Should There Be Flag Waving in Church?

Question 09085

Flag waving in church covers two quite different practices that often get muddled in the same conversation. One is the use of coloured banners and flags in worship, common in charismatic settings and increasingly seen elsewhere. The other is the display of a national flag inside the building, which raises questions about patriotism, identity and where a congregation’s loyalty finally lies.

I want to deal with both, because both are asked about and neither is settled by a proof text. Scripture does not forbid either practice and does not command either, which places us in the territory of wisdom, conscience and the good of the congregation.

Where the Practice Comes From

The worship banner tradition draws on a handful of Old Testament texts. The Lord is my banner, Jehovah Nissi, after the battle with Amalek (Exodus 17:15). We will shout for joy over your salvation, and in the name of our God set up our banners (Psalm 20:5). His banner over me was love, from the Song of Songs. Standards also marked the tribal camps in Numbers 2.

The Hebrew word in several of these is nes, a signal, standard or rallying point raised so that people could see where to gather. It is worth noticing what that means. A banner in the Old Testament is a marker of identity and a rallying signal, not an implement of praise. Nobody in the text is waving one during worship.

So the honest position is that flag waving in the modern sense is not described in Scripture. That does not make it forbidden. Church buildings, hymn books, projection screens and pews are not described in Scripture either, and we use them without anxiety.

Freedom in Matters Not Commanded

The New Testament gives us genuine liberty in the outward forms of worship, provided the content is biblical and the effect is edifying. Paul’s governing rule for the gathering is that all things be done for building up (1 Corinthians 14:26) and that all things be done decently and in order (1 Corinthians 14:40). Those two tests will handle most questions of this sort.

Some of my brethren hold to a stricter principle, that whatever is not commanded in worship is thereby excluded. I have set out my own view of that debate in what the regulative principle of worship means. Even on the stricter reading, the argument concerns elements of worship rather than every physical object in the room.

Questions Worth Asking About Flag Waving in Worship

Rather than pronouncing, let me offer the questions I would ask a congregation considering it. Does this help ordinary people to worship God, or does it draw attention to those doing it? Is there a spiritual claim attached to it, such as breaking strongholds or releasing something in the heavenly realms, which Scripture does not actually make?

That second question matters most to me. Where flag waving is presented as a spiritual technique with effects in the unseen world, it has moved from freedom into teaching, and teaching must be tested. The New Testament describes our weapons in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 and in Ephesians 6:14-18, and they are truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation, the word of God and prayer. No banners appear in either list.

There is also the question of whether it excludes. A visitor who cannot join in a physically expressive practice may feel, quite unnecessarily, that they are second class Christians. Paul’s instinct in matters of liberty was consistently to restrain his own freedom for the sake of the weaker conscience (Romans 14:19-21), and that instinct is worth imitating.

Exuberance Is Not the Enemy

I want to be careful not to sound like a man who prefers his religion cold. David danced before the Lord with all his might and his wife despised him for it, and the text sides with David rather than Michal. Scripture commands clapping, shouting, lifting hands, playing instruments and dancing, and a congregation that has quietly decided all bodily expression is vulgar has its own problem to face.

So I do not object to flag waving because it is expressive. I would object if it became compulsory, if it were treated as evidence of spiritual depth, or if it were given powers the Bible does not give it. Those are the fault lines, and none of them is about temperament.

Testing the Claims Attached to It

Since most of the controversy attaches to what is claimed for the practice rather than the practice itself, let me be specific about the claims I would want tested. Some teaching presents flag waving as a means of releasing angelic activity, or of establishing spiritual authority over a geographical area, or of breaking generational curses. None of that is taught anywhere in Scripture.

The strongholds passage in 2 Corinthians 10 is the text usually cited, and it repays a careful reading. Paul says the strongholds are arguments and lofty opinions raised against the knowledge of God, and the weapon is the taking of every thought captive to obey Christ. It is a passage about truth confronting error, not about territory or objects.

This is where I would draw the line between liberty and error. A congregation that enjoys flag waving as an expression of joy is exercising Christian freedom, and I would not interfere. A congregation taught that flag waving accomplishes something in the unseen realm has been given a doctrine, and that doctrine has no basis in the text.

The wider concern here is a pattern I have watched for years, in which practices acquire spiritual claims by repetition rather than by exegesis. Somebody says it, others repeat it, and within a decade it is assumed. Test everything, hold fast what is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21) applies as much to our habits as to our sermons.

The National Flag in the Building

Now the second question, which in Britain surfaces around Remembrance Sunday, coronations and civic services. Should a national flag stand in the church? Here I feel the tension keenly, because I love this country and I also know what Scripture says about where our citizenship is.

Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour (Philippians 3:20). The church is drawn from every tribe and language and people and nation (Revelation 5:9), which means the congregation is by definition an international body meeting locally. A flag placed in the room where that body gathers makes a statement, whether or not anybody intended one.

My own practice is caution. Honouring the fallen is right and I do it gladly. Praying for the nation and its leaders is commanded (1 Timothy 2:1-2). But the moment a congregation begins to feel that Christian faith and national identity are the same thing, something serious has gone wrong, and the history of the twentieth century should make every European Christian nervous about that particular confusion.

Israel’s Flag and the Dispensational Question

A specific version of this appears in churches that display the flag of the modern state of Israel. I hold that God’s promises to Israel are literal and unrevoked, that the Church has not replaced her, and that the regathering of the Jewish people is consistent with prophetic expectation. So I am hardly likely to object to Christians loving Israel.

Even so, I would not put the flag in the sanctuary. My reasoning is the same as with any national flag. The gathering is the body of Christ, in which there is neither Jew nor Greek in respect of standing before God, and a political emblem in that room invites a confusion between a nation’s current government and God’s programme. Interest in Israel should express itself in prayer, in study and in love for Jewish people rather than in decoration.

Leading a Congregation Through This

Practically, questions like these are best handled before they become disputes. If a member wants to introduce flag waving, talk it through with the leadership rather than letting it appear unannounced one Sunday, because unannounced innovations produce resentment out of all proportion to the issue.

Where a practice is already established and some are uncomfortable, teach on Christian liberty before you touch the practice itself. A congregation that understands Romans 14 can hold differences without splitting. A congregation that has never been taught it will treat every preference as a principle.

Keeping the Main Thing Visible

The final test I would apply is what a stranger would conclude. Somebody walking in for the first time will read the room before they hear a word. What do they see at the centre? If the answer is a pulpit with an open Bible and a table, they have learned something true about us. If the answer is a display of national symbols or a great deal of colourful movement, they have learned something else.

I am not against colour, and a church does not have to look like a solicitor’s waiting room to be reverent. But the visual centre of a Christian gathering ought to say that we are here because of Jesus and His word, and everything else in the room should be quietly subordinate to that.

So, now what?

If your church practises flag waving, ask what is being taught alongside it rather than reacting to the sight of it. Freedom is real, claims about spiritual power are not free, and the difference between the two is where the pastoral attention belongs.

And if you are the one uneasy about it, be careful that your unease is theological rather than temperamental. Flag waving may not be to your taste, and taste is not an argument.

If a national flag stands in your building, ask yourself honestly what it is saying to the visitor from another country who sat behind you last week. Love your nation, pray for it, honour those who served it, and keep the room pointing at Jesus. You may find what I have written about church and state and the question of dancing in church helpful here.

If a first time visitor described your Sunday gathering to a friend, what would they say it was mainly about?

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body.

Philippians 3:20-21 (ESV)