In the age of culture wars, election seasons, and cancel culture, Josh Ross has written Coreology: Six Principles for Navigating An Election Season Without Losing Our Witness.  In the book, he pleads with his readers to root their motives, intentions, passions, and desires in what it means to be Kingdom-people above all things. Ross is a respected pastoral voice, author of Scarred Faith and Bringing Heaven to Earth, and he serves as the Lead Minister at Sycamore View Church in Memphis, Tennessee. 

His plea provides six principles to keep Kingdom-people centered, rooted, and focused. None of Ross’ principles are new concepts; still, they are valuable and speak to the pastoral heart Ross holds towards Kingdom-people. Ross desires to remind Kingdom-people of the calling of God and the imagination of Kingdom-living available to each person in light of that calling. The principles that Ross explores in his book address one’s inner life—their personal relationship with God—and their outer life, that is, their relationships with others. The principles are as follows: 

1. I will daily confess that Jesus, and nothing else, is the Lord of my life. 

2. I will create and honor regular spiritual practices that remind me of my devotion to Jesus. 

3. I will resist allowing any media outlet to become the primary way I think about culture and the world. 

4. I will strive to become a peacemaker. 

5. I will practice hospitality as a way to learn, grow, and invest in other people. 

6. I will choose to regularly serve others. 

Utilizing the metaphor of a body’s core as the means of strength, balance, and mobility, Ross sees the core of Christian faith and practice as needing to be protected, developed, and cultivated amid election seasons, cancel culture, and culture wars. Ross does not ask people to vote a certain way or to abandon their values, yet he does plead for the core, the center of who we are, to be oriented around the Kingship of Jesus Christ. This book is written for the church minister, the congregant, the Bible-class teacher, the small group leader, the elder, and the Kingdom-people who fill our churches and live within our communities. Ross utilizes Scripture to encourage identity, engagement, and devotion, which lie at the heart of our core as Kingdom-people. 

Ross’ six principles can be processed on an individual level as persons seek to cultivate their core. Another way that churches and leaders might consider utilizing Ross’ work is through a small-group discussion, as a Bible-class curriculum, or via a sermon series. There is an individual component of developing one’s spiritual core in life with God and others, but there is a communal opportunity as people of faith move together, on mission with a focus on strengthening their inner-life and outer-life. The principles begin with “I” statements, yet they can also be applied to the collective “we.” Not only should Kingdom-people utilize these principles, but they can serve as tangible identity markers of Christian communities. These principles are especially applicable to inculcate during election seasons, culture wars, and cancel culture. However, they do not only hinge on the happenings in our country, they hinge on the opportunity for Kingdom-people to be intentional, in all seasons—to live into who God desires for us to be, as individuals and communities of faith. 

Coreology: Six Principles for Navigating An Election Season Without Losing Our Witness will be a helpful resource in your churches this fall, but it need not only be read before an election. The principles Ross outlines reminds readers that practice is part of strengthening the core. In the strengthening, we are better able to live as persons of loyalty, peace, healing, hospitality, and love in our world, maybe most especially in election seasons.