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In some threads, someone implied that plain Mennonites don't talk about politics. This surprised me. My Facebook contacts include plain Mennonites who seem to be talking about politics - is that unusual?

In this thread, I'd like people to discuss whether and how they talk about political issues in their churches. I'd also like to discuss different ways that various Anabaptist / Mennonite groups approach this. If you do talk about political issues, what kind of issues do you talk about, and how do you discuss them?

I'm interested in both what you actually do and what you think you should be doing.

The church I'm going to now does not discuss political issues from the pulpit, and prayer requests that relate to politics are carefully reworded to give them a Kingdom focus before we pray about them. But most people vote, and some are party members. I think we have at least one Republican party activist who was an elected judge - and also a very fine Christian, but I find I simply cannot discuss political issues with him. Outside the service, we do discuss these issues in small groups and other settings, but the conversation dies down quickly if it becomes divisive.

As a church, we are trying to focus on what we should do as the Kingdom of God. Many of us are deeply skeptical of any loyalty to political parties. Some work with Right to Life or with groups that provide counseling to women with unwanted pregnancies. We also have a refugee welcoming team. These things definitely get into political issues, but we try to do it as the church.

When I come to Mennonet or even church to learn about Christ and spiritual things and people are talking about politics - I feel like a fisherman showing up at a "fishermans conference" only to find people are rather talking about pig farming...
Doesn't mean we don't respect and prayer for them but politics aren't really that interesting to me anymore...

I marked #3, #4, #5. We don't talk about it over the pulpit, and political talk is quite rare at church. But I don't think it would be completely accurate to say that it never crosses our lips after church.
I find that politics is a common subject at the office, which is a mix of plain Mennonites and Evangelicals. I do participate at times, but I don't bring it up. There is differences in opinions but it is not a contentious subject here.

I also selected #3, #4, and #5.

There isn't enough political interest in our congregation for me to check any of these. If someone has a political conversation, it's probably because I started it.

I actually wish that there would be more interest in some of these subjects. I feel like our worldview is pretty narrow at times...

I checked #1 and #5.

Yes, we talk about political issues, but we focus on what our response is as the Kingdom of God.

We usually do this fairly well, but not always.

So how do you handle family gatherings where someone just can't stop talking politics, and has a view that makes other people uncomfortable? Surely we've all been in that setting ...

JimFoxvog wrote:I checked #1 and #5.

Yes, we talk about political issues, but we focus on what our response is as the Kingdom of God.

We usually do this fairly well, but not always.

You sure you check #1? It shows 0 votes.

Bootstrap wrote:So how do you handle family gatherings where someone just can't stop talking politics, and has a view that makes other people uncomfortable? Surely we've all been in that setting ...

We are quite blunt with family. Anyone that insists on constantly talking about something beyond others interest, and is contentious, is eventually told in no uncertain terms that it is time to be quiet.