It’s understandable that standing up to speak out for Jesus and the Christian worldview can be a little intimidating at times. Even Paul asked the Ephesians to pray for him, that he might be bold to speak as he should (Eph. 6:18-20). These days it’s not uncommon for any believer who invokes the Bible or the name of the Lord with respect to some matter of public policy to be shouted down or hooted at for his brazenness.

So be it; we cannot not stand up for truth in the public square whenever the opportunity arises (Eph. 5:15-17). Whether it’s over coffee with some friends, across the back fence with a neighbor, at a meeting of the town council or school board, in your Bible study group, or in a letter to the editor of the local paper, Christians must prepare themselves to speak up and speak out, boldly, clearly, and consistently. 

Resources

“Speaking the Truth: Ani’s Oral Report,” by Charles Colson

“Speaking the Truth in Love: Practicing Pre-Evangelism,” by Charles Colson

“Speaking So Leaders Listen: Mother Teresa Comes to Washington,” by Charles Colson

“Christianity and Public Policy After Conservatism,” by T. M. Moore

“Truth in the Public Square,” by T. M. Moore

“The Problem with Evangelicals,” by Don Closson

“Envisioning a New Evangelical Engagement,” by Anna Speckhard

“Forcing One’s Views,” by Greg Koukl 

For more insight to this question, order the book, The Naked Public Square: Religion and Democracy in America, by Richard John Neuhaus, from our online store.

Items for action

1. How many different opportunities for engaging the public square can you identify in your community? Challenge some friends to help you discover the answer to this question. Then have them watch this week’s Two-Minute Warning with you, and together, lay out a strategy for beginning to establish a Christian presence in as many of those places as you can.
2. Talk about the issue raised in this week’s Two-Minute Warning in your Bible study or Sunday school class. Choose one of the resources from the list above and make copies for everyone in your group. Challenge them to read the article and then to consider how they should increase their own involvement for truth in the public square.
3. Send this week’s Talking Points column to friends around the country. Make a point to follow-up to make sure they’ve read it. Ask them to join you in one or more of the action items. Keep in touch about what you commit to doing.

Conversation starter

The public square begins wherever you stand up and begin speaking for the truth and the Gospel. You have to begin somewhere, so here’s a line you can use to engage a friend, neighbor, or colleague in the question of whether or not Christians should be “allowed” to speak their views in the public square: “Did you know that Apple removed a Christian app from its iPod platform, all because one particular group didn’t think that Christians should be allowed representation there? I think that’s bad policy. What do you say?”

T. M. Moore 

The relentless tide of relativism and mere sensuality continues to rise over every aspect of life in our society. Marriage has been under assault for some time now, but never like today, when federal courts are weighing in with opinions and decisions grounded in nothing but men’s best ideas of the way things ought to be (Prov. 14:12).

Iowans removed three members of their state’s Supreme Court, the same court which voted to overturn a ban on gay marriage. But that court’s decision still stands – at least for now. California is next, and, soon enough, the whole issue of what constitutes marriage in America will be before the Supreme Court of the land. Are we just going to sit by and watch the action? Maybe it’s time to bone-up on why this issue matters so much. Here are some resources and activities to help: 

Resources

“The Measure of a Marriage,” by T. M. Moore

“Answering Arguments for Same-Sex Marriage,” by Kerby Anderson

“Is Marriage Worth Defending?” by Alan F. H. Wisdom

“Marriage in Counterpoint and Harmony,” by Gilbert Meilaender

“Man, Woman, Marriage,” by David Naugle

“Arguing Against Gay Marriage: How Not to Sound Homophobic,” by Charles Colson

“90 Years of Wedlock,” by Anne Morse

“What Marriage Is – And What It Isn’t,” by Robert George

For more insight to this question, order the book, Love for a Lifetime: Building a Marriage That Will Go the Distance, by James Dobson, from our online store. 

Items for action

1. If you have not yet read and signed The Manhattan Declaration, now’s the time! And while you’re at the website, download a copy of the free study guide. Make a point, before the end of the year, to get together with some friends and study this important statement defending marriage, life, and religious liberty.
2. What is your church doing to help prepare young people for marriage? See if you can find out what’s on the docket for middle-schoolers, high-schoolers, and college-age kids. Who’s in charge? What are they teaching? Make a copy of The Manhattan Declaration for each leader of your church’s youth ministry, and urge them to study it with the young people in their charge.
3. Send this week’s Talking Points column to friends around the country. Make a point to follow-up to make sure they’ve read it. Ask them to join you in one or more of the action items. Keep in touch about what you commit to doing.

Conversation starter

Christians need to be talking about the state of marriage and other issues central to our religious freedom. Who better than yourself to start such a conversation. Here’s a line to get you going: “As the New Year approaches, what do you think our church (or government) should be doing to protect the institution of marriage and to ensure the preservation of religious liberty in America and elsewhere?”

I love Thanksgiving! I love the time of year, the food, the family gatherings, breaking out the Christmas music, and sharing with family the many ways that God continues to bless us day by day. Among folks in the secular world, Thanksgiving and Christmas have become a sort of megalopolis of holidays – two frantic seasons rolled into one, beginning with a feast of food on Thursday, a feast of shopping on Friday, and a feast of getting-and-spending for the rest of the year.

We should rename these two holidays, “National Binge and Splurge” instead of Thanksgiving and Christmas, since hardly anyone outside the Christian world honors these days for what they truly are. Well, perhaps we should address this situation? 

Resources

“True Thanksgiving: What Are We Teaching Our Kids?” by Charles Colson

“Dakota Thanksgiving,” by Joseph Bottum

“Getting Thanksgiving Right,” by Robert Royal

“Gobbling Up Tradition: Resisting Thanksgiving Revisionists,” by Charles Colson

“Thanks,” by Brad Miner

“It’s What You Do with What You’ve Got,” by Jennifer Roback Morse

“Whose Holiday Is It, Anyway”? by Anne Morse

“God’s Instrument: The Story of Squanto,” by Charles Colson

“The End of Advent,” by Joseph Bottum 

For more insight to this question, order the book, Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving, by Eric Metaxas and Shannon Stirnweis, from our online store. 

Items for action

1. Be sure to make the most of this Thanksgiving season to improve your daily offerings of thanks to the Lord. Plan a family “thanksgiving” service of worship. Sing together some of the great hymns of thanksgiving (you can find plenty at CyberHymnal.net or in a church hymnal). Use every meal to share your gratitude to God for one another and all His many daily blessings.
2. Identify five people in your life for whom you are particularly grateful to the Lord. Make a point, over the next several days, to contact each of them and offer a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord on their behalf. Be sure to tell your church leaders how grateful to God you are for them. Start a study of thanksgiving using this week’s ViewPoint series on “The Thanksgiving Solution.”
3. Send this week’s Talking Points column to friends around the country. Make a point to follow-up to make sure they’ve read it. Ask them to join you in one or more of the action items. Keep in touch about what you commit to doing.

Conversation starter

Here’s a conversation starter you might use to encourage others to a deeper sense of thanksgiving during this wonderful time of the year: “We call it ‘Thanksgiving,’ but how much time do we really spend giving thanks? Should we change the name of this holiday? Or should we change our behavior? What do you think?”

Having tired of blaming George Bush and the Republicans for the mess we’re in, the electorate has now decided to blame Barack Obama and the Democrats. That should fix things, eh? For the past generation or so, outspoken Christians have made a full-contact sport out of finding people to blame – liberals, postmodernists, the media, academics, and assorted moral special interest groups.

What good has all this blame-laying done? Is it possible, if we must ascribe blame, that some of that belongs on us, on the Church? Have we been the solid witnesses, fervent seekers after holiness, and loving neighbors that the world has a right to expect of us? Well, here are some resources to help you reflect on these questions: 

Resources

“A High Profile Divorce: The Cost of Biblical Faithfulness,” by Charles Colson

“There’s Hope,” by T. M. Moore

“The Church and the Grace of God,” by T. M. Moore

“The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience,” by Ronald J. Sider

“Practical Christianity: Moving Mountains,” by Thomas Buchanan

“Character Matrix,” by Erwin McManus (Lecture)

“The Mercy of Intolerance: Administering the Medicine of Disapproval,” by Regis Nicoll

“A House of Prayer: Recovering the Purpose of the Church,” by T. M. Moore

“I Believe in One Church,” by John Armstrong 

For more insight to this question, order the book, Repentance: A Daring Call to Real Surrender, by C. John Miller, from our online store.  

Items for action

1. Talk with one or two of your church leaders about your church’s efforts to minister God’s grace to your community. What specific ministries exist to meet the needs of the community? To bring the Gospel to them where they are? To provide resources in times of need? Share what you learn with your Bible study group or Sunday school class.
2. Meditate on Psalm139:23, 24. Spend an extended time alone with the Lord, listening for His response to this prayer. Are there any areas in your life that could be more wholly dedicated to seeking the Lord and His Kingdom? Share the results of this activity with a trusted soul friend.
3. Send this week’s Talking Points column to friends around the country. Make a point to follow-up to make sure they’ve read it. Ask them to join you in one or more of the action items. Keep in touch about what you commit to doing.

Conversation starter

Here’s a conversation starter you might try out to help get your Christian friends thinking and talking about this important topic: “I’ve been thinking about the Church and the state of things in our country – morally, socially, economically. Do we bear some responsibility in this? And if so, what should we do?”

The important mid-term election is now over, and already we can feel the air coming out of the national balloon. How do we know this next go-round is not going to be just more of the same old same? More Washington business as usual? If government is our best hope, then we are at best hopeless.

Christians should use the post-election season to reflect on the things that matter most – seeking the Kingdom of God, repenting of our sins, making the Good News of Jesus known far and wide, and making sure in all we do that we’re rooted and grounded in God’s Word. There is no lasting “hope and change” apart from the work of God’s Spirit, and He only works in an environment where repentance and Kingdom-seeking take off from the launch pad of God’s Word and prayer. Here are some resources to guide your reflection, items for action, and a conversation starter:

Resources

“Detox,” by T. M. Moore

“The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience,” by Ronald J. Sider

“Seeking the Kingdom First,” by Robert Royal

“Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God,” by David Naugle

“Reason to Repent: The Good News of the Kingdom,” by T. M. Moore

“The Rest of the Gospel: Advancing the Kingdom,” by Regis Nicoll

“Revival at Home,” by Charles Colson

“When Heaven Touches Earth: The Holy Spirit, the Sacraments, and Revival,” by William L. DeArteaga

“How Great Awakenings Happen,” by Herbert Schlossberg 

For more insight to this question, order the book, Repentance: A Daring Call to Real Surrender, by C. John Miller, from our online store.  

Items for action

1. Create a “conversations” group – online, via Skype, at your work place, among some Christian friends, in a coffee shop or bookstore – and set a regular time to meet together to talk about and pray for revival, renewal, and awakening in our nation. Take the lead on this. You can use the Two-Minute Warning and related resources as a focal point of your conversations.
2. Immediately contact your elected officials in Washington – Senators and Congress person – and let them know that, following Paul’s exhortation in 1 Timothy 2:1-4, you will be praying for them regularly. Include a link to ColsonCenter.org and encourage them to sign-up for the Two-Minute Warning newsletter. Establish some means of reminding yourself of this commitment.
3. Send this week’s Talking Points column to friends around the country. Make a point to follow-up to make sure they’ve read it. Ask them to join you in one or more of the action items. Keep in touch about what you commit to doing.

Conversation starter

Here’s a conversation starter you might try out to engage your Christian friends in thinking about the things that matter most: “So now that the election is over, we can get back to the things that matter most. What would you say those things are?”

“Mudslinging and Dirty Politics: Should Christians Go into Politics?” by Charles Colson

“The State of the Nation: Why Christians Should Be in Politics,” by Charles Colson

“Identity, Politics, and the Kingdom: What is a Christian’s Role in Society?” by Glenn Sunshine

“The Relationship between Politics and Christianity: An Interview,” by Krista Tippett

“How to Understand Politics,” by Harvey Mansfield

“Politics and Religion: Moving Forward in a Pluralistic Society,” by Nicholas S. Lantinga

“Jesus and Politics,” by Jon McHatton (lecture)

For more insight to this question, order the book, God and Government, by Charles Colson, from our online store.

Here’s a conversation starter you might try out to engage an unbelieving friend on this week’s topic: “A lot of people are becoming fed up with politics, but I don’t think that’s a good place to be. How can Christians have a more meaningful role in the political process?”