Why Don’t More Christians Speak Love & Truth to Power?
Debi Vandenboom
Find out the answer through one Arizona Woman of Action’s journey from civically clueless to civic leader at her church and in our AZWOA executive team! Debi Vandenboom “knew absolutely nothing .... and voted out of a sense of obligation but may as well have been filling out my ballot blindfolded”! So, she just started learning. Now she has a blast teaching others just like her and making a huge impact at the same time for those around her!
Read Debi’s story and join the SALT conversation this Friday on Zoom where you can meet her and find out how YOU can join the fun and impact of civic engagement! (Let us know, so we can send you the link)
How and why should Christians engage in civics? This is our October SALT topic, and it is a question that has been near and dear to my heart for the last 30 years. My name is Debi Vandenboom, and I am the SALT Director for America’s Women. I am also on staff at Dream City Church as the Director of Civic Engagement, and I am very active in the pro-life arena in Arizona.
When I started on this journey in my twenties, I knew absolutely nothing about any of those things. And I do mean nothing....
I voted out of a sense of obligation but may as well have been filling out my ballot blindfolded because my vote was not based on any substance. In between elections, civics never once entered my thoughts.
Everything changed after I became a Christian and after I started having babies. Long before “fake news” was a pop culture term, I had a sense that the media was being less than honest, and that what happened in government would affect my family and my children. I felt that I needed to do more but had no idea where to start.
I started on a quest to educate myself. I learned about how government works. What is the difference between a primary and a general election? What do the two parties believe? How does a bill become a law? I was hooked and wanted to know even more. I started asking questions of people who knew far more than I did. I signed up for email lists from groups I trusted. I started going down to the State Capitol and sitting in on committee hearings and floor votes, often with one or more small children in tow. I learned a ton just from hearing how legislators discussed bills and how they justified their votes. I homeschooled my four children and my oldest daughter, who became a history and government teacher, loved going with me to the Capitol. We learned together.
I didn’t stop there. I truly felt compelled to bring others along with me. I knew that there had to be many other young moms like me who had no idea how things like laws about sexually explicit material, or abortion on demand through all nine months might affect their children, and even less of an idea of what they could do about it.
I wasn’t part of any organization or formal group. I just focused on my own sphere of influence, which at the time was other moms of young children. I started hosting what I called “pray and play” groups at my house or at the park. The kids would play, and I would give my fellow moms one simple thing to do and one thing to pray for. My action item would be something like registering to vote, finding out who their state representatives were or sending an email to a certain legislative committee about an upcoming bill. These were always things that I was figuring out for myself, and then I would just pass along what I learned to those around me. I loved it because I felt like my actions were being multiplied. The other moms loved it because it was informative but not overly complicated or intimidating.
I carried this important lesson forward as I became more involved and more of an “expert” in certain areas, I tried to be deliberate about remembering what it was like to not even know where to start. This led to my being the person who people at my church would ask their election questions, and eventually to my role on church staff. I then joined the amazing leadership team at Arizona Women of Action to help direct our biblical civics ministry, SALT (Strategically Advancing Love & Truth). Churches everywhere are filled with people who have biblical values and care about those around them, but who are not even minimally engaged in civics. What an opportunity we have to make a difference! We are called to be salt and light in ALL the world, including in our communities and in the halls of government.
As part of my own personal journey, I did a deep dive into the four Old Testament books of Kings and Chronicles. The first thing that the Bible says about any given king was whether or not he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and how this affected the people of the nation for better or for worse. The same holds true today, but we have a higher degree of responsibility. The children of Israel had no say in who led them or what laws were passed in the land. We do.
Do we not therefore have the responsibility to steward that voice wisely? If we are not involved, not paying attention, not speaking up, then we are leaving that important work to those without a biblical worldview, without conservative values. We have seen the results of that firsthand. Not all of us are called to run an organization or run for office, but we are called to be salt and light. We are all called to do something.
Are you like I was thirty years ago realizing that you don’t know where to start learning? We are here to help you. Or are you a little farther in that journey? Who is in your sphere of influence that you can help inspire? That may be the start of your very own SALT group. We have materials and support to help you.
2026 is an election year in Arizona. We are electing a governor, an attorney general, a secretary of state, congressmen, state legislators, school board members and more. Imagine what an impact we could have across our great state, just by being better stewards of the voice God already gave us.