America’s largest United Methodist church sends its pastor into politics

Adam Hamilton, founder and senior pastor of the 25,000-member Church of the Resurrection, is the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in deeply Republican Kansas. AP reports today that Hamilton intends to continue preaching 12–18 times a year if elected, following the unusual model of Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock.

His theology is already campaign ammunition: opponents are highlighting a 2022 sermon in which Hamilton suggested salvation may be possible for non-Christians. Hmmm, interesting, that.

So, can someone simultaneously be a shepherd of Christ’s church and a partisan politician? Yeah, I think so. After all politics and religion have a lot in common, right?

And when opponents challenge a pastor’s theology during an election, Christians shouldn’t automatically dismiss that as dirty politics. If a man publicly teaches what Jesus said about salvation, we’re allowed to open the Bible and check.

Political affiliation doesn’t determine theological truth…except when it does.