On January 18th, 2026, a highly organized group of Minnesota ICE protesters stormed into Cities Church during their Sunday service, shouting slogans over religious prayers and forcing parishioners to pause their worship of our Lord. These protestors did not come to find peace or pray; they came to agitate and turn a place of worship into a den of chaos and intimidation.
What should have been an hour of hope and peace was torn down by a barrage of yelling and confrontation from this savage group. This so-called “protest” by no means had intentions to bring about peaceful political change or embody principles of freedom of speech. It was a blatant and deliberate attempt to illegally intimidate Christians who had come to their sacred sanctuary. Inside that church were families with young children, the elderly, and individuals who came with a simple desire for peaceful worship and hope. They did not come to church that day to make a political statement, or to be thrown into confrontation and harassment. Let me be clear: this was not free speech. It was blatant coercion and illegal intimidation.
Bursting into a church to intimidate worshippers is not a righteous act; it is lawless and savage. Freedom of speech does not include the right to deny the freedom of others to worship without interference. When protesters entered that sacred sanctuary and shouted slogans, waved signs, and disrupted the sermon and parishioners, they crossed a sacrosanct line.
The Bible teaches us that the house of God is meant to be a place of refuge and prayer: “My house shall be called a house of prayer” (Matthew 21:13). That divine refuge was violated by these “protestors.” Worshippers were forced to look over their shoulders in fear instead of lifting their eyes to heaven. Disruption replaced reverence; self-serving ambitions replaced divinity.
God also teaches us not to be agents of chaos among His worshipers: “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people” (1 Corinthians 14:33).
What makes this intrusion especially disgraceful is the fact that it targeted innocent parishioners who came only to worship. These everyday folks were not in any control of federal immigration policy. So, why is it that they were the group ruthlessly targeted? For the simple act of worshiping our Lord? One can only speculate.
Reports suggest that the protesters believed an ICE agent was affiliated with this church, and this alleged connection with ICE motivated their actions to infiltrate this particular church. Even if that were true, it still by no means justified the forcible disruption of a sanctuary during a worship service. A church is not an ICE office or a government building. It is a place where parishioners gather to pray and worship God. These parishioners were not enforcing immigration laws; they were simply attending church. Targeting an entire congregation is not political justice. It is mob rule at its worst.
Scripture plainly condemns this kind of aggression: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20). Turning worshippers and a church into political targets is not justice; it is harassment disguised as political activism.
Whether you are a Democrat, Republican, or anything in between, this event should be condemned without hesitation. Churches and places of worship must remain as places where people can gather without fear of being intimidated, threatened, or used as political props to be foisted into news cycles. Protests have their place, but a sacred place of worship, such as a church, is never that place. A society that cannot protect the sanctity of its churches and the right to worship peacefully is a society that has forgotten the meaning of freedom of religion and freedom of speech.
What happened at Cities Church was not a form of protest; it was harassment. Harassment that was masked as political activism and should never be tolerated unless we are willing to accept the degradation of our 1st amendment right to the freedom of religion and worship.
Anathema to the Minnesota protestors who defiled a sacred place of worship.