How Should We Think About the Desecration of a Church by a Mob?

Synod pastors cosplaying as diplomats, generals, prosecutors, and defense counsel need to take a break from the internet and focus on ministry.

A very significant line for American Christians was crossed with the invasion of Cities Church in St. Paul, MN, two Sundays ago, when a violent mob of Christophobes and anti-White racists terrorized the congregation. Some of the aggressors have been arrested, but it is notable how silent sundry LCMS experts on ICE interactions have been regarding the invasion.

Cities Church is as precedent-setting as Canada’s residential school ethnic cleansing hoax, which resulted in 112 churches in Canada being razed, defaced, or damaged with the implicit approval of the Prime Minister.

Given the limited legal action against the protestors and the low probability of serious consequences for them, churches need to think about how they would practically handle a similar rabble crashing a divine service. Secondly, how should we think theologically about these issues?

Fortunately, two recent podcasts give great answers for Christians generally and Lutherans specifically. Prs. Wolfmueller and Packer tackled it in a recent Theology Q&A episode, and Prs. Koontz and Grills did so in their most recent Brief History of Power episode.

Links and summaries below.

I. Practical Responses: Pastoral and Institutional Discipline Under Pressure

• The central danger is radical uncertainty.
  A hostile crowd introduces immediate ambiguity about intent: harassment, intimidation, or violence.

“You just don’t know the intentions.”
“Are you going to set things on fire, or are we just going to yell at each other?”

• Disruption instantly displaces vocation.
  The pastor is forced from preacher to risk manager and liturgy gives way to situational awareness.

• Dialogue is impossible once a mob arrives.
  Peaceful and reasoned engagement is impossible.

“It’s not the voice of the Lord… it’s the mob… that has to make sure that God’s Word is not heard.”

• Pastoral triage is the first duty.
  Protect children. Maintain calm. Reduce escalation.

“Let’s get the kids into Sunday school.”
“You just try to keep everybody safe.”

• Confessional resistance.
  Singing “A Mighty Fortress” may assert order against chaos, but only when violence is unlikely.

“Stand and sing… as loud as we could.”
“That presumes they’re just yelling and not trying to blow things up.”

• Composure preserves institutional credibility.
  Cities Church modeled restraint and focus.

“They stayed calm.”
“He didn’t get baited.”
“He tried to proclaim the Gospel.”

• Preparation is obligatory.
  Congregations must plan for disruption.

“We probably need to have this conversation with our elders.”
“What’s the plan?”

• Improvisation in crisis is negligence.
  Absence of protocol multiplies danger.

• Modern protest culture is dangerously naïve.
  Activists underestimate escalation dynamics.

“She had no idea of the danger.”
“You’ve invaded this space.”

• Hostile intrusion invites defensive reaction.
  Sacred spaces are psychologically and socially protected zones. Violations will provoke instinctive resistance.

II. Theological Responses: Sacred Space, Vocation, and Spiritual Conflict

• Mob disruption is not neutral speech. It is spiritual warfare.

“It’s the demonic voice.”

• The goal is silencing proclamation, not persuasion.
  The mob’s telos is obstruction and destruction, not dialogue.

• Sacred space is ontologically distinct.
  Churches are not a public commons.

“It is public worship, but it is a private place.”

• Desecration, not dissent, is the proper category.

“It’s a defiling of sacred space.”

• The Church historically guards holy things.
  Pr. Molfmueller invokes Levitical precedent.

“The Levites were guards.”

• Boundary-management is vocational, not authoritarian.
  Guarding worship is part of the preaching office.

• The double standard reveals cultural theology.
  Christian spaces and services are regarded as public property.

“If it was a synagogue or mosque…”
“It’d be called a hate crime.”

• Christians are framed as legitimate targets.
  Moral delegitimation precedes physical intrusion.

“Elitists… they deserve this.”

• Hostility clarifies ecclesial identity.
  Persecution reveals difference.
  It strips away illusions of neutrality.

• God’s providence works through opposition.
  Attacks often strengthen congregations.

“The devil’s tactics always backfire.”

We’re here because of Jesus.”

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Practical Responses: Security, Law, and Institutional Responsibility

• The Cities Church incident fits a historical pattern.

“Churches come to be targeted during… insurrections and revolutions.”

• The protest was organized and intentional.

“They marched and chanted. They disrupted the worship service.”

• Churches are targeted precisely because they are soft.
  Welcoming policies create vulnerability.

“Churches… are keyed towards an environment in which it’s completely safe.”
“Your church is a soft target.”

• ‘They were welcomed’ is a dishonest framing.
  Hospitality presumes good faith.

“You welcome every visitor… within reason.”
“You’re not walking them in to disrupt worship.”

• The First Amendment does not justify disruption.
  Free speech has long-standing limits.

“Disruption… trespassing… a violation.”
“There’s a social contract.”

• Selective enforcement encourages escalation.

“Abortion protesters… will be jailed.”
“Here… nothing’s done.”

• Impunity signals permission.

“Allowed to operate with impunity.”
“All indicators point to it will get worse.”

• Churches must reconsider physical security.

“Historically… people guarding the doors.”
“Burghers were there as guards.”

• Locked doors are not theological betrayal.
  Security is compatible with faith.

“They didn’t see that as denying confession.”

• Children and vulnerable members must be prioritized.
  Hospitality does not override protection.

“Your children do not go to church to be endangered.”

• ‘All are welcome’ has limits.
  Welcome presumes safety.

“In a context where… people are not in danger.”

• The service is for Christians and worship is not an open forum.

“The service is for Christians.”

• Pastoral protection is part of shepherding.
  Metaphors of flock and wolves are taken seriously.

“Protecting the flock.”
“What do they do to wolves?”

• Armchair criticism is useless.

“That distance is really not helpful.”

• Constructive engagement requires real work.

“Start an ESL class.”
“Put your money where your mouth is.”

Theological Responses

• The invasion is a profanation of holy space.

“Physical holiness.”
“Desecration.”

• Modern Christians have lost a theology of sacred space.
  Reductionism has hollowed out reverence.

“It’s just a building.”
“That has hollowed out sacred space.”

• Architecture and practice teach theology.
  Casual spaces breed casual attitudes.

“If the sacred space is treated like any other space…”

• Church planting culture contributed to desacralization.
  The speakers admit internal fault.

“We church plant bros… that was a mistake.”

• Not all anger is righteous.
  Jesus’ temple cleansing is categorically unique.

“There is a divine purpose.”
“The anger of man does not produce righteousness.”

• Christ’s authority cannot be imitated.
  Activists falsely appropriate Christ’s actions.

“He enters… as the eternal Son of God.”

• Political rage is not prophetic witness.
  “Rage-outs” are not sanctified protest.

“They just look like rage outs.”

• Politics has replaced religion.
  Ideology functions as a substitute faith.

“Religion has long been replaced by politics.”

• Progressive activism operates as a state religion.
  Moral violations justify ritualized punishment.

“A blasphemy in their state religion.”

• Revolutionary hierarchy governs behavior.
  Identity replaces moral reasoning.

“Progressive stack.”
“Your existence is a moral indictment.”

• Church invasions follow revolutionary logic.
  Historical parallels are explicit.

“France… Russia… Spain.”

• American exceptionalism is rejected.

“We are not immune.”

• Law is a divine instrument.

“The state has a sword.”

• Unenforced law is theological disorder.
  Dead letters destroy authority.

“If laws are not enforced… they are not real.”

• Borders and government are morally real.

“Contra Romans 13.”

• Two Kingdoms doctrine is selectively abused.
  Activists violate it when convenient.

“Everybody’s two kingdoms until…”

• Pastors are not disqualified by civil vocation.
  Law enforcement is not spiritual corruption.

“Is he not fit to be a pastor?”

• Christ is present where His Word is preached.
  Denominational snobbery is condemned.

“Where His Word is preached is a holy place.”

• Mocking attacked churches is theological failure.
  High-church contempt is repudiated.

• Justification is by faith, not affiliation.
  Lutheran identity does not confer moral superiority.

• Order reflects God’s nature.
  Disorder in worship is doctrinally offensive.

“God is a God of order.”

• Rights terminate at God’s holiness.
  Sacred space relativizes civil claims.

“Your rights stop… where they’re profaning what is God’s.”

• The sanctuary belongs to God.
  Neither protesters nor congregants possess it.

“It is all God’s.”