How can church leaders address polarization? We speak with Cathy Bien about the Campaign for Kindness and how church leaders can lead out of their faith to engage polarization in their communities with kindness.
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How can church leaders address polarization? In this episode we speak with Cathy Bien about the Campaign for Kindness and how church leaders can lead out of their faith to engage polarization in their communities with kindness.
Jessica Anschutz: Welcome to Leading Ideas Talks, a podcast featuring thought leaders and innovative practitioners. I’m Jessica Anschutz, the associate director of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership, and I am your host for this Leading Ideas Talk. Joining me today is Cathy Bien, Lead Director of Media, PR, and Special Projects at the Church of the Resurrection, a multi-site United Methodist congregation that has launched A Campaign for Kindness. Thank you, Cathy, for taking the time to speak with me today about ministry in polarized contexts.
Cathy Bien: Thank you. It’s my pleasure to be here.
Jessica Anschutz: Cathy, in order to help our listeners get to know you a little bit, I want to invite you to share about your role with the Campaign for Kindness and a little bit about the inspiration for this grassroots movement.
Cathy Bien: Church of the Resurrection, where I am on the staff as our lead director of PR, Media, and Special Projects started talking about it in 2019. My role at Resurrection, I’ve been here for almost 25 years, and I bring a journalism background as well as corporate and nonprofit public relations. I’ve always been passionate about sharing messages and engaging communities. But this started at Resurrection where I was working with our communication team. And our whole church went through really a period of some vision casting and looking at what’s going on in our community and our world where we could have the greatest impact. How could we, as a church, as a congregation, make our community look more like the kingdom of God? This idea of closing the gaps and we actually called it “closing the gaps.” It was our vision, 2030. And one of those gaps that we identified was kindness and justice, and just really feeling like this is something where we could have an impact. So, we kind of began this journey of seeing, “What are some ways we can do that?” In 2020, our country was starting to really feel this polarization and really kind of so much uncivility toward one another. We said, maybe this is an area where we can have an impact. When we started talking about this, we had no idea that we were going to end up in the middle of a pandemic, but that kind of played into what we were doing.
The idea was that we can take a lesson from scripture, a simple lesson that even to non-religious people would be familiar and apply it to how we treat one another. So 2020, our first campaign, was love your neighbor. And it was a very simple message, but we approached that as our campaign platform. And we did t-shirts and yard signs and some advertising, just encouraging people to remember and to embrace and reflect on this message. So that was our first campaign.
We decided we would do this every two years following the national election cycle. So, our second one was based on Micah 6:8 and the message was to be just, kind, and humble. And again billboards, yard signs, t-shirts, and it really started taking off. This year, for 2024, our campaign is to “do unto others” drawing from the golden rule—the scripture, but also the message that, you know, we find in almost every major religion in the world right now. We again have t-shirts, buttons, yard signs, advertising, anything that you would do in a political campaign, those tools—those messaging tools—we’re using those to get this message out. This year we’ve got a website, which we can share campaignforkindness.org. And everything that we’ve created, everything that we’ve learned, all of our resources, we’re giving those away. And we have almost 500 churches around the country that are joining now in this campaign and using some element.
Along with the campaign, there’s a sermon series during the month of October that goes along with it. We’ve really expanded. We’re doing some small group curriculum. We have curriculum for children and for students all along this idea of “do unto others.” So that’s kind of where, you know, coming out of my background in marketing and PR: how can we take a message and really spread it using a variety of communication tools?
Jessica Anschutz: So how can the Campaign for Kindness then help overcome the polarization that we’re seeing in our country?
Cathy Bien: Yeah. So, it’s a campaign, but there’s really kind of three, three pillars that we have adopted. One is to encourage people to look at themselves and to be very intentional about their attitudes and actions and what are you doing that perhaps is not kind? How can you be more kind? How can you do unto others as you want to have done unto you? How do you want to be treated? So that’s the first one, you know, it starts with yourself.
The second one is, really inviting people to spread the message. You know, the more conversations we have, the more we engage with others, even the more we learn about how to engage with people with whom we disagree. The more this message will spread and address this idea of polarization.
And then the third one is really to—kind of this personal development, this faith component—to grow in your own faith and commitment to live out these universal truths in your everyday life. So that’s kind of the three things: to take an action, to share the message, and to find a way to grow.
We’re focused this year, particularly on helping people find those tools. We actually surveyed our congregation and the majority say, you know, “Yes, we are too polarized. Yes, we want to do something about it, but we’re not sure how.” And, you know, so there are a lot of tools out there to explore. It starts with our faith, but how do we have these conversations with people? How do we—how do we listen more and maybe talk less?
Jessica Anschutz: And these resources, as you said, are available on the website?
Cathy Bien: Yes. All of the resources that we’ve created we are sharing those on the website. They can be downloaded. We’ve shared some of our vendors, but people can also use their own. We’ve got all of our past sermon series that have addressed this. So those are resources for pastors and church leaders, we have some curriculum. And then also directing people where there are some other resources. And then what I’m working on right now is inviting people as they develop resources to share them. Cause we’d love to, you know, this is not just one way. We’re all in this together and really making this an opportunity for leaders in the church to, to share the things they’re developing with one another. It’s just, you know, it’s such an important topic right now, and I know a lot of a lot of pastors—a lot of church leaders—are just overwhelmed. You may have a very diverse congregation and be afraid to address any of these topics because it is so inflammatory right now.
Jessica Anschutz: So, I want to push you a little bit to take that a step further. It is inflammatory and folks may be feeling cautious about taking that first step. What might a church leader who’s reticent to take action do? Where might they start to, to take a stand for kindness?
Cathy Bien: You know I think it’s really kind of getting back to the very basics of who we are as followers of Jesus and looking at: “What did he say? Who did he associate with?” You know, drawing upon those, those simple commands to, to love one another and to love your enemy and to do unto others. These are all really great places to start and reminding people of we have a great model. We just need to follow it. And you know I, I think that there—there are communication skills and things that can be developed, but really it starts within your own heart, just coming from this place of love. And looking at this as we are all children of God, and we’ve got to get away from the “them and us” idea. And that’s, you know, one thing at Resurrection, in our church we’re a very diverse congregation. We’re probably about 40% more to the right, 40% to the left, 20% somewhere in the middle. And we have to be able to agree to disagree to a certain extent. We’re not going to agree on everything, but the things that are really important, the fact that we’re going to love one another, we agree on that. And that’s kind of a non-negotiable.
Jessica Anschutz: So how can church leaders then lead out of their faith in order to effectively engage in ministry contexts, like Resurrection, where the red and blue are coming together?
Cathy Bien: I think it’s important to create a sense of belonging and acceptance, whatever your position is. And one of the ways we try to do that is we’re very deliberate about not endorsing political candidates. You know, that’s the law to maintain our status as a nonprofit organization. But we are very careful about that. We’re a large church and we have candidates running for office on both sides of the aisle, every year. And so, it’s just this idea that we’re going to focus on, what are those things that are important that will make our community and our country better? Which will give voice to the voiceless, protect the vulnerable. You know, there are certain things that we can all agree on, you know? No child should be hungry. Now, we might not agree on how we address that, and that’s where we’ve got to work together and compromise, but what are those things that, Jesus said to care for the orphans and the widows. Okay, our world is a little different now, but we still have that call to look out for the vulnerable.
So how can we find that common ground to do that? So really by focusing on what are those important things that we agree on is one of the best ways to bring people together. There’s one little technique that we are kind of teaching our congregation that I think would be really helpful for pastors. And when—that’s when people disagree about something, we have to be able to separate the position from the person. And it sounds simple, but it’s really hard, especially when it’s an emotionally charged issue. But if you can separate that position from the person, you can love that person, but not agree with their position. And we have to stop defining people by their positions and look at them as Children of God, brothers and sisters in Christ.
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Jessica Anschutz: Amen. Are there other leadership skills that should be cultivated in order to address the polarization in congregations and in our society? What do our church leaders need?
Cathy Bien: It’s really just this idea of having a pastoral heart and, you know, and caring about people. But it also requires a bit of courage. You have to be willing to speak out for, you know, injustice and for hurtful things that, you know, that can’t be tolerated. If we have congregants that are hurting each other that—we have to speak out against that.
Some of the other things we have to think about are being courageous in the sense that this message may not resonate with everyone. There, there may be people, you know we’ve had instances where we’ve had people leave the church because they just couldn’t accept being in a congregation with people that they didn’t agree with. And that’s sad, but that’s something that we’ve just got to hold the line that we are going to be respectful and civil with one another.
Jessica Anschutz: I appreciate that reminder to, to be courageous and not be deterred and pray that those who feel that they need to leave can find the place that God is calling them to be.
Cathy Bien: Exactly, yeah. And that … our denomination has experienced that quite—very broadly. And, and I think we just, yeah, we just continue to pray that we will move forward and that we’re all God’s children. That’s part of the Micah 6:8 being just, kind, and humble, is to acknowledge that we don’t have all the answers and, we’re all doing the best we can. We may not always be right. And that’s another way to really bring people together, is through acknowledging that I can learn something from someone else. And to do that, I need—I need to humble myself and know that I may not have all the answers.
Jessica Anschutz: The importance of humility and courage in addressing this.
Cathy Bien: Yes. They go together.
Jessica Anschutz: Absolutely. As we think about addressing polarization we’ve hinted at and alluded to some of the challenges and also the fears, right? The fear that it will cause people to leave, it will make people uncomfortable. But what are some of the other challenges that, that you have seen either in your context or more broadly in working with these campaigns to addressing polarization?
Cathy Bien: One of the obvious challenges is people will question why is the church getting involved? This idea that religion and politics should not, should never mix, you know. But I, I think as we study the Gospels, as we study what Jesus did, he didn’t shy away from those kinds of controversies and conflicts, and I think nor should we. Those are some of the greatest challenges. But I would like to just kind of say, what are the positives on this? Because what we have seen in our community is people are hungry for this message, you know, people out in the community.
We gave out yard signs in worship this past weekend. And we had so many people say, “My neighbor saw my yard sign and they don’t go to church here, but they want one.” And these are just signs that, you know, say: “do unto others,” “live the golden rule,” “treat people with kindness.” And so, this can in many ways be an evangelism tool because people want this message. They want to end some of this polarization. I mean, we’re just, we’re tired. We’re just tired of it. And so, we’ve gotten really a great response in our community, not just from our church members. And it also empowers our church members to, to share the message. And from that, you know, they’re also sharing their faith out in our community.
Jessica Anschutz: I think that’s a really wonderful example, right, of how simple it is. Put a yard sign out and that then engages—leads to conversation—with the neighbor.
Cathy Bien: Yeah. Or wear it, wear a t shirt. Our logo for this campaign is a heart that is red and blue at the top and then it blends into purple and, very deliberate about purple being representative of the kingdom of God. And we’re not red or blue. We are children, we are followers of Jesus. Just wearing a t-shirt, using a mug that has the logo, simple ways to kind of share this message—does, it has—really does two things: it shares the message, but it also reminds you of this is how I want to act. I’m not going to wear a “do unto others” t-shirt and lose my temper with someone in line at the grocery store. You know that type of thing. It, it’s just a—it’s empowering, I think for our congregation, but it’s also a reminder.
Jessica Anschutz: And it also goes back to what you said at the beginning, right, about how it starts with us. There’s a personal level of sort of self-evaluation as we go into this, but then we bring it out into the world with us.
Cathy Bien: Yes, it definitely … it has to start with being intentional, being intentional in your thoughts and your actions. And you know we’re—one of the things we also do are we’re surrounding that in prayer. We’re praying for all of the candidates. We’re praying for our country. We’re praying for our neighbor. And one thing I just read recently and have shared out is that this is—Christian maturity is being able to pray for both those you agree with and those who disagree with. And recognizing that we need to model the heart of God in praying for everyone. So that—there’s some simple things that we can do, that we can model, that we can teach, but it does start with that individual commitment. And when you have a whole church of people that are united in that commitment, I mean we believe we can change our community and the world with this message.
Jessica Anschutz: I look forward to seeing more fruits of this campaign. Cathy, I want to invite you to think a little bit about a church leader who has avoided divisive issues, who has avoided talking about polarization, what words of encouragement would you offer them to take the next step to engage this issue?
Cathy Bien: You know, I think the first step is to: don’t address it as polarization. Address it as, “How do we want to live out our faith in our community and in our world?” And if you start there, and if you start sharing that and encouraging that within your congregation, that’s a big first step. Because it’s not about identifying who we disagree with. It’s identifying that, “I’m going to love everyone, and I’m going to find a way to do that as I move forward.” So, I, I think for a leader who’s afraid to address it head on, you don’t necessarily have to. We have a message that if we believe this and we live it, will address polarization, and can change the world.
Jessica Anschutz: And then thinking about folks who may be a little bit further along on the spectrum, that are on the fence about engaging the issue. How might they take that next courageous step?
Cathy Bien: That’s tough because it’s going to be different for everybody. But you know, I do think looking at the resources that are available, looking and partnering with what’s already going on in your community. Because this is a big topic, you know it’s, everybody’s talking about this. So, I think not feeling like you’re the only one doing it, not feeling like you, you have to reinvent this. Are there other organizations out there? Maybe it’s as simple as interact—joining up with another church in your community. Or you know a lot of churches still have signs outside. Maybe there’s a message that you could put on your sign or a banner, just, reminding people that we’re all part of humankind and not, you know, not enemies. So, there’s—those are some simple ways, but I think there are a lot of resources out there. There are a lot of, it’s really growing right now amongst churches. Certainly, check out campaignforkindness.com. If there’s any advice there, any resources there, but also just really look at what’s going on in your community. That’s one of the things I’ve kind of … in my role with Resurrection as we’ve grown, I’ve had the privilege of really being out in the community, connecting with other organizations and that’s really helped us to spread our message. But also, we feel like we’re having an impact and making a difference.
Jessica Anschutz: And I’m sure that it’s also inspiring to make those connections with community partners because we can do more together than we can when we’re isolated. Cathy, thank you so much for this time together today. Before we wrap up, I want to invite you to share sort of your hope for congregations as we move forward, given our political realities and the polarization in this country, what is your hope?
Cathy Bien: Well, my hope is that we can become more connected, more kind to one another, that, you know I think it’s really important whatever happens in the political arena, that we don’t let it destroy our churches, that we don’t let it destroy our families. We’ve got to find a way that we can come together, that we can find those things that are important, that are fundamental beliefs of our faith and cling to those and really be a kinder, more caring country, communities, churches, all of those. Just my hope is that we move forward, and we come together.
Jessica Anschutz: Cathy, thank you for not only sharing your hope, but for sharing the Campaign for Kindness with our listeners. We will be sure to link to the website on our podcast page, and we’re grateful for your time and your work and your witness.
Cathy Bien: Thank you.
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Related Resources
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- A Campaign for Kindness, a grassroots movement to encourage people to be intentional about treating one another with kindness, even those with whom we disagree
- The Church and Election Day by Doug Powe and Ann Michel
- Leading Between Faith and Patriotism by Lovett Weems
- 5 Things to Consider Before Engaging a Public Issue by Ginger Gaines-Cirelli
- 4 Opportunities for the Church in the Current Political Tension by Carey Nieuwhof
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