How ‘flood-the-zone’ politics is changing democracy and ministry

The “flood-the-zone” strategy is not new, but it is wildly effective.

How can we understand its effect on churches and ministers? The immediate aim of President Donald Trump’s White House is to keep journalists off balance, news and social media in an uproar, and the public in a state of panic. One underlying purpose of the chaos is to destroy 60 years of democratic gains which will alter the social landscape and thus the context in which vocation, ministry and religious life takes place.

In just two weeks, the upheaval has included deportations, forced resignations, unprovoked trade wars, withdrawing security from officials under threat, pardoning more than 1,500 January 6 insurrectionists, and threatening millions of jobs, all while swaggering with glee.

Even when natural disasters and human tragedies grab the top headlines, rhetoric from the White House dispatches political blame and attacks.

While the new administration is “flooding the zone,” faith leaders need to respond with focus and clarity. The following analysis highlights how the barrage of changes is shifting the conditions in which vocation and ministry take place.

“When we give in to the overwhelm of the distractions, we give up our agency and power in the situation.”

Reporters at NPR called the first week “dizzying.” Make no mistake: This is the “flood-the-zone” strategy — to disrupt, overwhelm, degrade and leave everyone dizzy. But let us not fall for this strategy. When we give in to the overwhelm of the distractions, we give up our agency and power in the situation.

Looking back 

For six decades, participation in American democracy expanded slowly like a growing tree.

Starting with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, various laws and executive orders attempted to end discrimination by race, religion and/or national origin. Discrimination against women and restrictions on reproductive health were largely outlawed. Americans with disabilities, immigrants, seniors and LGBTQ folks were all granted greater protections under federal law.

These measures aimed at more democratic inclusion and less governmental prejudice. They also opened social spaces to enfranchise, educate, elect and empower more people. They became part of the social conditions that contributed to a better life for millions of Americans, particularly for women, people of color, queer-identifying people, people with disabilities and migrants.

Now, every one of these provisions, as well as related social and economic infrastructure, is in grave danger.

Certainly, these legal remedies are far from perfect. Biases still exist, and they still do harm. People still die in the crosshairs of injustice daily. Most Americans still live on stolen land. White supremacy and patriarchy are still encoded in most institutions, shaping our daily lives in health care, government, education, banking, the justice system and faith-based organizations.

Since Inauguration Day, campaign promises to limit and erase these legal protections have been underway in earnest. Branches of the social contract are breaking. Our civility and national rituals of democracy are evaporating at the highest levels. Threats to economic stability land daily.

What is the impact of all this on ministry? On the work to which churches, ministers and faith leaders are called?

Looking at ministry

In just two weeks, the conditions and context of ministry in the United States of America have shifted rapidly.

“In just two weeks, the conditions and context of ministry in the United States of America have shifted rapidly.”

In my 15 years of research about ministers and congregations, our team has focused primarily on how people learn and sustain the practice of ministry through time and experience (pastoral imagination). In the Learning Pastoral Imagination Project, we also focus on what conditions make vocation and learning possible. Conditions for ministry to flourish include elements like:

• What happens in a local church
• Policies and rules set by denominations
• Theology and practice that seminaries teach
• The availability of mentors and feedback

We also have taken seriously what we call the “brick walls” encountered by many ministers. These are conditions that have excluded people from various ministry roles and situations that strain and frustrate vocations especially for women, queer people, Black, brown and indigenous peoples called to ministry.

Laws and policies to expand democratic participation over the last six decades have provided legal protections against discrimination, although legal cases about religious organizations often are exempted from these laws. Nevertheless, the legal expansions help create conditions that expand social spaces for wider participation in ministry leadership.

To be sure, neither the structures of democracy, nor the church, were built to benefit everyone. And even with meager advances toward greater inclusion, brick walls remain. Largely these structures of democracy in which religion has thrived, on the whole, were made to benefit white European colonizers, the landowners, the men.

“They continue to launch resistance, often from within the church, to halt expansions of democratic inclusion.”

The paradox of democracy as framed in the Constitution, however, is an ideal of “freedom for all,” including freedom to practice one’s religion. The people left out of the “all” have continued to work on this experiment to make it more legitimately a place for all. But the shrinking white majority feels threatened, and they continue to launch resistance, often from within the church, to halt expansions of democratic inclusion.

Looking at conditions of democracy and stability

In the LPI Project, we have focused less often on structures of the state, government and law, and the political climate that set the tone for the context and practice of ministry. Yet these structural conditions of ministry, often hovering in the background, are no less important.

We have conducted our study of ministers since 2009 at the end of a period of relative economic and democratic stability. Although U.S. democracy is fragile and the economy can be volatile, the basic structures of the state and supportive infrastructures have continued in peaceful transfers of power, economic growth and freedom for religions to flourish in recent years. Nevertheless, social movements such as Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, #MeToo and #ChurchToo continued to highlight the inequities faced by millions of Americans.

A major disruption to this stability began with the shutdowns of 2020 in response to COVID-19 and the multiple pandemics. The two-year period launched a new era of ministry, to which most churches and ministers are still adapting. Changed conditions since 2020 include the digital engagement of churches, accelerated numerical decline and setbacks for women’s leadership.

Conditions that make ministry possible

The immediate impact of the “flood-the-zone” strategy on churches and ministry leaders is currently taking the form of heightened tension and dread. People are feeling emotionally and psychologically off balance when they gather for worship. Leaders feel tremendous pressure on what to say in public prayers and sermons. Anxiety is especially high in faith communities already divided by politics.

“Anxiety is especially high in faith communities already divided by politics.”

These immediate tensions are not merely the ugliness of politics, something that will pass with the next election. They are omens of major shifts to the social conditions under which faith communities conduct leadership, ministry and service.

Consider this handful of egregious actions coming from the new administration:

• Sanctioning violence and revenge
• Direct attacks on religious leaders and defunding Christian groups resettling refugees
• Rolling back initiatives for justice, equity and inclusion, including corporations like Target (this month) and more than 220 universities (in the past two years)
• Ongoing bans on books in schools and public libraries
• Removing measures to reverse the climate crisis
• Punishing and removing people seeking a better place to work and live

This barrage of changes is part of a coordinated strategy to distract and overwhelm the news cycle and the psyches of all Americans. They also break branches from the fragile tree of democracy and undermine the 250-year experiment of testing the possibilities and limits of democratic government.

When these attitudes, actions and strategies for disruption come from state and federal powers, from every branch of government, in collusion with some of the richest corporations and people in the country, the tree of democracy is shaken. Not only is democratic freedom threatened, the climate and conditions of the work in ministry and education is damaged as well.

Here are some effects on conditions of ministry:

• Lay people, students and ministers are overwhelmed and are likely to be experiencing a sense of immediate personal threat and a range of emotions including fear, confusion, denial, rage, panic and grief.
• Upheavals to federal jobs, immigrant labor and the cost of goods and services brought by trade wars will directly impact the financial condition of churches.
• Overturning federal mandates, policies and agencies may directly threaten the mission of churches committed to ministries supporting LGBTQ folks, doing the work of anti-racism, refugee resettlement and sanctuary, climate crisis initiatives, or care for people who struggle with housing, mental health and social stability.
• Widespread feelings of helplessness, overwhelm and paralysis allow the political changes to continue without effective organizing protests or resistance.
• The level of confusion and chaos in the news cycle and social spaces fosters both outrage and apathy, mistrust and doubts, preventing meaningful daily actions from being carried out in the usual ways.
• Vocations for ministers and churches could shift dramatically. Relying on the status quo to support, or at least not hinder, one’s calling may no longer be an option.

Looking at how to respond

What does this analysis suggest as possible responses to new social conditions impacting churches, ministers and vocation broadly speaking? Here are several ideas:

• Stay focused on calling and purpose — individually and collectively
• Remain open to the move of the Spirit, God who made the good world out of swirling chaos
• Be wise as serpents and gentle as doves (Matthew 10:16),
• Care for each other, spiritually as with any crisis
• Ask who needs our bodies and voices to come alongside in support (not rescue).
• Listen to the wisdom of womanist scholars, ministers and artists, such as Tamura Lomax, Traci Blackmun and Nettrice Gaskins to be inspired and learn strategies of resistance and response
• Envision ministry as a spiritual practice and participation in the life of God to sustain faith communities and avoid exhaustion and burnout
• Educate each other about strategies of resistance and choose wisely where to engage

 

Eileen Campbell-Reed is visiting associate professor of pastoral theology and care at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, co-director of the Learning Pastoral Imagination Project, author of  Pastoral Imagination and the #PandemicPastoring Report. She is founder and host of Three Minute Ministry Mentor, a weekly blog and podcast to inform and inspire the practice of ministry.