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I’m convinced that the most fertile mission field right now is right-wing unbelievers.

Right-wing and left-wing unbelievers are not the same. It’s a naive pipe dream for churches to play the middle, offending neither left nor right, in order to reach both with the Gospel.

It won’t work. We don’t live in a monoculture. We’re gonna offend somebody. It’s only a matter of who and why.

Right-wing unbelievers generally believe in God, have some respect for the Bible, and live lives that fall short of Christian teaching but are nevertheless compatible with it. They have some knowledge of God’s truth and know they don’t live up to that standard. In other words, they are sinning against the light of knowledge.

The Left: Against God and Man

Left-wing unbelief is different. It’s explicitly secular. If they do believe in God, it’s a pagan perversion that only bears a faint resemblance to the God of scripture. Having rejected the light of truth, they’ve gone on to rebel against nature itself.

They remind me of what Paul describes in Romans 1. As people rebel against nature, Romans 1 describes their downward spiral into a moral abyss. When you think of a garden-variety leftist, you likely think of someone who is openly hostile to God, Christianity, history, tradition, laws, norms, and the civil order. They wear moral anarchy as a badge of pride.

Therefore, God has given them over to all manner of sin (Rom 1:24). These people are some of the most arrogant people you’ll ever meet. They have master’s degrees and PhDs, yet they cannot put together a rationally coherent argument. “Claiming to be wise, they became fools.” (Rom 1:22)

They are emotional thinkers who have “exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator” (Rom 1:25). Thus, they also exchange natural sexual relations for those that are “contrary to nature” (Rom 1:26). Leftists are full-throated advocates of the LGBTQ revolution.

The left has also mainstreamed political violence. Watch videos of Antifa or “No Kings” protests and you’ll see all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless (Rom 1:29-31).

The Right: Ripe for Harvest

Right-wing unbelief reminds me of Romans 2. Even though they aren’t Christians, they have enough light of truth to acknowledge God, have high regard for the Bible, have some respect for the rule of law, and want to uphold natural law and the civil order. Garden variety right-wing unbelievers are responsible adults with families and kids.

Since we do not live in a monoculture, it is naive for a church to act as though it can play the middle to reach people on both sides. The left is clearly worse than the right, and churches that refuse to acknowledge this fact come across as disingenuous at best or dishonest at worst.

Churches that refuse to confront the evils of the left will be offensive to the non-Christian right.

If a right-wing non-Christian shows up at a squishy church and hears about “evil on both sides”, they’re gonna think that church has lost its mind. Their fear of the left’s growing wickedness may have prompted them to come to church to begin with.

I’m not saying churches should pander to right-wing unbelievers, I’m just saying don’t act like both sides are the same. Most normal right-wing unbelievers won’t take offence at having their sins called out. They expect it and respect it. That’s what preachers and churches do, and they know it.

But a right-wing unbeliever will be deeply offended at any preacher who panders to the left. He’ll just walk away thinking, “That preacher has no spine.” Again, right-wing unbelievers aren’t looking for preachers to pander to them. They are looking for preachers they can trust to tell them the truth.

No Mincing Words

A right-wing unbeliever may have a wife and kids. He naturally wants to protect and provide for them, and he’s looking for help in an increasingly dangerous world. If he shows up at church and the preacher talks about Christ conquering evil powers, he’ll sit up and take notice.

And if the preacher says, “You need to get your own house in order first. Get rid of porn. Take care of your body. Be more disciplined. Take care of your family. Repent of your sin, and Jesus will forgive your failures. Then trust His power to overcome them and grow,” there’s a good chance he’ll turn to his wife and say, “This is our church.”

In other words, right-wing unbelievers know what time it is, and they’re hungry for a message that gives them hope and purpose. They know that the left is trying to destroy their way of life. They need to hear that Christ has overcome the evil one and, in His power, they can too.

The bottom line is this: one way or another, you’re gonna offend somebody. There is no such thing as a non-offensive position. You can’t play the middle between left and right; you must pick a side. You must choose.

Left-wing unbelievers will be offended by churches that confront sins and call people to repentance. Right-wing unbelievers will be offended by churches that don’t confront sins and don’t call people to repentance.

For this reason, I’m convinced that the most fertile mission field right now is right-wing unbelievers. Jesus Himself recognised that some unbelievers are “not far from the kingdom” (Mark 12:34). Right-wing unbelievers are closer to the kingdom because their values are more conducive to and compatible with Christian belief.

So right-wing unbelievers may not (yet) know Christ, but they still want to live in a Christian society. From there, it’s not a far leap to explicit Christian faith.

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Republished thanks to Michael Clary. Image courtesy of Adobe.