Birmingham (&) Campaign
Relaunch - Jump In!
How do you process our current political landscape? We all have political beliefs, and to act as if we don’t would be disingenuous. These beliefs are influenced by our personal values, family upbringing, religious beliefs, and many other factors. One of the everyday influencers of our political beliefs is cable news and talk radio. We consume information and other people’s politics religiously and absorb them into our discipleship process. This often causes us to be more Republican or Democrat than Christian.
Now, I believe that Christians should get involved in the political and civic process. By God’s grace, we live in a society that allows citizens to participate in local, regional, and federal government. This is a profound opportunity that the vast majority of people throughout human history have not enjoyed, and many have fought and died for all of America’s citizens to participate.
But Christians couldn’t be more divided about how to engage or if we should be engaged in civic/political life.
The (&) Campaign is an organization that exists to help educate and mobilize Christians for faithful civic engagement. As believers, we care about people knowing the hope and security of entering into a life-giving relationship with Jesus Christ. We know that true peace comes from the Prince of Peace. Throughout history, millions have found life, love, and hope in Jesus Christ, no matter their situation. The rich, the poor, people of all ethnicities, slaves, slaveholders, murderers, the innocent, the elderly, children, and many more have found forgiveness and eternal life in the love of their Heavenly Father.
Too many people stop there and say, “Just preach the gospel,” as if the gospel doesn’t care about people and their life situations. While we have heard tremendous testimonies of how people in the worst human conditions have found the strength to love, forgive, and persevere, that doesn’t excuse us from turning a blind eye to their suffering and seeking to improve and provide opportunities for more people. We engage them because we care about
This is why the (&) Campaign exists: to provide a clear framework for how Christians can engage our political landscape with Compassion & Conviction. We care about the flourishing of those created in the Image of God.
The Birmingham (&) Campaign, a local chapter working on the ground here in Birmingham, Alabama, was formed in 2020. We started in response to the social and political upheaval brought on because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the murder of George Floyd, Ahmad Arbury, and Brianna Taylor. Throughout 2021 and 2022, we hosted several events and initiatives to help educate our community about issues important to Birmingham.
In 2021, we held an event to lay the foundation for our work and invited Sho Baraka and Justin Gibony, two of the founders of the (&) Campaign, to share the vision… We also had local historian and Christian thinker Colin Hanson join us to provide a historical context for why believers should engage in this work.
In 2022, we hosted A Celebration of the Black Church, where we intentionally took time to learn from Black leaders about the historic engagement of the Black church in civic engagement.
We also hosted a conversation on how Christians should engage and care for education in their local community and broader context.
In 2023, we took a step back to reset, and now we are relaunching our Chapter, and we want you to join us. We are looking for people who would like to engage deeper in this work and have the margin to commit time to engage people, plan events and initiatives, and build up the Chapter to what it can be.
Would you join us at one of our upcoming events?
