Why you need a VAC at your church

Summary

1. What is the VAC?
2. Why you need a VAC at your Church? (hint – it brings in people who’d never set foot in a church)
3. How do you start a VAC at your Church? (hint – it’s easy and doesn’t cost anything).

 

What is the VAC?

VAC is short for Values Advocacy Council. We are a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. 

It is the VAC’s belief that all God’s laws were given for our benefit and not for God’s needs. Just like the traffic laws are given to protect us and others and not because someone needed you to not have fun speeding, God laws are given to protect us. When we violate traffic laws, not only could we suffer, but innocent bystanders, other drivers and their passengers may be injured, hurt, or killed. The more we obey the traffic laws, the safer everyone is.  

This is the same and more with God’s laws. The more we obey God’s laws, the happier and healthier we will all be.

But, if God’s laws were given to protect us, what will happen if a nation grows to despise God’s laws and legislates immorality? What happens when the nation’s laws violate God’s laws? Well, people will suffer. But, when we disobey God’s objective moral laws and legislate evil laws, who suffers first? Do the rich and affluent suffer? No, isn’t it the poor, the widow, the orphans, and the sick that suffer first and suffer more? 

All our laws are based on someone’s moral values. But the question is whose moral values should we be legislating? Yours, mine, Mother Teresa’s, or Hitler’s? The answer is none of those. As the Declaration of Independence states it, we are to base our laws on the Laws of Nature and [the Laws] of Nature’s God. On God’s objective moral law. That’s also what the Bible says. 

So, if this is true, then who would be the best people to legislate our nation’s laws? Those who hate the God they do not believe in, and worse despise His commandments, or those that love the Lord with all their heart soul and minds and love His commandments. So, who should become the lawmakers of our land? Whom better than pastors, and Christians?

Thus the VAC works to influence lawmakers towards legislation that aligns with God’s objective moral laws. We do this by educating and enabling those who love God’s laws to become active in influencing lawmakers. And we work to encourage Christians to become those legislators.

Remember though, we do not want a Church government, we want a moral government. We don’t want a Christian government; we want Christians IN government. We want independent men and women legislating according to their Biblical convictions and then holding themselves and their consciences accountable for the consequences of the laws they’ve legislated. 

 

Christians have changed the world through their laws

I once encouraged a group of Christians to get involved in politics. One of them challenged me and said he was not called to be involved in politics. I told him that if he took that stance then he thought slavery, gladiatorial combat, child prostitution and cruelty to prisoners should still be legal. He disagreed. I said that’s the inevitable conclusion we have to come to, because look at this tiny subset of the thousands of laws Christians have stopped with their laws:  

Slavery, Racism, Segregation, Kidnapped Brides, Child Labor, gladiatorial combats, death games, infanticide, Child Marriage, temple prostitution, child sexual abuse, child prostitution, Wives as property and, if it weren’t for us there would be no fair treatment of prisoners or equality of mankind.

(As quoted in:  Jesus Is Involved In Politics! Why aren’t you? Why isn’t your church? www.j3ip.com)

Every single one of those laws were passed by Christians who got involved in politics and changed the existing culture and laws. Sometimes at the cost of their lives and almost always after enduring hate from the people around them. How heartless can we be to say Christians should not be involved in politics. It’s saying Child Prostitution and Slavery should still be legal. How cruel and meanspirited can we be? Is this the stance you want to take?

 

In addition, laws change hearts.

Lucifer and his minions have known that laws change hearts and cultures. Sure, it may not change a heart to love God, but it can change heart to love or hate God’s commandments. For decades Universities like Yale and Harvard have handed out PhDs in subjects like: The role of Legislation in Cultural transformation. 

Even today, atheists think slavery, child sacrifice, child prostitution and elder abandonment is bad, but they didn’t come to that conclusion on their own. They came to those conclusions because years ago we Christians got involved in politics and changed the laws of the land and today atheists borrow Christian moral capital and think it’s their own. 

 

Laws are very effective in training a culture and influencing their moral values. Look at the child car seat law. Today if you don’t put your child in a car seat people think you should lose your child to CPS. Yet chances are if you are over the age of 40, your parents took you across the country while you played and fought in the back of their station wagon. Were they evil? No, the law changed your heart.

 

Things sure seem to be getting worse day by day

But now you see the culture changing and “slouching towards Gomorrah.” And you are not sure what to do about it. You can preach and rant about it all day but unless you can go out there and effect change in our laws you are fighting an uphill battle and it looks like we’ve been losing it steadily.

But though you see the culture degrading around you and want to make a change, you are the pastor or ministry leader of a church, so you fear that you can’t get too political or endorse candidates or take such strong stances. It could turn people away. They could reject the gospel if they feel you are being political. How do you work around this? First let me explain why you cannot abidcate this responsiblity. Then I’ll explain how to solve the problem.

 

Most of this is the Church’s fault

How can I say that? Because as far as we know there are about 60M Evangelicals in the USA. Yet we lose elections every year to men and women who legislate immorality which destroys lives and families and hurts the poor.

So over 40M Evangelicals don’t even vote. And worse of the 20M that do vote, many of them vote for legislations or principles that violate God’s laws.  So over 2 out of every 3 people in your church, in your pews on Sunday morning are not involved. Look down your pew and count heads. The first 2 do not vote, the 3rd votes but often for things that grieves the heart of God.

In other words, we in the Church could change the course of this country’s rapid race to Gomorrah.   All we need to do is get 25% of those 40M nonvoters to vote for Godly principles. 

But they won’t do that until the Church teaches them and trains them. Yet most pastors are afraid to do so and are wary of being seen as too political. 

What is most tragic is that pastors won’t tell their congregation to get out and vote for Godly things, or ask them to stop socialistic legislation that would take fathers out of the home and create generations of fatherless kids and doom them to a life of gangs, drugs, prisons as they search for a father figure; but perish the thought that City Hall decides to reduce the number of parking spots allowed in the Church’s lot and the pastor will make sure every single person in the pew shows up at the next City Hall meeting. Afraid of politics? Not really.

 

So why do you need a VAC at your church? I’ll explain the whys, then the how.

1. It allows you to get more Christians to become part of our legislative process
If you are reading this it means that you already understand the need for getting those 2 out of 3 folks in your pews to become active. 

2. It allows you to affect change in legislation without your church being seen as political
As we noted, if you are reading this it means that you already understand the need for Christians to be active in politics. However, there are consequences when churches are seen as being too active politically. The VAC allows you to use your facilities as a center for VAC meetings without you being encumbered by the bad press of being “political.” It then allows you to direct any political issues or actions that need to be taken to the VAC leadership to act on. Also you are not renting to the VAC, but the VAC is reimbursing you for the utilties and cleaning.

3. It brings large numbers of non-Believers into your church on a regular basis who then hear the Gospel.
Having a VAC meeting regularly at your church allows you to be a draw for non-Christians. Though it varies on the speaker, some of our VAC events have over 1600 attendees and in many cases 50-70% are non-Christians. We then utilize the first part of the VAC meetings for a very clear Gospel message and an invitation to attend your very church –  the next morning. Churches hosting VACs tend to grow and reach the unchurched more easily. 

We once had a meeting focused on Hong Kong freedom with 300+ Muslims and probably 800+ Buddhists and atheists in the audience.   At that meeting, the hosting pastor presented them all the gospel. We’ve also had innumerable people tell us that they came to a VAC event to hear a popular speaker, had a great time being amongst like-minded people so they came to church the next morning heard the gospel weekly and 3-4 months later accepted Christ and got baptized.

4. It allows you to host non-Christian Speakers
Sometimes valuable information can come from non-Christian speakers. For instance, some of the more advanced medical research in the battle against vaccine mandates and its alternatives has come from Jewish scientists. A pastor cannot and should not invite a non-Christian into their pulpit. But a VAC group can invite a conservative Jew or non-believer to their meetings and educate those of the church who attend that VAC meeting.

Even better, these speakers always bring a lot of non-Christians to the meeting, and hear the Gospel. What is interesting is that in a few cases, even the influential non-Christian speaker heard the Gospel at our event (from our staff or the pastor) and later accepted the Lord. We cannot emphasize how much influence a VAC leader can have on a speaker. When you invite someone and are paying them an honorarium, they are often very happy to sit patiently as you preach the gospel to them, especially if you carve some time out just for this over lunch or dinner.

 

 

 

5. It gives you an opportunity to work with folks from other churches and allows a bridging of communities
The VAC is an easy way for churches to unite. Our audiences, besides often having nonbelievers, are always a diverse mix of people from local churches. This allows us to influence other churches who may not realize the need for Christians to be involved in politics. If your church were to hold an event, it would be seen as your church event and many other churches or church goers may hesitate to attend it lest they feel disloyal. However, since the VAC is not an organization that is part of your church, it is just an independent organization that merely rents your facilities, there are no loyalty issues. We’ve had folks drive down from two hours away to attend our meetings, and we’ve had many many folks who go to a church just a few blocks away come to our meetings.

 

6. It provides an umbrella for parachurch activities
Around the National Day of Prayer the VAC holds annual prayer walks with pastors from surrounding churches. We all meet to walk around our city hall areas and then gather to pray, with pastors from the local churches leading in the prayer for each area of consideration. Events like these can give other para church ministries a focal point as we are often approached to coordinate multi-church events.

 

7. It allows you to expand your reach into the community
The VAC holds vendor fairs at their events, we also are in the middle of creating a job board for those who wish to work for Christians and those that wish to hire Christians. This also becomes a center for those who have been fired for refusing to take the vaccine and can lead to some major new business ventures. E.g., Fired doctors and nurses starting new clinics, fired law enforcement starting new security firms, etc. 

 

8. It gives you an opportunity to educate your folks on ongoing legislation and change your local laws as well.
The VAC works with the Salt and Light Ministry to educate citizens on what is happening in their local and national legislatures. We train them how to call their representatives and vote on ballot measures that are being considered. 

 

9. It attracts non-Christian and Christian Groups who want to cooperate with your group which brings in more non-Christians to hear the gospel without compromise
As a result of our activity we’ve partnered with RFK Jr’s Children’s Health Defense organization, Front Line Doctors, Real Options (a prolife clinic), the Hong Kong Freedom Beacon and numerous other organizations. And again, when we have events all their members show up, many who have never heard the Gospel in their lives. As a church you’d have difficulty working with them, but as a local VAC organization, it’s very natural. Note, everyone knows that we don’t endorse all the stands of all the other groups. But we cooperate where we have common goals without compromising the Gospel message or our moral stances.

 

10. It gives politically minded people the base from which they can run their campaigns without your church being seen as their base. 
The VAC can give those who would never think of running for School Board or Representative a friendly base of 1000’s who would then help them in their campaigns. 

 

11. It educates your congregation on Constitutional Issues and more importantly Biblical Principles of Government.
You are building up warriors in your church.

 

12. It creates a community that will gather together if tyranny raises its ugly head.

 

13. It creates a community where you can leapfrog great ideas
e.g., New companies, marketplaces, off the grid training, back yard farming etc.

 

14. It gives you as a pastor, a voice with the local legislators.
 
Even if your church is smaller, by being a part of the larger VAC, local legislators are forced to contend with your Biblical views on legislation. Numerous local politicians approach us every election year and also ask for our thoughts on legislation. Others do not like us, but realize we are unmuzzled and have to respect our positions.

How much does it cost?
Nothing. Well, you do have to subsidize the use of your facilities initially. Your local VAC will need a place to gather and in the early days will not be able to pay a very high ‘rent.’ But as your VAC grows, they will be able to bear the expenses of the facilities. Other than that, the VAC is self-sufficient and functions on donations for the event.  We meet mostly on Saturday nights. If you are large enough to already have a Saturday night service in addition to your Sunday services, then you won’t need to leverage our Saturday night events to boot strap so you can pick any convenient night. We will handle all the 501(c)3 non-profit issues, all the legal and accounting issues. 

 

How do we start one?
 
We will help you. The growing pains of any ministry can kill a ministry. The VAC has fine-tuned much of the process. From registrations to door entry, to livestreaming events – we have it covered. Here’s how we usually start a local VAC. 

1. A key concern is how will you procure speakers. Especially if you are a smaller church. It’s hard to generate enough interest to attract a large audience, which would allow you to afford a well-known speaker. So, the VAC will seed your VAC by livestreaming the VAC Headquarters speakers to your site initially. This will allow you to gather like-minded attendees and grow the attendance. Once you have enough in your audience (usually 300-500), your local VAC will then be able to bring in their own speakers and run independent events. Note when livestreaming, the first 20 mins are always dedicated to the local VAC.

2. The second concern is- who will run the events of the VAC? To do this you will need to recruit the following 3 key individuals as well as some event volunteers. All positions currently are volunteers. If the VAC expands in your area some of these positions may result in a stipend.

a. The Local VAC president: The president needs to be a charismatic leader who will be the face of the local VAC. But it is necessary that he or she be a man or women of God. Not a political gadfly. 

b. A VAC Master of Ceremonies: The MC will plan the schedule, set things up for the evening and run the actual event from the stage.

c. A VAC Director of Operations: The DO will run the ground game. This person is responsible for organizing and gathering the volunteers, the ushers, the registration tables and coordinating with your janitorial crew for cleanup. We will train them on how to handle this. 

d. You will also need some volunteers to run the actual events. Our experience is that we have too many volunteers not too few. Look for about 8-10 volunteers. No heavy lifting required.

3. How will you advertise? The best way to bootstrap the first few VAC events is to allow the local VAC president to make regular announcements from the stage at your regular church services. You can mention that your church has decided to work with a parachurch ministry and invite the president up. The VAC president then gets to announce the event and the senior pastor and staff can encourage folks to show up to the event. The president will flash a QR code or website for registration. This allows you to send folks to the event without it being a “Church” event. Next you should allow the VAC to have a table in the foyer to take signups and answer questions.

4. Other notes: If you can provide child care, your VAC will grow exponentially faster.

How soon can you start a VAC?
 
Once you have the above people, and your Church/Board/Elder approval for renting out the space, your VAC can start within the next few weeks.

 

Here are some other detailed advantages to having the VAC hosted at your church.

The VAC brings the congregation together more often with no effort by the church leadership 

The VAC encourages the body that they are not alone in their conservative, unpopular, politically incorrect views.

The VAC boldly declares the wisdom of God’s laws.

The VAC educates the body and reiterates often that rights can only come from God and does not come from the Constitution or the government. It places the Bible in its proper role as a legal document.

The VAC reminds the body that government’s only role is to protect and secure the individual’s rights that they already have, keeping the correct perspective of government.

The VAC gives the congregation an opportunity to invite friends, family, co-workers and the community to the church for something other than “church.”

The VAC gives all an alternative to sitting in front of the TV or whatever else they might be doing on a Saturday night.

The VAC introduces and invites the unchurched to church.

The VAC offers many their first opportunity and their first incentive to be in a church.  

Many are added to the church’s attendance after attending VAC events. 

The VAC helps educate the congregation in ways the pastor and Sunday School teachers can’t. 

The VAC allows attendees to hear heroes of liberty, in person. Guests like Josh McDowell, Eric Metaxas, Charlie Kirk, Curtis Bowers, Tony Perkins, Dave Barton, etc. 

Hosting the VAC is good stewardship of a church’s facility when not in use of other purposes.

The VAC provides opportunity for church people to volunteer and get more involved locally in politics, legislation, and charity. As you know the more folks volunteer the more dedicated they are to your church body.

The VAC can hit hard political issues and keep the congregation and community updated, in ways the church can’t.

The VAC can provide voter information, registration forms and petitions.

The VAC can work with church leadership to bring in speakers the pastors & leadership suggest.

The VAC is only asking to reserve the Sanctuary one or two times a month.

The VAC generates an amazing enthusiasm, excitement, and bonding to those who attend regularly.

The VAC will post a slide at the end of every event, inviting guests to return in the morning for church.

The VAC is very respectful of the church’s facility and leaves it in the same or better condition than found. 

The VAC is needed in today’s world

The VAC gives the host church’s pastor a chance to give the Gospel at each event to unchurched people.

Given all those reasons, it would make sense to start a VAC sooner rather than later.

If you want to start a local VAC, please email Neil Mammen, President of the VAC at 

VAClocal@vacmail.org