Churches must bridge political divides and find not just a common voice but an independent one in the fight for economic and social justice, faith leaders said at an international gathering of their colleagues in Dallas on Thursday.

“The church has to pull up its chair at the table and remember who they’re there to represent,” said Bishop Harry Jackson, senior pastor of Hope Christian Church in Washington, D.C. “Everybody has a lobbyist in Washington but the poor. The church is supposed to be the lobbyist of the poor.”

Jackson made the remarks as part of a “think tank” session at the 2017 International Pastors and Leadership Conference, held at The Potter’s House. The cross-denominational event is expected to draw about 10,000 faith leaders and church administrators during its three-day run at the Dallas megachurch.

The session, called “The Polemics of Politics and the Pulpit: Rightly Dividing Between Church and State,” examined the intersection of faith and politics in an increasingly divided nation following the 2016 presidential election.

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