The Church That Stays Silent Loses Influence
Why engaging social issues isn't abandoning the gospel but embodying it.
We don’t get to choose between being spiritual and being useful.
When I was around 14 years old, I remember watching a dad at our Little League game have a complete meltdown over a missed call. He wasn’t wrong, but by the end of the inning, no one cared about the call. They were too distracted by the grown man yelling at a teenager in a blue shirt. He made a great point… but lost his influence.
As I was thinking about that story, I thought “that’s what the Church looks like to the world when we forget who we are”. Passionate, maybe even correct, but ineffective because we confused volume for value.
And here’s the tension for every Christian leader reading this: We see brokenness all around us. We want to make a difference. But how do we do that without sounding like the angry dad in the stands?
What if the goal isn’t just to win the argument but to win the community?
What the Bible Actually Says About Social Engagement
We’ve made a false binary out of something the Bible never splits apart.
Proverbs 31:8 says,
“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed.”
The same Scripture that calls us to preach the gospel also commands us to live it. Not as a political strategy. Not to chase relevance. But because the gospel always moves toward brokenness. Jesus didn’t hover above culture but, more importantly stepped into it.
You don’t have to choose between spiritual authority and cultural influence. But you do have to know what you’re aiming for.
Mission Drift Doesn’t Start with Compromise. It Starts with Distraction.
Here’s what I’ve recently learned leading the amazing church I have the honor of leading: the greatest threat to our church’s mission isn’t pushback…it’s pull away.
Every social issue is an invitation to either react or respond. If you’re not clear on your mission, the loudest voices will set your priorities. But when you’re rooted in calling, you become unshakable.
That’s why we created a new framework for leadership in our community. One that doesn’t start with what’s trending, but with what’s timeless.
We ask one question before we engage any issue:
Does this opportunity align with our mission, our values, and our vision for transformation?
If it doesn’t, it’s a distraction.
Real Unity Isn’t a Crowd That Agrees. It’s People That Love
Churches often avoid social issues because we fear division. But what if the goal isn’t uniformity but unity?
Unity doesn’t mean everyone thinks alike. It means we’re committed to each other even when we don’t.
At One City, we’ve adopted a three-fold approach to engaging social issues in a way that builds bridges instead of battlegrounds:
Listen First
We prioritize conversation over confrontation. The best way to love your neighbor is to learn their story. We’ve sat in rooms with community leaders, business owners, recovering addicts, single moms and before we preached a word, we listened. This practice doesn’t dilute our convictions. It deepens them.
Lead with Love
Truth is never an excuse to lose tenderness. Every hard conversation, every Sunday sermon, every leadership decision must be wrapped in grace. People aren’t problems to be fixed. They’re souls to be shepherded.
Live It Out
We don’t announce change without action. We become it. Our church launched a recovery ministry in partnership with Hope Center Ministries. Why? Because addiction was a stronghold taking out entire families. Preaching about it wasn’t enough. We needed to put skin in the game.
Faith That Doesn’t Touch Culture Isn’t Faith
You can’t be salt and light if you refuse to get out of the shaker.
When we launched our vocational training initiative, it was bigger than just helping people get clean. It was to help them become whole. Clean hands. A renewed mind. A new skill set. A real job. A new story.
Social transformation isn’t a side hustle to the gospel. It’s what the gospel produces.
Churches Must Be Sanctuaries AND Strategic
Some churches create sanctuaries but never step into the storm. Others storm the gates of culture but forget how to create sanctuary. We believe the call is both.
We’re not here to echo culture. And we’re not here to hide from it either. We are here to engage it with discernment.
Whether it’s immigration reform, economic instability, or local education, we start with what God says through it and don’t get caught up in what the world demands we think about it.
That’s how you become a church of influence in a divided time. That’s how you lead culture, not follow it.
How to Engage Culture Without Losing Your Soul
Let’s make this practical. Here’s how you as a leader can start walking this out:
Define the Mission – Know what your church is called to before the headlines hit. This is your anchor.
Audit Your Engagement – Ask: Are we reacting or responding? Is this issue connected to our mission, or are we just trying to look relevant?
Build Partnerships, Not Programs – Collaborate with organizations already doing great work. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Reinforce it.
Create Space for Stories – Testimonies build trust. Let your community hear from real people impacted by the issues you care about.
Measure Transformation, Not Attendance – Track the impact of your engagement in real lives changed. That’s the metric that matters.
The Bridge Is Stronger Than the Battlefield
Let’s be honest. It’s easier to pick a side than to build a bridge.
But we weren’t called to do easy things. We don’t just host services. We create solutions. We disciple people into both spiritual growth and social impact.
And that, right there, may be the secret weapon churches have been searching for.
This is the future of the Church that refuses to lose its voice.
A Church that listens first.
Leads with love.
And lives it out in power.
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