Faith has always been a central element of Lancaster County, with the strong presence of the Plain community and with churches everywhere one turns. As the political landscape changes, however, the leaders of faith in the county have often remained silent, choosing to stay focused on their communities and their usual teachings rather than responding to the state of the world outside their doors.
There is consensus that the Bible contains relevant material regarding the cultural and political shifts we have seen across the nation. In the mid-2010s, the American Culture and Faith Institute conducted research to understand where today’s pastors and churches stand on political issues. George Barna, the institute’s executive director, reported that although 90% of church leaders affirmed that the Bible speaks to important topics and issues that our world faces today, less than 10% of them said they were willing to preach about it.
Despite Lancaster’s faith-based community, this research seems to reflect what is happening in the county. When The Lancaster Patriot reached out to over a dozen local churches of various denominations, only three pastors accepted the request for an interview: Marc Hamer of Refuge Calvary Chapel, Joel Saint of Independence Reformed Bible Church, and Cory Murphy of Grace Family Church. The rest refused to get involved, with some citing reasons like fear of division, or they outright ignored the request.
At Independence Reformed Bible Church, the teaching does not shy away from any part of the Bible, including the often-ignored Old Testament, Saint said in an interview with The Lancaster Patriot. Although he has often seen people promote the idea that one should just preach the gospel and evangelize, he said that addressing the entirety of the Bible is necessary. He pointed out that Christ drew from books like Leviticus when teaching and that the apostles also taught by using the Old Testament. Thus, his church is built on the concept of teaching the full Scriptures and addressing topics that are touched on in the Bible, like immigration, criminal justice, taxation and education.
Saint felt called to his full-time work in the church about eight years ago, when he realized what his kids were learning and how little emphasis was being placed on biblical principles and truth. He kept hearing people say that the Bible does not speak to our society’s issues — or if people acknowledged that the Bible does speak to such issues, they would not address those issues in the church. “That seriously worried me,” he said, “because we have 66 books for a reason. None of us have the option to turn our back, decide that any part of those 66 books doesn’t apply to us. Because they all do. They’re there for a reason.”
Neglecting any of the truth that God has made clear would be failing his role as a pastor, in Saint’s eyes. As a pastor, he said, he feels he has the same commission as prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Amos, who were told to worry about one thing and one thing only: get the Lord’s word to the people as God has revealed it. “When I stand up in front of people on a Sunday morning, one of two things is going to happen,” Saint said. “I will either make the word of God more clear, or I will make it more obscure.”
Pastor Marc Hamer also told The Lancaster Patriot that he is dedicated to speaking the truth, even when it is inconvenient — a rule he has lived by even when it cost him his role in a church he previously served in. He spoke out against homosexuality becoming accepted in his denomination, an action that upset the establishment. In the end, he was turned out.
Now he has planted a new church that is founded unapologetically on biblical truths. He is not afraid of the division this might cause, because his first allegiance is to God, rather than man. “The main thing is we need to be proclaimers of the truth,” he said.
The fear of division has led many pastors to avoid bringing up difficult topics, like politically relevant discussions. Saint pointed out that division is actually an excuse for many leaders who are worried about losing members who fill the sanctuary and bring in funds.
Hamer said that some leaders are also afraid of difficult topics because of their elder boards. Since a lot of churches have styled themselves after corporate America rather than following God’s design, elder boards often run the church and can force pastors to toe the line or risk being fired.
Other pastors could be concerned about losing 501c3 status — but Hamer does not think that is a legitimate concern. “We are a 501c3 nonprofit church,” he said. “I’ve had people give me a hard time about that, implying that we are compromising with the government. No one has ever told me what I can and what I can’t preach. The day that they do, I would gladly hand them our 501c3 status and tell them to take it with them out the door. You know, we’re not going to bow down to anyone trying to tell us what we can and we cannot teach or preach. We’re going to obey God rather than man, if we are confronted with a situation like that. So I think that one’s a bit overblown right now. I haven’t heard of too many churches where they’re being harassed and threatened with their 501c3 status.”
Although churches should not become political, there is plenty of room for them to acknowledge politics, pastor Cory Murphy said in his interview. Murphy, who served for over a decade in student and children’s ministries before becoming a lead pastor, explained, “There is a big difference between teaching on cultural topics from Scripture and endorsing a policy or candidate. I think successful pastors can address those topics from a biblical perspective while not telling their people how they should vote.”
Even so, Murphy voiced concern that Scripture needs to be handled carefully so that the ideas of individual teachers are not forced into the text that is being taught from. “I believe Scripture is clear on some of these topics and we should preach on those issues with a clear voice,” he said. “But I am alarmed at times by the amount of passages that are taken out of context to support political agendas even within the church.”
Hamer also said that taking verses out of context to support bringing up a topic is a dangerous thing to do. The Scripture applies to everyday life, he said, but people sometimes use it as a tool to support their chosen topic rather than acknowledging its context and intent.
However, that does not mean pastors should avoid how the Bible relates to or addresses the issues of the day. Hamer brought up the example of when his church was studying the book of Romans in the fall of 2021. Romans 11, which talks about the redemption of Israel, led to further study of passages in the book of Revelation. Since the context involved signs such as war and pestilence, it naturally led to discussions on current events, like the conflict in Afghanistan and the outbreak of COVID-19.
“The Bible is amazingly relevant,” Hamer said. “You can go through texts of the Scriptures and you have to try for it not to apply to what’s going on in everyday life.”
Murphy said, “When it is appropriate we should connect the dots between Scripture and these issues — to me that is seeing the world through a biblical lens. Connecting the dots can be difficult and uncomfortable at times, especially when our own views might differ from what Scripture teaches. But some tension and uncomfortable conversation is good, for me and for our church family. That is how we grow.”
Rather than sidestepping politics, church leaders should teach their flocks how to interact properly with the government, Saint said. “We find ourselves now being totally oppressed and persecuted by civil magistrates, who in a sense are taking us at our word,” he said. “‘You churchmen have been saying for years that the Bible only addresses the spiritual stuff. Do you mind if we take over everything else?’ Well, yeah, we do mind, but we kind of gave it away years ago when we decided that the Bible does not speak to the responsibilities of the civil magistrate. We concluded that those who do not fear God or His word could control education, economics, criminal justice, and now even our health. What were we thinking when we gave it all away?”
Murphy stated that he intends to preach the Gospel above any document or governing authority. Followers of Jesus have their primary citizenship in heaven, according to Philippians 3:20, he explained, and Romans 13 is clear that all authority is granted by God. “We are to honor our leaders even when we don’t agree completely with their decisions,” he said. “Honestly, I think we need to expect that authorities and governments are not always going to uphold our values. Jesus told us as much. So, should we shake our fist at those authorities and tell them they can’t treat us differently because we are Christians or that they can’t make decisions that go against our beliefs? I think that is an unrealistic response when those decisions don’t explicitly go against Scripture. When we decide to follow Jesus we do so knowing we are going to take up our cross just as Jesus did. Suffering and persecution for Christ is part of the deal.”
Although a large portion of the church argues that Romans 13 forces the church to submit quietly to civil authorities in everything, that is not something that either Saint or Hamer believe. Saint explained that that passage limits the job of the civil magistrate to wielding the sword to punish evil — and that means that if a civil magistrate wields the sword to punish what God has not defined as evil, the magistrate has gone beyond the prescribed authority of Romans 13.
Furthermore, Saint said that while pastors are often willing to submit to unjust exercises of authority from governments, they are also willing to admit that a husband’s authority is not absolute. Although the Bible tells a wife to submit to her husband in all things, if a woman informs the church that her husband is abusing his authority, the pastor will not hesitate to confront the husband. Why, Saint asked, does the church understand that they can confront a husband who is acting out of bounds, but the church refuses to confront civil magistrates who have an even narrower jurisdiction?
Saint also pointed to the example set by Daniel when the Babylonian king decreed that his subjects could pray to no one but him. Saint argues that the modern church would have opposed Daniel’s decision to continue opening his window and praying aloud while facing Jerusalem. “If we would be counseling Daniel today, what would we say? I know what we would probably say. ‘Daniel, listen, here’s how we can do this. I know you’re praying with your window open and out loud. The king’s command is, if you pray, you have to pray to him, and you can’t pray to anyone else. But Daniel, please, use some discretion here: You don’t have to have your window open towards Jerusalem, and you certainly don’t have to pray out loud. There is no command to do either of those two things. Just shut your window, pray in your closet, and the king’s not going to know.'”
Daniel’s choice was deliberate, Saint said, and what we would call a provocation today. Yet Saint believes it was for a purpose: Daniel was telling the king that he had no jurisdictional authority to tell people they could not pray to God, and the church should have the same willingness to stand against those who have civil power but no authority over our spiritual lives.
Saint said that when politicians and other authorities defy God’s word, Christians have a duty to stand for what is right in opposition to them, rather than supporting them unconditionally. “When people say we need to support them, I’m not sure exactly what they mean by that. Does that mean when they pass a law to tax my neighbor’s property that I’m supposed to support it?” he asked. “Or am I doing a better job supporting my governor by telling the governor, as a minister, you are out of bounds, you are wrong, you are acting the tyrant? Which way is supporting more?”
Even the idea of giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s is something that needs to be addressed by the church today so it can be practically understood, he said. “What no pastor that I know of, or very few pastors that I know of, are willing to ask is, ‘Okay, what is Caesar’s? What is God’s? How do we find out?’ And the most dangerous question of all: What if Caesar asks for what is God’s? Do we have any right to give to Caesar what is God’s? How do we find this out? And by the way, Caesar doesn’t ask, I’ve noticed. Caesar tends to just kind of tell. Caesar comes along and says, ‘Give that to me or else.’”
Saint pointed to material throughout the Bible that deals with civil magistrates, such as where Nehemiah discussed how he governed righteously compared to the governors who came before him, and where in Paul’s first letter to Timothy, Paul instructed Timothy to know God’s law so he could properly deal with civil authorities.
Hamer also addressed 1 Timothy and how it instructs us to pray for our leaders so that we may lead a quiet, peaceful life — but, Hamer said, he does not believe that that means that we as Americans should not also exercise our rights. “We have the ability to appeal to those rights for the purpose of being able to live at peace in our lands,” he stated. “And so I think we would be foolish to not appeal to those. I think Paul would think we were foolish.”
He said that while the early church was not often shown fighting back politically, they did not usually have the option to do so — but we do have the example of Paul, who used his Roman citizenship and the rights that it granted him to save himself from unjust flogging and abuse. “He used what was at his disposal. Now, his heart was the proclamation of the gospel, to keep doing that, and that should be our heart as well, but we should use anything at our disposal within the Constitution, and I think we’d be foolish to not do so. We don’t need to invite persecution. It will come on its own. So we don’t need to be passive and lazy. ‘Oh, you know, we’re going to be persecuted.’ Yeah. You will be, Jesus promised that, but we don’t need to invite it into our lives. We should use whatever we have at our disposal to not have that, so that we can be free people, we can be peaceful people, and at the same time we can still continue with the proclamation of the Gospel.”
Hamer said that the Lancaster community, with its Amish and Mennonite heritage, has a culture built around peace at all costs that makes people reluctant to stir up dissension. It has made the county a peaceful one, with plenty of good for those who live here, but he still sees the need for boldness now. “I think God is stirring up hearts in this community. And even among the Amish, I think something’s getting ready to break. Like I think there might be a revival, you know, among the Amish and the old order Mennonites.”
Saint is also hopeful for the future, in Lancaster and in the nation as a whole, since there are still so many who stand up for truth among congregations and in the pulpit. Even so, the church closures in the county have worried him. “I believe this whole church closure thing has exposed nearly everything. It’s told us who the shepherds are and who they are not,” he said. “One thing that happens throughout Scripture is God constantly says to the shepherds and the pastors, ‘You messed around with My flock. It’s My flock,’ God says. ‘I put you in a position of responsibility, but don’t forget whose flock it is.'” That is why Saint says he has no right to close the doors of his church and scatter the flock just because civil magistrates try to interfere.
“I believe what’s going on in Lancaster County with these closed churches is completely offensive to Christ,” he added. “Christ is the one who gave His life; He died that embarrassing, horrific death for His church. We know that Christ loves His church. We also know that Paul would do anything for the body of believers, as Christ did. Christ is the one who has told us how to worship. He is the one who has told us to assemble. Could anything be more offensive than rejecting the word of Christ, who died for His sheep, and going to the word of the state, who hates the sheep? What were we thinking when we closed our churches while the abortion clinics stayed wide open? I am much afraid that our churches have become so irrelevant that, open or closed, their effect on society is about the same: precious little.”
Despite his concerns, Saint believes that Christ will revive His church. “There’s a lot of encouragement that I have right now,” he said. “Christ is dividing His sheep from the goats, even within the institutional church. We couldn’t do that. He’s doing that with this Covid business. And it tells me that He is still on the march, and He still is going to have His church, and His church is going to march forward. And that’s an exciting thing for me.”
As the nation opens again, the opportunity to assemble without interference returns with it. However, the fight to maintain religious freedoms and to hold public officials accountable to what is right will not end — and for some pastors, that means they will continue to answer the calling they have heard to be resolute and outspoken so they can faithfully lead their congregations in the truth.

Freelance writer Diane Boone has been writing for The Lancaster Patriot since May 2021. She can be reached at diane@thelancasterpatriot.com.