Many American churches are laboring under a dangerous delusion. Yes, we have the First Amendment. But this is still the “Negative World.” And hostility towards Christians and Christian churches is on the rise. The Left has grown increasingly violent. We even have paid agitators who are travelling from city to city to cause trouble for the Lord’s people on the Lord’s Day.

As threats mount outside the church, we also have problems within. For decades, we have mistaken passivity for piety and cowardice for “gentleness.” We have opened our doors wide in the name of hospitality, but in doing so, many have forgotten the biblical command to guard the gates. Many congregations have built a Sunday-morning culture that assumes goodwill, expects neutrality, and plans for inconvenience rather than hostility.

But an unprepared church becomes a soft target. And a soft target attracts predators.

We saw this combination on clear display when we witnessed Cities Church in St. Paul, MN, get attacked last Sunday. The wolves did not knock; they stormed the church. Don Lemon, BLM, and Anti-ICE rioters invaded their sanctuary, shutting down worship and terrifying children.

Yes, this was a lawless act. It was entirely unjustified and wicked. Don Lemon, who used his platform to encourage “direct action” against churches, now faces the reality of a Justice Department that recognizes disruption as criminal conspiracy. Under current federal direction, the DOJ is investigating these invasions not just under the FACE Act, but under the Enforcement Act of 1871 (the “KKK Act”), which prosecutes conspiracies to deprive citizens of their civil right to worship.

To be clear, Cities Church is not to blame for the attackers’ evil behavior.

Still, churches across America can and should learn from this tragic incident: It’s time to get ready to meet the mob.

We cannot wait for a federal indictment to protect our pulpits. God is not mocked. Unless we repent of our apathy toward God and man, our fear of man instead of God, and our cowardly submission to those who are not God, and bear fruit in protecting our churches, we will get the rulers and the chaos we deserve.

It is time for the men of the church to wake up and reclaim the role of the Watchman. You and your church need to implement a security plan to transition your congregation from a “soft target” of passive observers to a “hard target” of proactive protectors. 

The Sixth Commandment and the Duty of Protection

Biblical love is not passive; it is protective. Pastors guard the church spiritually through the Word, sacraments, discipline, and prayer. That is a distinct task (Acts 20:28-31; Titus 1:9). But Scripture also establishes a separate moral duty: the duty to preserve life and restrain violence. We are not “militarizing the church,” we are obeying the Sixth Commandment in our proper stations.

The Sixth Commandment, “You shall not murder,” does not only prohibit unlawful killing. It requires the lawful protection and preservation of human life.

The Westminster Larger Catechism (Q.135) teaches that the Sixth Commandment requires “all careful studies, and lawful endeavors, to preserve the life of ourselves and others,” including resisting violence and protecting the innocent.

In other words, you are not faithful to “do not murder” if you will not prevent murder when the duty falls to you.

And God assigns duties according to stations. Fathers are charged with protecting and providing for their households (1 Tim 5:8). A father who refuses to protect is not more spiritual; he is negligent. Owners and employers must ensure safety on their property and in their operations; authority always implies a duty. Pastors and churchmen have responsibilities both spiritual and practical: the order of worship, the peace of the assembly, and the protection of the vulnerable (especially children and families). Civil magistrates are explicitly appointed by God to restrain violent evildoers (Rom 13:1-4; 1 Pet 2:13-14). They bear the sword.

These stations are not interchangeable, but they are complementary. The church is not the magistrate. However, the church is still a household gathered on private property, responsible for the safety of the innocent in its care. When we appoint trained watchmen, we are not “taking the sword of the state.” We are exercising lawful stewardship over what God has placed in our hands.

Loving your neighbor means action, not sentiment. The Good Samaritan did not just offer “thoughts and prayers,” he intervened (Luke 10:30-37). Loving your neighbor means shielding the vulnerable (Matt 18:6) and “rescuing those drawn to death” (Proverbs 24:11). Passivity in the face of threats is unloving abandonment.

The Legal Reality: Sacred Space and Private Property

If you don’t have one, the first thing your church needs to do is to start a security team. This is something that the elders should oversee as a whole; however, your church should consider deputizing a faithful elder or deacon to manage it.

For your confidence to act and your ability to stand in a court of law, a security team must understand its jurisdiction under federal and state laws. Federally, the FACE Act (18 U.S.C. § 248) prohibits obstructing worship through force or threats. The Ku Klux Klan Act (Enforcement Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. § 1985) addresses conspiracies to violate civil rights, including intimidation during religious exercise.

In Oklahoma, where I pastor, a church is private property with specific legal protections. We aim to prioritize de-escalation, call authorities, and record incidents to ensure actions are defensible in court.

• Standard of Force (21 O.S. § 643): Force is not unlawful when used “in preventing or attempting to prevent… any trespass or other unlawful interference with real or personal property.” When leadership authorizes men to maintain order, they act as “agents” of the church with the legal right to eject trespassers.
• The “Place of Worship” Shield (21 O.S. § 1289.25): Oklahoma’s “Stand Your Ground” law explicitly includes places of worship. The law presumes that someone who forcibly and unlawfully enters a church does so with the intent to commit a violent act.
• Disturbing a Religious Meeting (21 O.S. § 915): It is a misdemeanor to “willfully disturb, interrupt or disquiet any assemblage of people met for religious worship.” Disruption is not “free speech” as much as Don Lemon wants to claim; it is a criminal act that justifies immediate removal.

Your defensibility in court is important. This means you need to familiarize yourself with the relevant laws in your state regarding church buildings.

But whatever state you are in, your team needs to be formed, educated, equipped, and trained.

When the time comes, God forbid, that your team needs to take action, you need to know if they are ready to: give clear verbal commands; block access; maintain escort control; separate from children; call 911; protect exits, etc.

In the case of needing to use physical force to protect your congregants, your liability points include striking, choking, punitive force, or any life-endangering force, absent an imminent deadly threat. The courtroom question will be: Were you authorized? trained? proportional? documented?

Make sure that you are.

Get Your Church “Left of Bang“

One book that I regularly recommend is Left of Bang: How the Marine Corps’ Combat Hunter Program Can Save Your Life by Patrick Van Horne and Jason A. Riley.

We stay “Left of Bang” by acting before the disruption occurs. This requires the OODA Loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act).

• Observe the Baseline: Orderly worship, families, and open body language.
• Orient to Anomalies: Groups entering in coordination, heavy coats indoors (concealing banners), masks, or nervous biometrics (flushing, rapid breathing).
• Decide: Choose a tiered response (see below).
• Aggressive Hospitality: Intervene early and proportionally. The goal is contact, assessment, and deterrence. Meet every anomaly at the door. “Welcome. Can I help you find a seat? Why are you wearing a mask? Who are you hear to see?” This forces an interloper to reveal their intent. If they refuse to identify themselves or comply with church house rules, they are denied entry.

Tactical Protocols & Training

Okay, so how can you go from zero-to-ready? Here are five steps.

1. Select capable watchmen. You want to pick spiritually mature, physically fit, and emotionally stable men who are, or can be, trained in tactical patience. LEO, military veterans, and skilled and capable men are preferred. 
2. Acquire the right tools. Here are some recommendations:
   1. Comms: Radios with PTT earpieces; information must move faster than rioters. 
   2. Medical: Every man carries a “Stop the Bleed” kit (tourniquet and hemostatic gauze). 
   3. Less-Lethal Tools: MK-4 Pepper Gel (Gel minimizes indoor cross-contamination). 
   4. Lethal Tools: Firearms (for trained carriers only, as a last resort under imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm; comply fully with state laws and church policy).
3. Train the team. You need to move beyond theory to Scenario-Based Training (SBT) for muscle memory. This means that you need to drill. Teach how to use tools and how to respond in scenarios, including: Coordinated group entry, disruptive shouter, suspicious “shadow” near children, active threat basics
4. Assign Roles. The roles will vary depending on your church’s size and building. But in general, (1) greeters vet entries, (2) rovers patrol, and (3) leaders coordinate. Determine who the 2-man shadow team, the 911 & LEO caller, and the incident recorder are. Make them “agents” of the church, acting on its behalf when needed. 
5. Build a Layered Presence. Using the different roles above, you position them around your church to build a layered security presence.
   1. Tier 1 (Roving Outer): Outer security around buildings and in the parking lot to act as a deterrent.
   2. Tier 2 (Greeters): Masculine presence in the foyer. These are security assets who look like standard greeters but are trained in behavioral detection.
   3. Tier 3 (Intersperse Seating): Low-profile protectors are placed strategically throughout the sanctuary, near aisles and the pulpit.

At our church, we have a zero-tolerance policy for trespass. Any individual deemed a potential threat is given one chance to leave. We do not negotiate with disruption. If the intruder refuses, the “kindness” of their escort is determined entirely by their level of compliance. 

The Tiered Escalation Matrix

For a team to be legally and ethically “bulletproof,” responses must be proportional to the threat.

Case Study: Cities Church

Churches, learn the key lesson: the threat environment is real. At Cities Church, police reported 30-40 protesters in heavy coats (anomalies) entered unchallenged, clustered, and reached the platform, terrifying children and halting worship, all while Don Lemon was present and livestreaming.

This constituted Criminal Trespass (Minn. Stat. § 609.605) and Disorderly Conduct. Further, it appears there will be federal charges per either the FACE Act (18 U.S.C. § 248) or the Ku Klux Klan Act (Enforcement Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. § 1985). Assistant AG Harmeet Dhillon emphasized: “The First Amendment doesn’t protect…disrupting a prayer service.”

But if your plan begins after they breach the doors and reach the front, you have already lost.

Wake Up, Men

Unless we repent of fear of man, we will surrender our people to wolves. The Sixth Commandment binds watchmen in their proper stations to preserve life, restrain violence, and protect the innocent. Watchmen know that kindness to the wolf is cruelty to the sheep.

Build the wall. Guard the gate. Protect the flock. Be sheepdogs. Worship must not be interrupted, and Christ’s people must not be bullied in Christ’s house.

The church must become a “hard target,” not because we love violence, but because we love Christ, we love His bride, and we love the flock God has entrusted to our care.

Men, the wall needs to be built, and the gate needs to be guarded.