EDITOR’S NOTE: Read the latest about the aftermath of the unexpected protest inside a church in St. Paul, Minn., here: “Bills criminalizing protests during worship services proceed through states“
The Evangelical world was shocked on Jan. 18, 2026, when a group of roughly 30 protestors invaded Cities Church in St. Paul, Minn., during a worship service. While Christians aren’t surprised when unbelievers sin, we were shocked to see the sacred space of religious worship attacked so blatantly. This remarkable action should lead Christians and churches to think clearly about what the Bible says regarding protesting and how churches should biblically respond.
1. Protests must clearly glorify God.
Christians must first have a clear understanding of protesting from a biblical position. We are not opposed to protests (after all, as Baptists, we are Protestants). However, protesting is only biblical when it brings glory to God. Biblical protesting must necessarily include important standards: a clear definition of God’s justice rather than man’s (Micah 6:8); a pursuit of peace rather than disruption and intimidation (Romans 12:18); a submission to the God-given authority and laws that are not inherently sinful (Romans 13:1-7); and a focus on the ethical and moral good of others (Matthew 22:39). Protests that degenerate into mob mentalities, disruption of social good, destruction of property, or harming of others decidedly are not biblical protests.
2. Churches have the right to protect their people against protestors.
Congress approved the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act in 1994, which prohibited “the use or threat of force and physical obstruction that injures, intimidates, or interferes with a person seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services or to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship” (emphasis added). Therefore, protestors do not have the constitutional right to impede, infringe, or intimidate anyone from attending or worshipping at church. Churches have the constitutional right to protect the congregation and deny access to those disrupting their worship services.
While Christians should care deeply about constitutional rights, we should care more deeply about biblical commands. God calls pastors to watch over (i.e., protect) the flock entrusted to their care (Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2-3), while all Christians are called to protect the weak, needy and afflicted from the hands of the wicked (Psalm 82:3-4). Further, God describes the gathering of his people in worship as vital and sacred (Matthew 18:20; Hebrews 10:23-25; Psalm 95:6-11). Churches not only have the constitutional right to defend themselves, but also the biblical imperative to worship the Lord free from the disruption and intimidation of protestors.
3. Christians hold fast to our confession of faith.
When the protestors disrupted the worship service at Cities Church, the pastor repeatedly proclaimed, “We’re here to worship Jesus because that’s the hope of these cities, that’s the hope of the world, is Jesus Christ.” The only way a pastor could pronounce these words during unexpected chaos is because he understood Jesus’s kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36) and that the gospel is our world’s only hope (Col 1:27). Our hope is not in man, culture, or nation, but in Jesus Christ whose sacrificial death gives us eternal life.
Christian, don’t grow weary in doing good, but “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23). May we be Christians and churches who protect our people and joyfully proclaim the hope of the Gospel.