The church inside the state

It's 7:30 on a foggy Wednesday morning. Four men sit around the table, Bibles open. They've just had a short devotion; now it's time to start the grilling. They share concerns about their families, their employees, their own career prospects. They turn to the Scriptures for a short devotion, then take turns praying for each others' needs. After a few minutes' fellowship, they head out into the autumn morning to begin their work day. It's a fairly unremarkable scene overall, except that the work day for these four men will include casting votes on denying public education to children of illegal immigrants and allowing women a 48-hour hospital stay after childbirth. The prayer requests that they share aren't exactly normal either: Family problems may include the strains of being away four days a week or a child who resents living in the limelight. And career changes? One member of the group is running for the U.S. Senate. As much as the group members want to insist that there's nothing special about their accountability meetings, the fact is, all four are sophomore members of the U.S. House of Representatives. While all politicians pay lip service to staying accountable to the voters, these four congressmen believe their accountability goes considerably higher than that. Welcome to Washington, D.C., circa 1996. Though many believers have long considered the capital city a kind of Hell-on-the-Potomac, a surprisingly large cadre of Christians has joined Congress recently and has refused, in the words of Dante, to "abandon all hope, ye who enter here." Before being elected to Congress in 1994, Mark Souder (R-Ind.) was a staffer for Dan Coats, one of the most outspoken believers on the Hill, and the leader of a weekly Bible study. "The study that Coats had worked with maybe had 10 really solid people," Mr. Souder recalls. "All of a sudden [after the '94 elections] we had as many as 40 freshmen involved in it. Average attendance is now 30 or 40 a week-really activist, Bible-believing Christians. I'm not saying the others aren't Christians, but these people are at a different level of heightened activism and application. If you sort through it, at least 50-maybe as many as 60-of the 73 [freshmen] are pretty spiritual, while they may vary on denomination and background." How to account for this sudden influx of believers in the seat of American secularism? "I think you had some folks that decided to answer the call and not sit on the sidelines while our nation goes to pot," says Rep. J.C. Watts (R-Okla.), also an ordained Baptist minister. "They were able to go out and put coalitions together with their base of support being the faith-based community." To those who know the usual Washington environment, the difference in the 104th Congress has been palpable. "People come up to me on the floor after weekends [back home in the district] and say, 'How's it going, brother?'" Mr. Souder marvels. "If we know people have problems with their families or their kids, we let them know we're praying for them. "There's always sort of a club atmosphere in Washington, but this is deeper. It's a spiritual atmosphere. I was a staffer for 10 years, so it's not like I'm new to this stuff, but this is something I haven't seen before."

One sign of the new spirit on Capitol Hill is the fresh interest in fellowship groups. "There's probably no single individual who could tell you all the things that are going on," says Charles Canady (R-Fla.) of the various Bible studies and accountability groups that have sprung up. Indeed, the traditional, broadly ecumenical Thursday morning prayer breakfast-"It's not specifically a Christian event," notes one member-has lost its place as the focus of fellowship on the Hill. Instead, believers have a virtual smorgasbord of growth groups to choose from. "Other than my personal quiet time, I think the real vehicle that I like tying into is the Christian Embassy Bible study at 1 p.m. Thursdays," says Mr. Watts. "That's the one that ministers to me the best. That's the one that most congresspeople have a real appreciation for. We have a core of probably 25-30 people that are pretty consistent. People come to be ministered to and encouraged in the gospel." Indeed, the group's numbers have swelled so much in the last two years that prayer times have been moved from the cramped House Chapel to the more expansive Family Room. Such meetings are explicitly non-political, according to Rep. Steve Largent (R-Okla.). "They offer a chance for members to check partisanship at the door and come and kind of sit down and focus on the things that unite us in terms of our faith as opposed to things that divide us in politics." Mr. Largent refuses even to guess at the percentage of Republicans vs. Democrats in the Bible study. "That's not ever really an issue," he insists.

Another large, faith-based group, however, is more explicitly policy oriented-and inevitably more partisan. The Family Caucus, formed after the '94 elections with the encouragement of the Family Research Council's Gary Bauer, is "made up almost 100 percent of believers, with the goal of preserving and restoring the family as the basic unit in our society," according to Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), the group's leader. Although all 68 members of the caucus are Republicans, Dr. Coburn (he's an OB-GYN by profession) says that may change after the November elections. "There are several [Democrats] we'd love to have, but we've chosen not to do that yet. The fear is it would be too confrontive." Unlike the weekly prayer breakfast and Bible study groups, the Family Caucus was formed specifically to help members come to biblical positions on policy issues. "The whole idea is to look at legislation in terms of how it affects the family," Dr. Coburn says. "DOMA [the Defense of Marriage Act] passed in the House in large part because of the Family Caucus in the background." But while the caucus may take controversial positions on the issues, its members try to make sure their personal testimonies are beyond reproach. "The goal of the organization is to make sure that we model a behavior that follows the life of Christ," Dr. Coburn stresses. "We're not the confrontive type. We're not super aggressive. We want to be behind the scenes." The same rule applies to relations among members of the group itself. "We don't have major conflict in the Family Caucus. We had a large disagreement on [the issue of indecency on the Internet], so we just handled it individually. The spirit of Christ is there, and nobody's worried about ego." Besides his work with the Family Caucus, Dr. Coburn is also one of the many members active in an accountability group-perhaps the most distinctive feature of the new Christian presence in Congress. "The real action takes place in a lot of quite small groups," according to Rep. Canady, one of the four men who meet at 7:30 Wednesday mornings. "That's where you get the accountability and the fellowship that many members need to confront the challenges that they face in Washington." The Wednesday morning group is a pretty like-minded lot. Mr. Canady is joined by fellow Presbyterian Church in America members Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) and Jim Talent (R-Mo.). Then there's Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.), a Baptist. "I don't know how they let me slip in," he laughs. Turning serious again, he credits the group with being a great help in his own personal and political life. "It's been a different level than the Bible studies we have on Thursday afternoons. There's a different kind of relationship that develops. We ask each other some accountability questions. Charles is usually the designated devotioneer who provides some kind of Bible study. And then we just have a time of prayer and fellowship. Out of our group, Bob has arranged to have evening dinners with different evangelical leaders....This morning we had breakfast with Clarence Thomas. It's been very rewarding." Although the group discusses politics freely, none of the members can think of a time they've changed their minds on an issue as a result of the discussion. "The group may have more of an impact in changing our attitude about how we deal with the people involved in an issue," Mr. Canady explains. "I've gone into the group to discuss an issue and come out with a more humble attitude at the end of the meeting. The main purpose of our accountability group is to keep each other humble, and we know each other well enough that we're in a pretty good position to do that."

Besides keeping each other humble, Christians in Congress also try to keep each other encouraged. "My great encourager is Jim Talent," says Mr. Hutchinson. "There've been numerous times when I was depressed or discouraged and he would come up and say, 'Let's go out here and pray.' We'd go off the floor of the House usually and just find a place to pray. I served in the Arkansas legislature for eight years, and I find that on Capitol Hill I have so much more Christian support and fellowship than I ever enjoyed in Arkansas." Christians on the Hill believe such prayer support has made a difference on more than one occasion. Rep. Hutchinson recalls a debate in his first term over stripping an important bill of the Hyde Amendment-a provision that bars using taxpayer funds for abortion. "I talked to Henry Hyde the morning it came up, and he said there was no way it was going to pass this year; we just didn't have the votes. When the bill came up that afternoon, Jim Talent was sitting on the floor with me. As we listened to the debate, Jim turned to me and said, 'You know, we ought to just stop right here and pray.' So we had prayer together right there on the floor of the House. "Suddenly it was as if someone sowed discord among the opponents of the Hyde Amendment. They began to argue among themselves. One member on the other side offered compromise language and a number of the women on the other side began to attack him. I later found out that there were other members-Don Manzullo (R.-Ill.) in particular-who were praying about this legislation at the time it came up. The Hyde Amendment was retained, and it was really inexplicable humanly, because Henry Hyde did not think that the votes were there to pass it." Sometimes the prayer efforts can be considerably larger. Almost every Christian in Congress mentions the prayer that went into the Health and Human Services bill, which included a number of important pro-life riders. "The vote was going to be very very close," Mr. Hutchinson recalls, "and it was coming up at 10:00 at night. Debate was going on on the floor of the House that evening, and Steve Largent and a number of others just started a word of mouth thing: 'We're going to meet up in the Family Room at 7:00.' We were up there for about two hours, and it was more than just a prayer time; it was a time of testimony and sharing, really a reverent time." Mark Souder remembers that with just 10 minutes' notice, about 40 Christians filed into the Family Room to pray for hours about the HHS bill. "I can guarantee you that didn't often happen previously in Congress," he laughs. Despite stiff opposition, the bill was passed-complete with its protections for the unborn.

But believers in Congress stress that their mission on the Hill goes well beyond simply passing bills. J.C. Watts says he struggled with the decision to run for Congress because it would mean giving up his thriving youth ministry. Finally, he says, "The Lord impressed on my heart that 'America may see a congressman, but I see a minister.'" Three weeks after he arrived in Washington, he had the chance to put his new ministry to the test. Invited to speak at the weekly prayer breakfast, he shared his salvation testimony with his fellow members. "There was a guy there that had been trying to win another guy to the Lord," Mr. Watts recalls. "I made the statement that if you're 99 percent sure that you're saved, then you're 100 percent lost. This one guy kind of kicked the other guy under the table and said, 'I'm ready to pray that prayer.' So they stood in the corner of the room after the devotion was over and he asked Christ into his heart." Other members without Mr. Watts's ordination credentials may lack his public platform, but they too find ways to share their faith. "It's not about meeting people in the cloakroom and reading Scripture to them," says Mr. Canady. "Most of it is built around developing relationships with people, getting to know their needs, and showing love for them. Other members know who is a professing Christian-it sort of gets around. That should be a constant source of encouragement to be consistent in our testimonies." Over the years, such consistent witness has made a difference in the lives of some of America's most powerful politicians. According to Tim Hutchinson, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay says he began living his Christian profession only after joining a Bible study on the Hill. Likewise, Sen. Jim Inhofe, while still a member of the House of Representatives, became a believer as the result of a congressional Bible study. Ultimately, says Bob Inglis, the influence of Christians in Congress is "similar to the stories of believers in every community across America. We're trying to make our faith real, trying to apply it to different situations. And I'm afraid we have about the same track record as Christians all across America: You see all kinds of degrees of success in living out our faith." But, these believers stress, they really are trying, and they hope this encourages fellow Christians. "I just can't imagine anyone using a sane and reasonable standard saying that this Congress was just politics as usual. That's baffling to me considering what we've done. I'm baffled that some Christians would say, 'We're not going to get involved,' or, 'We're disillusioned.' When they say that, the secular community wins. The abortionists and the believers in alternative lifestyles, they win." As of early October, national polls showed the "secular community" surging. Bob Dole's sputtering quest for the White House is harming, or at the very least not helping, Christian members' bids for reelection. But Christians in Congress-on both sides of the aisle-are not fixing their eyes on Mr. Dole; they're praying that God will move the electorate to add new members to their Bible studies and prayer groups. Regardless of what happens on the road to the White House, these believers intend to keep building a House of faith.