As America marks 250 years, Independence Day invites us to do more than enjoy fireworks, cookouts, and patriotic music. It gives us an opportunity to give thanks, remember God’s providence, pray for our nation, and consider what faithful Christian citizenship requires in this cultural moment.

We asked contributors and friends of the Institute for Faith & Culture how they are spending Independence Day this year and what they are reflecting on as Christian citizens.

Natasha Crain, Apologist and Author

Our family celebrates the fourth of July in a very traditional way. We have our biggest BBQ of the year (featuring our favorite grilled creamed corn), followed by fireworks with neighbors and friends. But as we approach this special Independence Day, it’s hard not to reflect on where we are today as a nation beyond the corn and fireworks. In particular, I’ve been thinking about the pivotal role Christians can play in helping our culture recapture a knowledge of and love for our constitutional republic.

Tragically, many Americans today lack the historic and civic understanding necessary for recognizing just how exceptional our founding really was—and why that still matters 250 years later. But Christians of all people should recognize what a blessing it is to live in a country where we not only have freedom of religion, but also the opportunity to advocate for righteousness in society (living out Romans 13:1-7). What a privilege that is! My prayer is that the church will increasingly rise up to unashamedly embrace that opportunity out of our love for God and our love for people.

Dr. Peter A. Lillback, President Westminster Theological Seminary and Teaching Fellow at IFC

This July 4th is very special for America as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of our independence through the Declaration of Independence.

It will be my privilege to be at the Community of Jesus in Cape Cod to celebrate the Fourth of July and to preach in the pulpit of their magnificent sanctuary. The Community of Jesus is an inter-denominational monastic community that is closely connected with the classic book of Christianity on America’s founding, The Light and the Glory by Peter Marshall and David Manuel. As I preach on Sunday July 5th, I will have the opportunity to carry on the legacy of their love for the founding era, and to connect the scriptures with the beauty of our American freedom on that Lord‘s Day. I will be leaving for that after having hosted the leadership and board members of First Liberty from Dallas, Texas, a First Amendment freedom legal group that will be touring Philadelphia on July 1-2 before they head up to Boston on their own. So my Fourth of July will be spent celebrating the legacy of our Founders with a tour for a group in Philadelphia and then a trip to Cape Cod for preaching on Sunday, July 5th at a historic location only a mile from First Encounter Beach, where the Pilgrims first landed and met a native American. God bless America and praise his name for the gospel freedoms that we possess in this great land of liberty.

Dr. Carol M. Swain, Retired Professor Vanderbilt University, Author, and Speaker

July 4, 2026, marks a momentous occasion for our nation as we celebrate 250 years of American independence. This milestone invites us to reflect on the enduring principles of liberty, self-government, and opportunity that have defined our country since its founding.

This Independence Day evening, I will enjoy good food and watch fireworks with a neighbor whose highly educated parents fled Communist Cuba more than fifty years ago in pursuit of the freedom and promise that define the American Dream. Their beautiful home stands as a vibrant tribute to America, decorated inside and out with patriotic displays that have been proudly visible since Memorial Day. The flowerbed near the mailbox, the welcome mat, the windows, the garden flags, and the festive decorations all reflect a deep appreciation for this land of liberty.

My neighbor’s son has grown up in the security of a solid two-parent home, where faith remains central and Cuban culture—rich in food, dance, and joyful celebration—brings scores of people together for memorable gatherings. Through their daily example, these friends are teaching their son the intertwined values of faith, freedom, Cuban heritage, and what it truly means to be an American.

As I reflect on my own faith amid the challenges facing our nation, my hope, desire, and prayer is for the American people to experience a genuine revival—a renewed commitment to God, country, and the founding ideals that have sustained us for two and a half centuries. We have come so far as a nation. In many ways, it is often immigrants like my neighbors who remind us of the priceless gift of American freedom and who seem to cherish it most deeply.

This Fourth of July, let us honor our history not only with fireworks and festivities, but with gratitude, reflection, and a recommitment to the faith and principles that make this experiment in liberty possible.

Dr. Alveda King, IFC Senior Fellow, Pro-Life activist, and Senior Advisor on Faith and Community Outreach at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

As America turns 250 this July 4th, I reflect on our similarities not our differences, as one blood from the womb to the tomb and beyond! As both a citizen of the United States of America and of heaven, I believe that there is no better time than now for a revival of biblical truth, of repentance, and of renewed passion for God and country. It is God who unites us all under the banner of His love, and He is the giver of every good gift and every freedom that we experience. As God has given these freedoms, He calls on us to be faithful stewards—compassionately caring for our neighbors, defending the most vulnerable, and fighting for truth.

I will spend my Independence Day praising our Savior for his faithfulness to our nation, praying for those he has placed in leadership, and joining other Christians in recommitting ourselves to the pursuit of righteousness and unity for the next generations.

Enjoy my song, Happy Birthday USA.

Dr. Stephen Mansfield, IFC Senior Fellow, Historian, and NYT Best-Selling Author

First, a confession. On the 250th anniversary of American liberty this Fourth of July, there will be at the Mansfield home stunningly large hot dogs, mountains of southern potato salad, and chocolate cake—double icing required. Repentance may follow. Maybe.

What will certainly happen is that I will expound for anyone willing to listen the statements about God in the Declaration of Independence. They are why G. K. Chesterton called the Declaration our national “creed.” Our founding document assumes there is a God, that he is the God of nature, that he created men, that he gave men rights, that he is the supreme ruler of the world, and that he is sovereign in the affairs of men. How desperately we need a restoration of this worldview now.

This I’ll do because I am a Christian patriot. Yet I am also a Christian realist, and this will move me to read aloud Rudyard Kipling’s “Recessional,” which was written in 1897 as a warning and a prayer for the British Empire. As though speaking of our moment in American history, its refrain—”Lord God of Hosts / Be with us yet / Lest we forget / lest we forget”—is blended with lament. We are urged to know that when “The tumult and the shouting dies / The Captains and the Kings depart / Still stands Thine ancient Sacrifice / An humble and a contrite heart.” Without this, our “pomp of yesterday” could become “one with Nineveh and Tyre.”

God forbid. God be with us yet.

Megan Basham, Journalist at the Daily Wire and NYT bestselling author

As America marks her 250th birthday, I’ll spend Independence Day much as I usually do—grilling with family, watching fireworks, and thanking God for the extraordinary blessings he has bestowed on this nation.

What I’ve found myself reflecting on this year is not simply America’s founding, but God’s sustaining grace in the centuries since. The American Revolution was, in many ways, an improbable undertaking. George Washington later wrote that when he considered God’s providence in the nation’s birth, he felt “almost overwhelmed with a sense of divine munificence.”

For all our flaws, Americans have enjoyed a degree of freedom, stability, prosperity, and opportunity that much of the world and much of human history has never known. Those blessings are not the product of our own virtue alone, though America has shown greater virtue than most civilizations throughout history. Those blessings are gifts from a gracious God.

As Christians, our gratitude must not be directed toward ourselves but toward the One who saw fit to bestow his blessings on us.

So this Fourth of July, I’ll thank God for the miracle of America’s founding, for his faithfulness through 250 years of history, and pray that he would grant our nation the wisdom and humility to remain worthy stewards of the blessings he has so generously bestowed.

Lauren Cooley, Vice President of Civic Engagement at IFC

We have a lot of extended family in rural Minnesota, and we’ll gather at one of their lake homes for the weekend. It’s small-town America at its best… a parade down Main Street, live music in the town square, and picnics and barbecues for three days straight.

There’s something refreshing about leaving the city behind and spending time with loved ones at a slower pace. We crank up the music, cheer each other on as we waterski and wakeboard, float on rafts until we’re sunburned, and ride jet skis until we run out of gas.

I’ve always been a patriotic person, so Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays. This year, though, I keep coming back to Luke 12:48 where we’re reminded that “to whom much is given, much will be required.” Compared to civilizations like ancient Rome or Egypt, 250 years is the blink of an eye. Yet in that short time, America has accomplished more than most nations have in centuries.

What we’ve been given is extraordinary, and extraordinary gifts require faithful stewardship. This Independence Day, I’m thinking about the kind of people we must be—and the moral courage we must cultivate in our families, churches, and communities—to carry the next chapter of American liberty forward.

God has been extraordinarily faithful to us. My prayer is that we will be faithful in return.

How are you spending Independence Day? As we mark 250 years of American liberty, we’d love to hear how you’re celebrating and what you’re reflecting on as a Christian citizen.

Share your plans and reflections on social media and don’t forget to tag the Institute for Faith & Culture. Get the conversation started in your sphere of influence!