#220 How to Plan and Preach a Sermon Series on Citizenship with Luke Edgerton

After observing American Christians engage in politics for some time, I have become convinced of the following: if the church does not disciple Christians in their role as citizen, someone or something else will. That is why we started this podcast, and we routinely speak in churches or encourage pastors to preach on Biblical principles related to citizenship.

That said, the concept of a sermon series on citizenship does raise some important and perhaps nerve-wracking questions. What should the tone and content of such a series be? Given the differences of opinion and the increasing polarization in American politics, how should pastors address this topic without causing needless division? What Biblical principles about government should be covered and how specific should the sermons be about issues, politicians or parties? Every pastor will answer these questions in a different way given ministry needs and context, but I wanted to share some practical ideas and guiding principles on this via a very helpful example.

Luke Edgerton is the Lead Pastor at Mercy Road Church Northwest in Indianapolis, Indiana, and he recently planned and preached a sermon series on Christian citizenship. Here’s my discussion with him about the nuts and bolts of that series, why he preached it , what he learned from preaching it (along with Pastor Rashad Cunningham and Montez Rowley), and how the congregation responded.

Key Takeaways:

• A description of Mercy Road Northwest’s unique location on the edge of urban and suburban Indy and its opportunity to minister to individuals and families with different ideological backgrounds and political affiliations.
• The title of the series “Compassion and Conviction” and what inspired that title.
• Why he chose Daniel as the text of the series.
• The title and explanation of the four sermons preached in the series, and why he and Pastors Rashad Cunningham and Montez Rowley teamed up to preach the series together.
• An explanation of why and how he and the preaching team discussed key issues in public life such as COVID, sanctity of life, racial tensions, and Biblical sexual ethics.
• This thought: “If you don’t teach your kids about sex, they will learn about it in the locker room. If we do not teach Christians about citizenship, they will learn about it elsewhere.
• How the congregation responded to the series.
• Practical ideas for pastors that are interested in preaching such a series.