Speaking to Premier Christianity magazine ahead of his UK tour with the Leprosy Mission, Yancey said Christians are increasingly "distracted by politics"
"My understanding is we ought to be following Jesus. And yet a lot of people think our mission is to clean up our country. Make America Great Again. And I'm sure people overseas are just baffled. How can these evangelical Christians support Donald Trump? He doesn't seem like the kind of person that you would hold up as a role model? And, to me, that's a distraction. Jesus never seems concerned at all about cleaning up the Roman Empire. Neither does Paul. That was not their mission. And I believe our mission is to create pioneer settlements of the kingdom of God, to show people how we should live based on following Jesus, and to attract them to a better way of life.
"I am writing to try to remind the Church to focus on what we are supposed to be doing. We're supposed to be presenting a unified front that demonstrates to people the life that Jesus showed us is the best life for the world and to attract them. When we get distracted by politics or disunity, that's unappealing and turns people off."
Philip Yancey is one of the bestselling contemporary authors in the world. Titles including What's so Amazing about Grace? and The Jesus I Never Knew selling have sold millions of copies.
Read the full interview in the September issue of Premier Christianity magazine. To request a free copy visit premierchristianity.com.
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