Time the church made government listen to its voice

Ancient Greece gave us the concept of the “ecclesia” or “ekklesia”.

It was a “gathering of those summoned,” a meeting place where citizens could speak their minds and try to influence one another through debate.

By the time of Christ, the Romans had adapted the ecclesia model to control conquered territories.

Unlike other nations, they did not merely enslave the citizens of conquered nations.

Instead, they became the first colonisers of the then-known world.

When they gained new territory, they placed a governor over it and set up an ecclesia to enforce the will of the governor in that area.

In essence, they found a way to bring Rome to every corner of the empire that they occupied.

Caesar’s control would be imposed through governors and ecclesia throughout the Roman empire, affecting the lives of every citizen and destroying whole cultures in the process.

Not only did they take over government, they influenced the region with their language, culture, laws and way of life.

They were so effective that Roman law still plays a role in legislative frameworks around the world, including in SA.

At the time Christ came into the world, Jewish lands were under Roman rule.

Hebrew people in the region had started communicating in Greek and Aramaic.

They understood first-hand the meaning of the ecclesia for they were the end-product of the influence and work of that ecclesia.

When Christ promised to build his church in Matthew 16:18, the Greek word Christ used was actually the word “ecclesia”.

He had a similar function in mind for his church as the Greeks and Romans had for their senates.

But, we have made the church about dogma and religion, as opposed to being God’s called-out ones to bring his rule to earth, that is to “let his kingdom come, and to let his will be done on earth, as it is in heaven”.

We are more than a people who are supposed to pray. We are the world’s link with the divine and supernatural power of God.

But we are intended for so much more.

Outside of our spiritual work, God expects physical and earthly work from us.

We are his voice on earth. We are his hands and feet.

It is time for the church to see itself as God’s legislative body on earth.

Church leaders should no longer derive honour from being asked to pray for government officials, regardless of their rank or status.

We have seen how politicians prostitute the prayers of various religions to garner the votes of that religious or faith community.

We have to get back to speaking truth to power.

Government officials must be told in no uncertain terms that they are in government to serve the people and that the church will actively engage in working to oust a government that is self-serving and corrupt.

Not only are we to hold government accountable, but we are to influence government administrations by producing righteous and godly political leaders.

For years now the church has been complicit in voting officials into power through parties whose moral code does not prescribe righteous leadership.

We put thieves in power and then pray to God to stop them from stealing. It is time for the church to mature politically.

We can longer sit back and leave government to unworthy and ambitious politicians.

We need to create and participate in the platforms that bring godly leaders into government!

Laws supported by the church have been passed by parties which watered down parental authority, almost outlawing it!

Even now the Bela Bill seeks to give more power to our children and less to the parents.

It is not the devil stealing our country. It is the parties the church put into power that rob us of our way of life.

And while we sleep, officials in government are selling us out to the highest global and local bidder, risking the loss of control over our lives as South Africans and as individual people of faith.

Churches, get involved in politics.

Get involved in your school’s SGB.

Get involved in your local Community Policing Forum.

Get involved in community projects and community building.

Start a soup kitchen.

Join hands with other community initiatives and lend your hands and funds to righteous causes that build our communities, instead of sitting back and lamenting the sad state of our nation.

Rise up against the social ills in your community. Engage with truancy, teenage pregnancy, violence, substance abuse, illegal drug trade, gangsterism, vigilantism, and so on .

As the church, we not only have access to all issues society faces, we also have the answers.

Get involved in public consultations when portfolio committees come to communities to hear comments of proposed new laws.

Get government to hear us. Let us control the public discourse instead of letting the ungodly few tell us where this world must go.

At the moment politicians are being allowed to shame and humiliate us.

When we truly rise to whom we are as the ecclesia, we will become a voice others will respect and against whom few would be willing to engage.

We have a responsibility now — in this season — to become the ecclesia of called-out ones who bring God’s kingdom into the world.

Only then, will it be the kind of force in the world that the gates of hell shall not prevail against!