PART 2—The Election Probably Won’t Be Over on November 3 (and How Churches Can Respond)

• Learn How To Be The Person Of Kindness You Already Think You Are

So how do we make sure we’re not crossing the line from impassioned to impatient, from firmly principled to harshly opinionated? This is the perfect time for the refresher we all need on how to be people of kindness. 

The 30-Day Kindness Challenge is a “kindness boot camp” that helps us to identify and address areas where we’re not as kind as we could be. We all value kindness, and we all think we’re kind—we just don’t realize that there are ways we are not being kind. Read The 30-Day Kindness Challenge book. Take a close look at Chapter 6, which talks about seven patterns of unkindness and negativity. Believe it or not, all of us exhibit at least one of those patterns (and some of us have more than one!). The aspects of unkindness that we’re probably most vulnerable to in this election season are exasperation, catastrophizing, and grumbling. Find out what your “red flag” areas are and be intentional about being a person of kindness in all areas of life, including politics. 

• Talk Across The Aisle, Rather Than Mostly To Your TV Screen

One reason we’re so divided is that we tend to talk to, listen to, watch, and read information from people who agree with us. While being divided as a nation is not some people’s top concern, being divided and disconnected from those individuals who disagree with us must be. Because it is directly contrary to Jesus’ command to both love your neighbor and to care for those who oppose you.

So truly, the most important type of engagement is not media, TV news, or social media—it is to actually try to hear the heart of those with whom you completely disagree. Not because it will change your opinion (it probably won’t), but because it helps personalize them and their viewpoint instead of turning it into a too-simplistic or even inaccurate caricature of what “those people” think. 

The absolute best way of coming together as communities and a country today is for us to get out of our silos and really see and care for those who disagree with us. Even if we never see eye to eye on politics, we have far more in common than we think with those who will vote completely differently.