No, Pastors are not Politicians

No! Pastors Are Not Politicians, But They....
By Pastor Alexander L Redd
info@ghopefellowship.org
July 16, 2026

Why do some of my fellow Liberians keep asking whether pastors quietly trade the pulpit for a political podium when they speak or write about national issues? I did not become a politician when I picked up my pen. I became a Liberian journalist before I became a pastor, and I refuse to close my eyes to what happens outside the church doors. Let me explain the difference, because the confusion deserves an honest answer.

A shepherd who only tends sheep inside the fold while wolves roam the village is no shepherd at all. That is the plain truth behind my calling. The Ministers of the gospel are not elected officials in the sense of the political arena. We do not run for office. But we are called to speak, and speaking about the moral condition of a nation is not a political act. It is a pastoral one.

Every pastor I respect carries two burdens at once. The first is the care of souls: the daily work of teaching Scripture, praying with the broken, and pointing people toward Christ. The second burden is heavier than it looks. It is the responsibility to say what needs to be said when injustice, corruption, or suffering touches the people we serve. Silence in the face of that suffering is not neutrality. It is abandonment.

Scripture never asked pastors to stay quiet about the world. Amos condemned corrupt merchants. Nathan confronted a king who had blood on his hands. John the Baptist lost his head for telling a ruler the truth about his own household. None of them held political office. All of them spoke because their faith demanded it.
So when I write about justice, about the hunger for accountability among our people, or about the wounds left by decades of institutional failure, I am not campaigning for anyone. I am doing what the pulpit has always required. I am naming what is wrong and calling people toward what is right. That is not partisanship. That is pastoral care extended beyond the sanctuary walls.

Still, I understand why the line gets blurry for some. Pastors do sit across the table from politicians. We advocate for policies that reflect our deepest convictions about human dignity. We speak into public debates about poverty, healthcare, and the environment because these are not abstract issues to us. They are the daily realities of the very people sitting in our pews on Sunday morning. A hungry congregant does not separate his stomach from his soul. Neither should his pastor.

But here is where humility must guard our conviction. My opinion is not the voice of every believer, and it certainly is not an official decree from any denomination. When I write, I write as one man wrestling with Scripture and conscience. I write not as a spokesman for all Christians everywhere. Anyone who mistakes personal reflection for institutional endorsement misunderstands both the man and the message.

There is also a boundary I hold sacred, and I will not cross it. I will not tell you which candidate to vote for. I will not use this platform to build a political machine disguised in religious language. What I will do is hold up the values that Scripture demands of every leader, believer or not: justice for the poor, honesty in public office, mercy for the broken, and dignity for every human being regardless of tribe or title. If a politician embodies those values, I will say so. If one betrays them, I will say that too. My key recommendation is simple: judge leaders by these values, not by labels. That is not politics. That is prophetic responsibility.

Can a nation heal if its spiritual leaders refuse to name its wounds? I do not believe it can. Pastors are called to be bridges, not walls, standing between the suffering of our people and the power that governs them. We organize the conversations that need to happen. We create space for the voiceless to speak. My key recommendation is to listen to the suffering, speak truth, and remind leaders that authority is a trust, not a possession.
None of this excuses arrogance or carelessness. A pastor who speaks about public life must do so with a trembling humility. He must remember that his congregation holds a hundred different views on any given issue. Respectful disagreement must have room to breathe in our churches. No one should feel cast out because their politics differ from their pastor's convictions.

Let me be clear about what I am and what I am not. I am not a politician, and I have no intention of becoming one. I am a pastor who believes the gospel has something to say about how nations treat their poor, how leaders handle power, and how a wounded country like Liberia moves toward healing. My key recommendation is to keep that conviction in view as you read. That conviction will keep finding its way into my writing, whether it makes some readers comfortable or not.

The pulpit was never meant to be a place of silence when the world outside is crying out. I intend to keep speaking, not as a man chasing office, but as a shepherd who refuses to look away. And I call others who share this calling to do the same.