When Burning It Down Isn’t an Option: An interview with Rev. Greg Allen-Picket
About a year ago, I met Greg Allen-Pickett at the Stewardship Kaleidoscope (yeah, try spelling that without spell check) Conference held in Portland, OR. He and I struck up a conversation, about (what else?) generosity in the church. Greg recently led a PRC webinar with the provocative title: Purple Church Reflections: Navigating Stewardship in an Age of Polarization. It’s a topic that has been on my mind for a number of years and I was glad to hear someone else was thinking about it too.
I wanted to learn more from Greg about his thoughts on the topic. What better way to connect than to send along some interview questions? Greg is the senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Hastings, NE.
Greg, can you tell us a little about your church? How does politics impact your congregation?
First Presbyterian Church of Hastings is a 500-member congregation in a town of 25,000 in the heart of rural Nebraska. We have farmers and professors, small business owners and social workers, retirees, Republicans, Democrats, and a whole lot of folks who would rather not label themselves at all.
Politics inevitably shows up in our pews because it’s part of people’s lives. What I’ve learned is that political diversity doesn’t have to be a liability; it can be an opportunity. Our goal isn’t to erase differences but to model what it looks like to love one another across them. We want to show our community that faith can (and should) be bigger than partisan identity.
Why is being “purple” something you strive for?
The “purple church” idea grew out of my experience serving in a “red state” while having a congregation that represents the blend of the reds and blues of the electoral map. But it has a clever double meaning too. Purple is the liturgical color we use during the seasons of Advent and Lent, when we are invited to focus on the birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Christ. So being a purple church is about keeping our focus on Jesus Christ as much as it is recognizing the blending of the reds and blues.
"Being purple means intentionally bringing together people
with different convictions to worship, serve, and grow side by side."
Being purple means intentionally bringing together people with different convictions to worship, serve, and grow side by side. It’s about the hard, holy work of listening, breaking bread, and building community like Jesus did. I’ve come to see that the church’s witness in our divided age depends on our ability to hold tension without losing love.
You’re part of PCUSA, the more liberal/progressive wing of the Presbyterian denomination. How does that sit with your more conservative members?
Honestly, it’s complicated, but beautiful. Some members occasionally express concern about some of the more progressive social stances our denomination has taken and a fear that we are going to become a political action committee instead of a church. What I’ve tried to do is remind people that our Reformed tradition has always valued conscience and diversity of thought. We have a saying in our Presbyterian Book of Order, that Jesus Christ alone is lord of the conscience, and that remains true.
So when the denomination makes a statement or takes a stance that might be perceived as political or controversial, I encourage our folks to see it not as a mandate but as part of a conversation. Our congregation’s calling is to discern how God is leading us here, in our context, together. That approach has allowed conservatives to feel respected and progressives to feel heard.
How do you respond to the more liberal/progressive members of your church who might remind you of Martin Luther King’s words:
“I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice…”
That’s such an important question. I take King’s critique seriously; it challenges me as a pastor not to mistake civility for justice. Being “purple” can’t mean silence in the face of harm or injustice. It means creating space where hard truths can be spoken and heard. I’m also constantly reflecting on the legal maxim that “justice delayed is justice denied” and always asking myself if we are moving quickly enough towards the kingdom values that Jesus taught us.
In the book that’s coming out soon, I talk about organizing an ecumenical prayer vigil after a school shooting. We brought together gun owners and gun-violence prevention advocates, Republicans and Democrats, people who had been impacted by shootings, and people who worked in law enforcement. We didn’t all agree on solutions, but we prayed together, named the grief, and committed to keep talking. That, to me, is moving from “negative peace” to “positive peace.”
Does being “purple” = “neutral”?
Not at all. Being “purple” doesn’t mean being neutral; it means being faithful. Neutrality implies disengagement, a refusal to take a stand. Faithfulness calls us to engage, but to do so with humility and love. The goal of being a “purple church” isn’t to water down conviction, it’s to create a space where conviction can meet compassion, where truth and relationship can coexist.
"...to be purple is to orient ourselves first and foremost around Jesus, whose kingdom transcends every earthly ideology."
And ultimately, with the double meaning of purple that I mentioned earlier, to be purple is to orient ourselves first and foremost around Jesus, whose kingdom transcends every earthly ideology. So, when we say we’re “purple,” we’re saying our allegiance is to Christ, not a political tribe. Far from neutrality, it’s actually a deeply intentional discipleship stance; seeking to love as Jesus loved, across every dividing line.
Do you feel like you must suppress your prophetic voice sometimes to keep conservatives/liberals in the fold?
It’s a tension I live with constantly. But I don’t think of it as suppressing my prophetic voice; I think of it as stewarding it.
There’s a difference between speaking prophetically and speaking provocatively. The prophetic voice isn’t about volume, it’s about resonance. It’s about helping people hear God’s call in a way that they can actually receive it. Sometimes that means speaking hard truths plainly; sometimes it means telling a story, sharing a lament, or inviting people into service where their hearts can be changed before their minds are.
"There’s a difference between speaking
prophetically and speaking provocatively."
When I preached about racial justice after George Floyd’s murder, I didn’t start with politics, I started with lament. When we hosted a prayer vigil on gun violence, I didn’t start with legislation, I started with grief. In both cases, people across the spectrum found themselves drawn into the conversation, not shut out of it. So no, I don’t suppress my prophetic voice. I try to root it in relationship, compassion, and Scripture, trusting that the Spirit does the convicting. My job is to tell the truth in love, even when love takes patience.
And now (finally!), on to stewardship. How do you navigate stewardship in an age of polarization?
I start with the belief that stewardship is discipleship. Stewardship isn’t about fundraising, it’s about formation. When we talk about generosity, we’re talking about aligning our hearts with God’s mission, not our political preferences.
"In polarized times,
stewardship can be one of the few shared languages left."
In polarized times, stewardship can be one of the few shared languages left. We may disagree about immigration or the economy, but we can still come together to feed the hungry, support our youth, and sustain the ministries that make Christ’s love visible in our community. Stewardship reminds us that we’re all caretakers of something bigger than ourselves.
When there is political or internal strife within a congregation, I have seen people weaponize their tithe/offering either (a) by withholding it or (b) designating it so it can’t be used for overhead/administration. How would you deal with that?
I’ve seen that happen too, particularly around our model of funding the national denomination through a system of per capita, and it’s heartbreaking because it turns something sacred into a tool of control. When that happens, I try to reframe the conversation around trust and shared mission.
I’ll often say: “When we give, we’re not giving to a position, a pastor, or a budget line, we’re giving to God.” I remind folks that even when we disagree, we’re still part of the same body. I also try to practice radical transparency with our finances so people see how their gifts fuel real ministry. When people see their dollars feeding families, repairing homes, and forming disciples, the impulse to control fades and the spirit of generosity takes hold again.
In your webinar, you spoke about the importance of listening. Can you talk a little about that in relation to stewardship?
Listening is a spiritual discipline. In stewardship, it means asking not, “How do we get people to give more?” but “What is God doing in people’s lives that we can connect to?
“What is God doing in people’s lives
that we can connect to?”
When I listen deeply to our members’ stories, I often hear generosity already at work; a retiree mentoring kids after school, a farmer donating crops, a family showing up to help with the Open Table lunch program. My job is to help people see those acts as stewardship too. When people feel heard and valued, they don’t just give money, they give themselves.
I mentioned a book coming out! What’s it about?
Yes, I may have already mentioned that once or twice. Purple Church, Red State: Finding Common Ground in an Age of Polarization comes out in 2026 with Wipf & Stock. It’s part memoir, part theology, part field guide. It tells stories from my congregation in Hastings, Nebraska, a place where people truly love Jesus and each other, even when they vote differently.
Each chapter explores a moment when faith bridged division: hosting an ecumenical gun-violence vigil, serving flood victims, traveling to the U.S.–Mexico border, raising money for solar panels, or just sharing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with our neighbors. The book’s heart is this: we can find common ground not by avoiding hard things, but by doing holy things together.
Any last story you’d like to share about a time when you were surprised by somebody’s generosity?
One story that stays with me is about a man in our congregation who strongly disagreed with some of our congregation’s justice work. He told me plainly, “Pastor, I don’t always agree with what you say from the pulpit.” Then he handed me a check for our youth mission trip and said, “But I believe in what those kids are doing.”
"That’s what keeps me doing this work:
seeing grace break through even when it’s not supposed to."
That moment captured everything I hope for the church: the ability to find shared connection points even in the midst of polarization and generosity that transcends agreement. That’s what keeps me doing this work: seeing grace break through even when it’s not supposed to.
###
Upcoming webinar: Mark your calendar! How to Write Your Best Year-End Letter is coming up on Thursday, November 13 from 10-11am (it's free!). Register here.
###
Cesie Delve Scheuermann (pronounced “CC Delv Sherman,” yes, really) is a Stewardship Consultant for the OR-ID Annual Conference. She is also a Senior Ministry Strategist with Horizons Stewardship – helping with capital campaigns and encouraging more generosity. For 25 years, while working as a volunteer and part-time consultant, she has helped raise over three million dollars for numerous churches and non-profit organizations. She thinks it’s only appropriate to encorage you to watch the iconic Super Bowl performance by Prince singing Purple Rain…in the rain.
You can reach Cesie at inspiringgenerosity@gmail.com, at CesieScheuermann.com, or at cesieds@horizons.net. Want to schedule a meeting? She’s got you covered!
Schedule a meeting now.
If someone has forwarded this to you and you would like to subscribe to "Inspiring Generosity," click here. Miss an issue? Click here.