Pastor Caleb E. Campbell's world—his Phoenix, Ariz.–based church and home neighborhood, which includes headquarters for Turning Point USA—is rife with Christian Nationalists. His bookshelves hold many titles that track the movement's rise and decry it as a dangerous cult. But Campbell takes a different stance. He views Christian Nationalists as a "mission field" in his book, Disarming Leviathan: Loving Your Christian Nationalist Neighbor (IVP, July). Ted Olsen, IVP associate publisher and editorial director for media and trade, calls it an "evangelism book."
PW talked with Campbell about his 'field guide' to luring Christian Nationalists back to a "healthy faith."
Your book describes Christian Nationalism as "a great beast" out to "destroy dissidents, misappropriate Scripture for its purposes, and encourage acts of aggression, racism, and hatred." How would a self-appointed missionary, armed with Bible passages like the Beatitudes, convert them?
What this book does is it gives you a method for talking with people that you already have a relationship with, and then inviting them, especially if they're Christian, to discern how two things that they hold dear — their idea of nationalism and their faith in Jesus — are actually in conflict with each other, and then inviting them to explore that with you. Your hospitality creates a space of safety. The reason why people are giving themselves over to American Christian Nationalism is they don't feel safe. Hospitality is a means of communicating to someone, 'You're always welcome with me."
The book gives samples of guiding conversations by starting with shared values, beliefs, dreams or ideas. Why is that essential?
Healthy missionaries are not colonizers, imposing their beliefs on others. They are students of the culture, ready to honor that culture and then simply share the good news of Jesus. If we deride someone's music, or food, or patriotic expression, it we tell American Christian Nationalists, 'You should be ashamed of yourself for flying a flag and eating at Cracker Barrel,' we've lost the game. You start with what you have in common -- "We both care so deeply about X or Y — and then you put those things in a wider context, a biblical context.
What do you say to Nationalists who claim to love God?
I ask, "Which God?' We're all serving some spiritual dynamic like power or money. If you say you are a Jesus follower I ask, 'Are you going to behave like Jesus?' What Jesus was constantly doing looking out for the vulnerable, for those on the margins, and elevating the needs of others over his own. It's not a politician who usually means "I've picked five things I really care about and slapped 'God' on the side of them."
Your field guide offers sample scripts for bringing up "humbly subversive" questions, such as, "What do you think it would look like if Americans were to 'seek God's face and turn from their wicked ways?' " How do you know if process works?
You don't. There won't be lightning bolt moments. You can't just give them facts and opinions and they'll change their mind magically. You don't fight the culture wars. You pick up the cross, not the sword. You open the conversation. You listen for the deep story, for the fears they have, and invite them to a better way to find the safety, belonging, and purpose they seek. The Holy Spirit does the work. You rest in God and keep at it. "
