Compassion (&) Conviction: The and Campaign's Guide to Faithful Civic Engagement

Christian Book Award(R) program
Outreach Resource of the Year

Have you ever felt too progressive for conservatives, but too conservative for progressives?

Too often, political questions are framed in impossible ways for the faithful Christian: we're forced to choose between social justice and biblical values, between supporting women and opposing abortion. As a result, it's easy for Christians to grow disillusioned with civic engagement or fall back into tribal extremes. This state of affairs has damaged Christian public witness and divided the church.

The authors of this book represent the AND Campaign, which exists to educate and organize Christians for faithful civic and cultural engagement. They insist that not only are we called to love our neighbors through the political process but also that doing so requires us to transcend the binary way the debates are usually framed. In simple, understandable language, they lay out the biblical case for political engagement and help Christians navigate the complex world of politics with integrity, from political messaging and the politics of race to protests, advocacy, and more. The book includes a study guide for classroom use and group discussion.

When we understand our civic engagement as a way to obey Christ's call to love our neighbor, we see that it is possible to engage the political process with both love and truth--compassion and conviction.

Justin Giboney is cofounder of the AND Campaign, an attorney, and a political strategist in Atlanta, Georgia. He has served as a delegate for the Democratic National Convention and as the cochair of Obama for America's Gen44-Atlanta initiative.

Michael Wear is chief strategist of the AND Campaign and founder of Public Square Strategies LLC. He is the author of Reclaiming Hope: Lessons Learned in the Obama White House About the Future of Faith in America.

Chris Butler is the senior leader of the Chicago Embassy Church Network and has been involved in several efforts to improve educational equity in Chicago. He serves as the founder and executive director of Parent Power Chicago as well as the founder of the Chicago Peace Campaign, which organizes churches and other faith-based institutions to build peacemaking networks in local communities.