, I would say this: we need to show up. We need to pray and then take the time to learn what is happening in our communities, our states, and our nation. We need to understand the issues, examine the records and positions of those seeking office, seek God for discernment, and vote according to biblical conviction.

But our responsibility does not end when we leave the voting booth. Christians should be willing to speak up, contact elected officials, serve in their communities, attend school board and local government meetings, and encourage believers with wisdom and courage to consider public service. We should teach our children and grandchildren that citizenship is a stewardship, not a spectator sport. If Christians continually surrender their place in the public square, we should not be surprised when the vacuum is filled by values radically different from our own.

The Consequences Will Outlive Us

We are making decisions today whose consequences our children and grandchildren may live with for generations. Some political decisions can be reversed in the next election. Others become embedded in law, education, government bureaucracies, institutions, and eventually the thinking of an entire generation. Once that happens, recovering what has been lost can take decades.

That is why I believe this moment demands more from the Church than concern. It demands prayer that leads to discernment, courage, engagement, and action. Our very existence as the nation we have known is at stake, and I do not believe that is an overstatement. A nation can drift so far from its foundational principles that recovering them becomes the work of generations—if they can be recovered at all.

Christians cannot control every outcome, but we are responsible for what God has placed in our hands. We have a voice and the freedom to use it. We have influence in our families, churches, communities, and government. We have the privilege of bringing our petitions before God in prayer. And in America, we have been entrusted with a vote.

It is time to use all of them.

We Have Been at a Crossroads Before

The film A Great Awakening offers a powerful reminder that America has faced moments before when our future seemed uncertain and human wisdom appeared insufficient. The film depicts the remarkable relationship between evangelist George Whitefield and Benjamin Franklin and ultimately brings us to an extraordinary moment in 1787, when delegates to the Constitutional Convention were struggling to agree upon the framework of our new government.

The delegates had been meeting for weeks. They were deeply divided over representation and the structure of the government they were attempting to create. Progress had slowed, frustrations were mounting, and the future of the Convention was uncertain.

It was into that atmosphere that the 81-year-old Benjamin Franklin rose to speak.

The scene portrayed in A Great Awakening is not simply a filmmaker’s invention. Franklin’s address was recorded in James Madison’s notes of the Constitutional Convention. Franklin reminded the delegates that during the struggle for independence, when the young nation faced seemingly impossible circumstances, they had repeatedly sought God together in prayer.

Then he asked a question that should speak to America today:

“And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? Or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance?”

Franklin continued:

“The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men.”

Franklin then invoked the truth expressed in Psalm 127—that unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. His message to those delegates was unmistakable. They possessed extraordinary intelligence, education, political experience, and some of the greatest minds of their generation, but human wisdom alone would not be enough to secure the future of the nation they were attempting to build.

Think about that moment.

These men were wrestling with whether this unprecedented experiment in self-government could survive. Yet in the midst of their deliberations, Franklin stood before them and acknowledged their dependence upon God.

I believe America has arrived at another such crossroads.

We cannot simply look to Washington, political parties, candidates, elections, courts, or human strategies to rescue our nation. We desperately need God. But seeking God has never meant withdrawing from the responsibilities He has placed before us. Franklin called those delegates to prayer in the very room where they were actively wrestling with the practical work of building a government.

That is the combination the Church needs to recover: dependence upon God coupled with faithful action.

Pastors, this is your moment to help awaken the Church. Teach your people to pray, but also teach them to stand. Help them understand what is happening in our nation and what Scripture says about it. Equip them to examine candidates and policies through the lens of biblical truth, to participate in government, to speak when biblical values are threatened, and to faithfully exercise the vote entrusted to them.

And Christians, do not leave the future of this nation entirely in someone else’s hands. Seek God. Know His Word. Understand the issues. Examine those who seek authority over you. Carry your biblical convictions into the voting booth and into every other place where God has given you influence.

Nearly 240 years ago, when America’s founders found themselves struggling to determine the future of a young nation, Franklin asked them a question that reaches across the centuries:

“And have we now forgotten that powerful friend?”

May our answer be no.

May the Church remember its responsibility. May pastors recover their voices. May Christians recover the understanding that our citizenship is a stewardship. May we seek God fervently for our nation and then have the courage to act upon the responsibilities He has placed before us.

We have prayed. We must continue to pray. But this is also a time to stand, speak, engage, and vote.

Perhaps what America needs at this critical crossroads is exactly what the title of the film suggests: A great awakening.

Share your prayers for boldness below.

(Kris Kubal is IFA’s Chief Program Officer. Photo Credit: MART PRODUCTION/Pexels via Canva Business)