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Since the Church was born, Christians have debated how to engage with power. Is it ungodly to seek influence? Surely it’s better to seek the lowlier places? They’re challenging questions and many Christians conclude that withdrawal is the best policy: from politics and indeed from the wider public sphere. Michael Wear is convinced that this view couldn’t be more wrong. Catapulted into the West Wing in his early twenties under the Obama administration, Michael experienced first-hand the highs and lows of working as a Christian in government. He helped manage The White House’s engagement on religious and values issues and directed faith outreach for President Obama’s historic 2012 re-election campaign. We may be unlikely to find ourselves inside the halls of power in the American administration, but many of us are in places where we do exercise power in the public space: in education, local government, business, the arts, media, science, indeed the Church. How do we use our places of influence to work for the common good in ways shaped by our faith in Jesus Christ? How do we be the kind of people who know how to use power well, whatever formal authority we have?