Preaching & Politics: Why Pastors Should Preach on Politics
Nov 5, 2026 by Dr. Kent DelHousaye
I recently conducted my own survey to find out if parishioners think that their pastors ought to speak up about political issues in the pulpit.
Most, if not all, of the responders identify as churchgoing Christians, so their input would be indicative of what people want to hear preached in church.
To my surprise, the results were even more convincing than I had anticipated, given that so many pastors presume that nobody wants to hear politics from the pulpit.
The reality is quite different—The truth is that 4 out of 5 churchgoing Christians WANT to hear their pastor address political issues!
Many pastors I talk with (and I talk with hundreds of them) assume that their congregation is not interested, and perhaps even turned off, to anything political in church.
However, this assumption is wrong. Christians in our churches are STARVING for biblical truth about everyday issues, even those in the public square.
They WANT to know what God thinks and what His Word says about controversial moral issues like abortion, homosexuality, transgenderism, immigration, and war, even if they are considered “political” topics.
Too many pastors steer clear of controversial issues that might upset or divide people in their congregations, so it’s safer for them to soft sell or even sidestep those topics altogether.
And yet, if Christians aren’t learning how to biblically think through those moral issues at church, then they will unfortunately have to learn it how to process it elsewhere.
They then must form their own convictions and find answers to their ethical questions from bankrupt sources like the mainstream news, social media, and pop culture.
The fact is that if Christians can’t learn about social and political issues from their pastors, then they will have to learn about it from pundits, influencers, and celebrities.
Unfortunately, many pastors live in a stressful microcosm of ministry with intimidating and unrelenting pressure to keep growing their church and raising more revenue.
The church growth model so prevalent today stifles the prophetic role of pastors, effectively muzzling their voices in order the keep the peace and preserve unity in the body.
This kind of pressure not only silences pastors but also suffocates truth in the church and starves Christians of wisdom to navigate modern culture.
And yet, the stark reality behind it all is that speaking up about real issues that impact people where they live and work has the opposite effect.
Rather than diminishing church growth, boldly addressing social and political issues in the church with biblical truth actually accelerates it.
You see, growth is not only something that happens in breadth but also in depth. The truth is that prophetic teaching in the pulpit does both.
Courageous preaching on timely and relevant social and cultural issues not only roots regulars in biblical truth but also attracts newcomers to it.
In a chaotic world that offers conflicting stories and empty answers to people, those seeking spiritual truth are scrambling to find something coherent and transcendent.
In the dumpster fire of worldly ideas and answers, the Christian worldview provides the philosophical answers and moral clarity that people are desperately looking for.
And, if we don’t give them the spiritual solutions they are seeking, then they will just move on to the next bestselling book, novel popular podcast, or fashionable religious idea.
Because of this, worrying more about offending a vocal minority at the expense of a sincere majority is a terrible miscalculation and a poor stewardship of ministry in the church.
Being willing to tell the truth to all, knowing full well that it will turn some off but many others on is exactly what pastors in church pulpits ought to be doing.
After all, as we have already seen, even if ONE gets offended and leaves, there are FOUR more who will come and stay because MOST are hungry for biblical truth!
Most, if not all, of the responders identify as churchgoing Christians, so their input would be indicative of what people want to hear preached in church.
To my surprise, the results were even more convincing than I had anticipated, given that so many pastors presume that nobody wants to hear politics from the pulpit.
The reality is quite different—The truth is that 4 out of 5 churchgoing Christians WANT to hear their pastor address political issues!
Many pastors I talk with (and I talk with hundreds of them) assume that their congregation is not interested, and perhaps even turned off, to anything political in church.
However, this assumption is wrong. Christians in our churches are STARVING for biblical truth about everyday issues, even those in the public square.
They WANT to know what God thinks and what His Word says about controversial moral issues like abortion, homosexuality, transgenderism, immigration, and war, even if they are considered “political” topics.
Too many pastors steer clear of controversial issues that might upset or divide people in their congregations, so it’s safer for them to soft sell or even sidestep those topics altogether.
And yet, if Christians aren’t learning how to biblically think through those moral issues at church, then they will unfortunately have to learn it how to process it elsewhere.
They then must form their own convictions and find answers to their ethical questions from bankrupt sources like the mainstream news, social media, and pop culture.
The fact is that if Christians can’t learn about social and political issues from their pastors, then they will have to learn about it from pundits, influencers, and celebrities.
Unfortunately, many pastors live in a stressful microcosm of ministry with intimidating and unrelenting pressure to keep growing their church and raising more revenue.
The church growth model so prevalent today stifles the prophetic role of pastors, effectively muzzling their voices in order the keep the peace and preserve unity in the body.
This kind of pressure not only silences pastors but also suffocates truth in the church and starves Christians of wisdom to navigate modern culture.
And yet, the stark reality behind it all is that speaking up about real issues that impact people where they live and work has the opposite effect.
Rather than diminishing church growth, boldly addressing social and political issues in the church with biblical truth actually accelerates it.
You see, growth is not only something that happens in breadth but also in depth. The truth is that prophetic teaching in the pulpit does both.
Courageous preaching on timely and relevant social and cultural issues not only roots regulars in biblical truth but also attracts newcomers to it.
In a chaotic world that offers conflicting stories and empty answers to people, those seeking spiritual truth are scrambling to find something coherent and transcendent.
In the dumpster fire of worldly ideas and answers, the Christian worldview provides the philosophical answers and moral clarity that people are desperately looking for.
And, if we don’t give them the spiritual solutions they are seeking, then they will just move on to the next bestselling book, novel popular podcast, or fashionable religious idea.
Because of this, worrying more about offending a vocal minority at the expense of a sincere majority is a terrible miscalculation and a poor stewardship of ministry in the church.
Being willing to tell the truth to all, knowing full well that it will turn some off but many others on is exactly what pastors in church pulpits ought to be doing.
After all, as we have already seen, even if ONE gets offended and leaves, there are FOUR more who will come and stay because MOST are hungry for biblical truth!
