A Call to U.S. Christians Urges ‘Resistance, Repentance’

by

Perspectives

United Methodist Insight | Feb. 18, 2025

More than 400 U.S. Christians, including nearly 30 influential United Methodists, have signed an ecumenical statement urging Christians to stand up for their neighbors, protect vulnerable people and defend democracy.

Drafted by an organization named "A Call to Christians," the statement was released on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of penitence and reflection known as Lent. The 40-day observance recalls Jesus' temptation in the wilderness and encouages Christians to engage in self-examination and prayer.

Announced by noted Baptist ethicist David P. Gushee on his Substack blog, the statement is posted on a separate website. The statement is introduced in a video featuring leaders of multiple Christian traditions including evangelical activist Shane Claiborne and the Rev. Jim Wallis, former editor of Sojourners magazine now affiliated with Georgetown University's Center on Faith and Justice.

The website includes two sections with connections for Christians to pursue spiritual and non-partisan political outreach:Ways to Get Involved, a calendar of events, and Tools & Resources, liturgical and advocacy resources and communications tools for conducting worship, prayer, and public witness.

In an exclusive article, Jack Jenkins of Religion News Service reported: "The statement adds to growing faith-led resistance to the president’s agenda that has erupted over the past year, particularly in opposition to his immigration policies. In addition to statements and sermons issued by religious leaders — including Pope Leo XIV — condemning various policies, more than 100 clergy and faith leaders have been arrested while protesting Department of Homeland Security actions over the past year, and others have been pepper sprayed or shot with pepper balls and pepper rounds."

United Methodist signers to the statement as of Feb. 18, 2026, include:

  • Rev. Dr. Giovanni Arroyo, general secretary of the UMC's General Commission on Religion and Race
  • Bishop Tom Berlin, resident bishop of the UMC's Florida Conference
  • Bishop Thomas Bickerton, resident bishop of the UMC's New England & New York Annual Conferences 
  • Bishop Héctor Burgos-Núñez, resident bishop of the UMC's Susquehanna & Upper New York Area
  • Retired Bishop Minerva Carcaño, chair of the Council of Bishops' immigration task force
  • Bishop Ken Carter, resident bishop of the Charlotte, N.C., Episcopal Area where federal agents conducted multiple enforcement actions last fall
  • Mr. Lonnie Chafin, treasurer and director of administrative services for the UMC's New England and New York Conferences
  • Bishop Robin Dease, resident bishop of the UMC's Georgia Episcopal Area
  • Bishop LaTrelle Easterling, resident bishop of the UMC's Baltimore-Washington & Peninsula-Delaware Area 
  • Bishop Dottie Escobedo-Frank, resident bishop of the UMC's California-Pacific Conference that includes Los Angeles, where federal agents have conducted multiple immigration raids
  • Rev. Dr. Thomas White Wolf Fassett, retired general secretary of the UMC's General Board of Church and Society, its social justice agency
  • Rev. Dr. Justo Gonzalez, United Methodist teacher and author
  • Mr. Gregory Huffman, chancellor of the UMC's Western North Carolina Conference based in Charlotte, N.C., where federal agents conducted immmigration enforcement last fall
  • Rev. Dr. K Karpen, senior pastor of St. Paul & St. Andrew United Methodist Church in New York City, a church noted for its ministries with immigrants.
  • Rev. Dr. Karen Monk, superintendent of the New York Conference's Catskill-Hudson District
  • Rev. Dr. Lydia Munoz, director of El Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry UMC
  • Bishop Sandra Olewine, resident bishop of the UMC's California-Nevada Conference and former missionary to the Middle East
  • Rev. Dr. David Palmer, superintendent of the Granite District of the UMC's New England Conference.
  • Retired Bishop Gregory Palmer, executive secretary of the Council of Bishops
  • Bishop Lanette Plambeck, resident bishop of the UMC's Dakotas-Minnesota Episcopal Area that includes Minneapolis, where violent clashes with federal agents have resulted in the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens
  • Rev. Andrea Steinkamp, St. Paul & St. Andrew UMC, New York City
  • Bishop Kristin Stoneking, resident bishop of the UMC's Mountain Sky Conference encompassing Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana and a portion of Idaho.
  • Retired Bishop Julius Trimble, current Church and Society general secretary
  • Retired Bishop Hope Morgan Ward, ecumenical officer of the UMC's Council of Bishops
  • Retired Bishop Will Willimon, professor at UMC-related Duke Divinity School
  • Dr. James Winkler, National Council of Churches USA and former Church and Society general secretary.

Following is the full "Call to Christians" statement. Click here to sign.

A Call to Christians in a Crisis of Faith and Democracy.

Why We Write

There are moments that call for repentance and resistance, courage and conviction, faith and fortitude. This is one of those moments.

The question is, what will we do now?

We are facing a cruel and oppressive government; citizens and immigrants being demonized, disappeared, and even killed; the erosion of hard-won rights and freedoms; and a calculated effort to reverse America’s growing racial and ethnic diversity– all of which are pushing us toward authoritarian and imperial rule. What confronts us is not only an endangered democracy and the rise of tyranny. It is also a Christian faith corrupted by the heretical ideology of white Christian nationalism, and a church that has often failed to equip its members to model Jesus’s teachings and fulfill its prophetic calling as a humanitarian, compassionate, and moral compass for society.

Therefore, as Christians in the United States, representing the breadth of Christian traditions and one part of our nation’s religiously plural society, we are compelled to speak out more boldly at this time.

We call on all Christians to join us in greater acts of courage to resist the injustices and anti-democratic danger sweeping across the nation. In moments like this, silence is not neutrality—it is an active choice to permit harm.

This call is particularly dire as our nation commemorates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a time of celebration and reflection on our historic racial and human rights progress and setbacks, as we seek both democratic and civic renewal. Instead, current trends and forces assault our core rights and freedoms and threaten to derail and even destroy our democracy. This is not a distant danger or a future possibility. It is a present and urgent reality.

The government-sponsored cruelty and violence we are witnessing stands in total opposition to the teachings of Jesus. We refuse to be silent while too many people who call themselves Christians aid, abet, or simply stand by and allow these atrocities.

This political crisis is driven by people who have fallen for the temptation of absolute power—undermining democratic checks and balances, entrenching economic inequality, exacerbating divisions, and normalizing corruption and the indiscriminate use of violence.

Freedoms and rights once assumed to be secure are being stripped away, redefined, or selectively applied. Decades-old civil rights protections are being dismantled. Truth is being replaced by lies and propaganda. Governance is being hollowed out and replaced with corruption, loyalty tests, intimidation, and the normalization of lawlessness. The architecture of democracy and the rights secured by the separation of powers are being eroded from within, while we are told to accept it as “law”, “order,” or “God’s will.”

Sadly, the crisis is not only political—it is one driven by a moral and spiritual collapse showing up in alarming levels of polarization. Our faith is being tested. Christians cannot pretend otherwise and must make a decision to act.

We refuse to baptize domination. We refuse to sanctify cruelty. We refuse to confuse authoritarian power with divine authority. We choose to resist, calling forth the righteous demands of our faith rooted in the teachings of Jesus. Religion should not be used to deify politicians or justify their abuses. When it is, faith ceases to be faithful and becomes a weapon of both heresy and hypocrisy.

As Christians, we must never preach nationalism as discipleship, confuse American and Christian identity with whiteness, or mistake allegiance to modern-day Caesars for faithfulness to Christ. We must never surrender our prophetic voice by aligning with powers and principalities rather than with the One who calls us to be purveyors of justice and righteousness.

Now is the time to boldly embrace fidelity to the message of Jesus: to defend the image of God in every person; to love our neighbors -- no exception; to reject retribution; extend grace, mercy, and compassion; reflect the radical counterculture of the Beatitudes and live out the call of Matthew 25 with special care for persons who are poor, vulnerable and marginalized.

As followers of Jesus, we must take these principles seriously, as we seek to renew, deepen, and fortify our faith, resist false religion, build Beloved Community, and become a truly multi-racial, inclusive democracy.

The Sovereignty of God

In every generation, the Church is called to declare without fear or favor, “Thus saith the Lord,” bearing witness to the sovereignty of God over every system, party, and power.

As Christians, our ultimate allegiance belongs to God alone, and we believe that any political leader who demands absolute power places themselves in opposition to God’s sovereignty.

Allegiance to such leaders is idolatry and manipulates the teaching of Jesus as a tool of oppressive power, replacing compassion with control and unity with division. A faithful Christian witness is fundamentally incompatible with nationalist power and the suffering it is producing in our nation and around the world.

The Word of God

We believe that Jesus Christ is the Word of God made flesh. His life and teachings reveal God’s way and must shape our lives, our conduct, and our public witness, especially in this moment. Jesus became human to reconcile us back to God and to one another. This moment is a critical test of our primary allegiance to Him.

Jesus announces His mission in His first sermon: to bring good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Luke 4:18-19). Any gospel that contradicts this is not the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jesus teaches in the parable of the Good Samaritan that love of neighbor knows no political, social, or ethnic boundaries (Luke 10:25-37). This love stands in direct opposition to a politics of exclusion and discrimination.

Jesus declares that truth and freedom are inseparable: “You shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32). Yet, every day we hear lies and distortions that seek to divide and demonize. Truth liberates us from the captivity of lies and brings us into a deeper relationship with God and all others.

Jesus blesses peacemakers, calling them children of God (Matt. 5:9). The Hebrew and Greek words for peace, Shalom and eirene, mean a resolving and restoring of broken relationships. All forms of political violence stand in contradiction to the way of Christ, and Christians must reject them at every turn.

Jesus gives His final test of discipleship in Matthew 25:31-46, making clear that the measure of our faith is revealed in how we treat those who are hungry, thirsty, sick, strangers, or imprisoned. To say, as some do, that this passage is only about taking care of fellow Christians is an incorrect theological interpretation. It is for the nations, ethnoi, for all peoples. This passage names people who are, even now, being directly and deliberately targeted and harmed by those in political power. To serve and defend the most vulnerable is to serve and defend Christ Himself.

The Spirit of God

In this moment, we believe the Holy Spirit is moving us to stand, speak, and act with greater courage to serve the most vulnerable and advance God’s reign of justice and peace.

Therefore, we commit to:

Protect and Stand With Vulnerable People: We will defend immigrants, refugees, people of color, and all who are in harm’s way; resist cruel, unjust, and illegal policies and violent enforcement, and surround those under attack with pastoral care, solidarity, and prophetic public witness.

Love Our Neighbors: In obedience to Jesus, we will love our neighbors without exception, especially those who are different from us, and reject the politics of fear, exclusion, and dehumanization. We will reject the language of “others” and “us and them,” and remember that Christ came “so that [we] may all be one” (John 17:21).

Speak Truth to Power: We will confront lies and hatred towards immigrants, people of color, Jews, Muslims, and other religious minorities and political opponents; oppose the rollback of civil rights and racial justice protections; name racism as a sin from which we must repent and turn from; and resist the erasure of history and truth. Silence in this moment is complicity.

Seek Peace: We commit to persistently building peace and pursuing justice, including by acting nonviolently to protect those threatened by violence and advocating for a foreign policy that favors diplomacy, respects national sovereignty, and supports democracy, human rights, humanitarian aid, and peacebuilding.

Do Justice: Guided by the prophets, we will challenge unjust laws, defend poor and marginalized people, and persist in the work of uprooting racism and white Christian nationalism. We will commit to act justly, love kindness, and walk humbly with God (Isa. 10:1; Micah 6:8).

Strengthen Democracy: Honoring the image of God–imago dei–in every person (Gen. 1:26) in a democracy means each person’s vote is their voice. We will, therefore, defend the right to vote, resist voter suppression and intimidation, encourage greater participation in our democratic process, and equip clergy and lay leaders to support free and fair elections. We will defend constitutional rights and freedoms, including speech and assembly, due process, the rule of law, and religious liberty, and will uphold democratic norms and practices.

Practice Hope: In a time of fear, intimidation, and despair, we will choose hope, which is more than optimism. It is trusting and believing that God is still at work. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”(Heb. 11:1).

Ground our Discipleship: Knowing that following Jesus in this time requires deep wellsprings of spiritual courage, we will be rooted and grounded in prayer and love (Eph. 3:17-19), developing practices and commitments to nurture resilience in our inward journey for the outward witness we embrace as our calling.

Choosing Faithfulness

“Choose you this day whom you will serve.”—Joshua 24:15

Faith and democracy do not die in a single moment; they erode when we trade courage for conformity, substitute the gospel for power, and fall silent in the face of wrongdoing.

This letter is made in a spirit of humility and solidarity. It is an invitation for each of us to ask what faithfulness to Christ and love of neighbor demand of each of us at such a time as this.

If we as Christians fail to speak and act now—clearly, courageously, and prophetically—we will be remembered not only for the injustices committed in our time, but for the righteous possibilities we allowed to die in our hands. History and future generations will record our choices, but the God of heaven and earth will judge our faithfulness.

Now is the time to take risks for the sake of the Gospel and our democratic rights and freedoms.

We call on Christians to remember that we serve a mighty and awesome God, who is sovereign over nations and rulers.

We serve a God, through our Lord and Liberator Jesus Christ, who equips us with the courage and fortitude to stand for justice and peace. We will always stand in solidarity with those who are most vulnerable among us.

Now is the time to speak and act.

May God guide us, empower us, and strengthen us.