Freedom Writer - November 1994 [ref001] Church organization is key to Coalition's success

Freedom Writer - November 1994

[ref001]

Church organization is key to Coalition's success

While the Christian Coalition will never find broad appeal among mainstream
voters it doesn't have to. As Paul Weyrich said, "We don't want everyone 
to vote. Quite frankly, our leverage goes up as the voting population 
goes down."

If the Christian Coalition is ever successful in reaching its goal 
of becoming "the most powerful political force in America by the end 
of the decade," it will only do so by the painstaking organization 
of voters in fundamentalist, evangelical, and conservative churches. 
That is exactly what the group is attempting to do, as demonstrated 
in _Citizen_Action_, a manual used in Christian Coalition Citizen 
Action Seminars. The following is excerpted from _Citizen_Action_:

"The churches are the nexus points for tens of millions of Americans 
who share a conservative, pro-family philosophy. No other cultural 
structure represents such a vast reservoir of potential to help the 
pro-family movement restore basic values to our society.

"Church liaisons are the link between your Christian Coalition chapter 
and the churches in that area... The church liaison should be seen 
as an ambassador to the Christian Coalition from their respective 
church. By virtue of this position, the church liaison will be a key 
distribution point for the dissemination of critical and timely information. 
Voter guides, legislative alerts, talking points, leadership training 
information, and various other forms of information are distributed 
through church liaisons. Moreover, the church liaisons are responsible 
for initiating voter registration efforts and issue petition drives.

"If you would like to become a church liaison, you need to first obtain 
the permission of your pastor. Arrange a date and schedule a meeting 
with him as soon as possible. Explain to your pastor the five-fold 
mission of the Christian Coalition and give him a Christian Coalition 
pastor's packet, which includes guidelines to political involvement 
for pastors and churches. Many pastors may be leery of opening their 
doors to the outside influence of other organizations; however, if 
someone in the pastor's own congregation approaches, he will be less 
apprehensive. Make sure your pastor realizes that he is not endorsing 
Christian Coalition or taking our name. He simply is giving you permission 
to be a contact and distribution point for information from our organization.

"One of the most successful ways to gain pastoral approval for becoming 
a church liaison is to offer to help start a civic concerns ministry. 
This ministry is designed to keep members of the church informed of 
issues that will affect them and their families. Creating a civic 
concerns ministry allows churches to be involved in issues without 
asking pastors to assume an overt political role with which they may 
be uncomfortable."

_
Sidebar: [ref002]What churches may do
Sidebar: [ref003]What churches may not do
_

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Copyright 1995 IFAS
The Freedom Writer / ifas@crocker.com

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