Timestamps

0:00 Intro

8:11 Navigating Political Rhetoric

12:39 Biblical Precedents of Civil Disobedience

16:33 The Story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

21:31 Christians in Politics

23:09 Voting with a Servant Heart

26:36 The Role of Servant Leadership in Politics

28:27 The Responsibility of Voting in a Democracy

33:16 The Power of Prayer in Political Change

48:44 The Dual Nature of Anger

49:53 Loving Your Enemy

Show Notes

Welcome and Introduction

- Matt Edmundson introduces the Crowd Online Church session focused on politics.

- Introduction of co-hosts: Will Sopwith and Jeff Beynon.

Upcoming Changes to Crowd Church

- Announcement of a shift to hybrid services starting 6th October.

- Information about the transition available on Crowd Church's website and YouTube.

Discussion on Politics and Christianity

- Clarification that the discussion will not endorse specific political parties.

- Focus on how Christian theology should shape political views, not vice versa.

God's Sovereignty and Authority

- Examination of Romans 13:1-2 on respecting governing authorities as instituted by God.

- Discussion on the historical context of Roman rule during the scripture's writing.

Balancing Faith and Political Authority

- Exploration of how Christians should respond to laws conflicting with scripture.

- Reference to biblical examples like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Prayer and Political Leaders

- Emphasis on praying for leaders, regardless of personal political preferences.

- Discussion on the impact of prayer in historical political changes, such as the end of apartheid.

Christian Engagement in Politics

- Encouragement for Christians to join political parties and influence from within.

- Debate on whether Christians should always vote for Christian candidates.

Navigating Political Anger and Division

- Reflection on the role of anger in political discourse and its ineffectiveness.

- Encouragement to love and pray for political opponents, following Jesus' teachings.

Practical Political Involvement

- Suggestions for Christians to engage in politics through voting, advocacy, and community service.

- Importance of focusing on policies that benefit the broader community.

Conclusion and Next Steps

- Announcement of next week's panel discussion on rest.

- Reminder of the upcoming change in live stream timing to 7:00 PM.

- Closing remarks and gratitude for audience participation and co-host contributions.

Matt Edmundson [1:57 - 2:14]: Well, good evening and welcome to Crowd online church. My name is Matt Edmondson and it is great to be with you this evening. We are talking politics. And beside me, on my left, this handsome chap, mister will Sopwith.

Will Sopwith [2:14 - 2:16]: Good evening, everybody. Nice to see you.

Matt Edmundson [2:16 - 2:19]: And on my right, this handsome chap.

Jeff Beynon [2:19 - 2:22]: Hello. I don't know if I'm handsome, but hello.

Matt Edmundson [2:22 - 2:24]: Just take it. Just take it. It's fine.

Will Sopwith [2:24 - 2:26]: You look great in this light chat. Fine.

Matt Edmundson [2:26 - 2:39]: Go with it, mister. Sorry, I should. This is Jeff Beynon, the other half of the Beynons, who is. People will know Sadaf. If you're a regular crowd, you will have seen Sadaf on the show. Well, this is Sadaf's fella.

Jeff Beynon [2:40 - 2:42]: Isn't she lucky?

Will Sopwith [2:44 - 2:45]: That's exactly the lucky.

Matt Edmundson [2:45 - 2:46]: Well done.

Will Sopwith [2:46 - 2:47]: Well done.

Matt Edmundson [2:48 - 3:36]: We're all punching, mate. We're all punching. We know you. And so, yeah, very warm welcome to crowds. Great to have you here tonight. We are carrying on our little, what do we call them, our little conversations. Our little debates, our panels. That's the word I'm looking for. Little panel conversations. So traditionally, we normally have a talk and then we talk about the talk. But today we are going to be doing panel conversations and we are doing this throughout the whole month of September. And we've had conversations about work. We've had conversations about all kinds of things. Church. We did a good one about church last week. Today we are talking politics. Dun dun dun dun dun. Not contentious issue in any way. We thought, you know. Well, why would we need to get in a contentious issue? But it's not.

Will Sopwith [3:36 - 3:40]: And you do like to narrow down your issues, don't you? It's like, make it nice and precise.

Matt Edmundson [3:43 - 4:15]: Well, you know, there you go. So I can hear myself twice. That's never a good thing. So, yes, we do like to narrow down the issues. So when we talk about politics, if you have any questions, any thoughts, any comments, put them in the comments on YouTube. We would love to hear them and get through them. So Miriam's in the comments. Hello, Miriam. She says, evening, guys. So what was it you said, Miriam? So, hi. All at home with a cough and a cold at the moment. Pray for me to get better. What we do, we pray you experience health. Matt crew says your mansion.

Jeff Beynon [4:15 - 4:17]: Yeah, you would say that.

Will Sopwith [4:20 - 4:21]: Evening, Matt.

Jeff Beynon [4:21 - 4:21]: Yeah.

Matt Edmundson [4:21 - 5:02]: Yep. Evening, Matt. And good to see everybody. And he's put there in the comments. Our live streams are going to be a hybrid in a fortnight's time. They are the final countdown. We are doing some big changes to crab, which we went through last week. If you haven't seen it and you want to know the stuff that we're going to be doing, do watch. That. We went through in a lot more detail, but we are moving to a hybrid service from the 6 October. There's no information really on the website about it. There is a video, there's a couple of videos on YouTube which talk about it, but more information will be coming on the website soon, which you can find if I press this button here on crowd church. Www. Dot. Crowd dot church. Anyway, if you're in Liverpool, come join us, by the way, in person. So I think that's the intro done. Will, how we doing?

Will Sopwith [5:02 - 5:15]: We're doing great. Yeah, very good. Very good. Excited to be here as ever, as always. Excited about the beautiful autumn weather, you know. You know, I've spent all summer going, it's gonna be a fantastic autumn, isn't it? It's gonna be absolutely beautiful.

Matt Edmundson [5:15 - 5:15]: Yeah.

Will Sopwith [5:15 - 5:20]: But, yeah, having a dog in the family, it's like, oh, another wet day. Come on.

Matt Edmundson [5:22 - 5:23]: And another wet dog.

Will Sopwith [5:23 - 5:28]: Yes, indeed. Well, exactly. It just stinks up the house anyway. Yeah, no, it's lovely to be here.

Matt Edmundson [5:28 - 5:29]: You've got a dog as well.

Jeff Beynon [5:29 - 5:30]: Yeah.

Matt Edmundson [5:30 - 5:31]: Do you have the same issues?

Jeff Beynon [5:31 - 5:39]: Yeah, it's when she goes out in the rain, it's just the house just gets messy. Floors are filthy. Yeah. It's not fun.

Matt Edmundson [5:39 - 5:43]: No, no, not on any kind of level. But apart from that, how are you doing today?

Jeff Beynon [5:43 - 5:44]: Yeah, very good.

Matt Edmundson [5:44 - 5:45]: Yeah. Had a good day.

Jeff Beynon [5:45 - 5:46]: Had a very nice day.

Matt Edmundson [5:46 - 5:47]: Chilled out day.

Jeff Beynon [5:47 - 5:48]: Very chilled out.

Matt Edmundson [5:48 - 5:57]: Chilled out day. I did that thing which I normally do when the grand Prix is on, is I watch the start, have a nap, wake up and watch the end.

Jeff Beynon [5:57 - 5:57]: Right.

Matt Edmundson [5:57 - 6:00]: And it really works well for me.

Will Sopwith [6:01 - 6:11]: Do you know, I was around at my parents last night, and my mum gave me this letter from my granny in the mid eighties. Cause she went off to Rio.

Matt Edmundson [6:11 - 6:11]: Yeah.

Will Sopwith [6:11 - 6:20]: And she did that very same thing. And she'd written in this. It was like this kind of letter back, this extended postcard back home. I'd completely forgotten about it. And she was in Rio.

Matt Edmundson [6:20 - 6:20]: Yeah.

Will Sopwith [6:20 - 6:27]: And. Yeah, she watched the beginning of the grand Prix, fell asleep, woke up for the end. She said that. Exactly. Same thing. And I just read that yesterday.

Matt Edmundson [6:27 - 6:29]: It's a righteous thing. It's a righteous thing.

Will Sopwith [6:29 - 6:30]: You're in good company.

Matt Edmundson [6:31 - 6:38]: No doubt, no doubt. So, politics, what do we think? Just to be totally clear, let's just lay down a few ground rules.

Will Sopwith [6:38 - 6:38]: Yeah, good idea.

Matt Edmundson [6:38 - 7:35]: In case, you know, there are some expectations, hopefully tonight we are not going to tell you which political party you should vote for. That's not what we're here. We're not to promote a particular party over another party. We will be talking about english politics, we will be talking about us politics. We may even get onto some global politics. But rather than talking about a specific party or even specific policies, I think we're just going to look at what the Bible has to say and we're going to talk about how we adapt that into our lives. Because we were talking before we went live. One of the big issues. Well, you think. You said it was scary, which I think is quite true. One of the big issues, and the research is finding is at the moment, christian theology is not shaping politics, but politics is shaping our christian theology. It's now flipped. And so I think that's what we want to address and we want to look maybe a little bit more at some of what the Bible has to say. Is that fair enough?

Will Sopwith [7:35 - 7:37]: Yeah, yeah, I think that's. Yeah, absolutely.

Matt Edmundson [7:37 - 7:43]: Yeah. Good. So have I laid down enough caveats, do you think?

Will Sopwith [7:44 - 8:10]: Yeah, I think so. And if we. If we stray from them, I'm sure you'll keep us on the straight and narrow. But, yeah, we were just saying we don't want anyone to leave with the impression of, like, oh, they support this or that or that. It's really not about that. It's. Let's try and explore together. Really welcome the comments in the chat. Points of view questions as well. Let's be part of the discussion. It's not just our view, but, yeah, keep us honest, tell us if we're doing all right with that.

Matt Edmundson [8:11 - 9:25]: Yeah, that's a very good point. And also saying in the comments, it's not a chance for you to promote your political ideology. Yeah, good point. I don't want any. Down with the Tories or Labour's rubbish or Democrats, circ, or Republicans are the. Or whatever. Jeremy, that's not what we're here. We're just here for conversation about scripture and just saying, God, maybe. Maybe during this time, use the Bible to shape my thinking rather than culture and political ideology shaping my thinking. So let's see what happens. So, in our notes, which you can see there, gentlemen, the first thing we talk about is, I'm just gonna put my glasses on so I can see it. We talk about God's sovereignty. So romans 13 one, two says, let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God. And those that exist have been instituted by God, which we need to get into, therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. And this is interesting when just to give a. Maybe, well, maybe you can give a little bit of context to when this was written, rather than me just chatting all the time.