Christian leaders urge the protection of worshippers’ rights after protesters interrupt service

Several faith leaders called urgently for protecting the rights of worshippers while also expressing compassion for migrants after anti-immigration enforcement protesters disrupted a service at a Southern Baptist church in Minnesota.

About three dozen protesters entered the church during Sunday service at the Cities Church in St. Paul, some walking right up to the pulpit, others loudly chanting “ICE out” and “Renee Good,” referring to a woman who was fatally shot on Jan. 7 by an ICE agent in Minneapolis during an immigration enforcement operation.

One of the church’s pastors, David Easterwood, leads the local field office for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. One of the leaders of the protest and prominent local activist Nekima Levy Armstrong said she’s also an ordained reverend.

In a statement, the Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention called what happened “an unacceptable trauma.”

“I believe we must be resolute in two areas: encouraging our churches to provide compassionate pastoral care to these (migrant) families and standing firm for the sanctity of our houses of worship,” Trey Turner, who leads the convention, wrote to The Associated Press on Monday. Cities Church belongs to the convention.

“The interference was so significant that services were forced to end prematurely. Video footage captured by the protesters themselves and others show them shouting insults and accusations at youth, children, and families,” the statement said.

The U.S. Department of Justice said Sunday it has opened a civil rights investigation.

The recent surge in operations in Minnesota has pitted more than 2,000 federal immigration officers against a mobilized network of community activists and protesters. The Trump Administration and Minnesota officials have traded blame for the heightened tensions.

“No cause — political or otherwise — justifies the desecration of a sacred space or the intimidation and trauma inflicted on families gathered peacefully in the house of God,” Kevin Ezell, president of the North American Mission Board, said in a statement. “What occurred was not protest; it was lawless harassment.”

Ezell said his organization fully supports Jonathan Parnell, the pastor who was leading the disrupted service. Parnell is a missionary with Ezell’s group and serves dozens of Southern Baptist churches in the area. Cities Church did not return the AP’s requests for comment.

U.S. Christians divided on immigration enforcement

Christian voters and faith leaders in the United States are divided on the moral and legal dilemmas raised by immigration, including the presence of an estimated 11 million people who are in the country illegally and the spike in illegal border crossings and asylum requests during the Biden Administration.

There are divergent opinions among and within Christian denominations on whether the imperative is to care for the stranger and the neighbor or to obey laws and emphasize security. Broadly, white evangelical churches have supported stronger enforcement, while the Catholic hierarchy has spoken strongly in favor of migrant rights.

The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. and has a conservative evangelical theology.

Miles Mullin, who leads the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, said faith leaders can and often have led protests on social issues but that he urges a firm “red line” on actions keeping others from worshipping.

“This is something that just shouldn’t happen in America,” Mullin said. “For Baptists, our worship services are sacred.”

Federal protections for houses of worship

Many faith leaders were dismayed when the Trump administration announced last January that federal immigration agencies could make arrests at churches, schools and hospitals, ending broader policies that protected sensitive spaces.

While no immigration raids during church services have been reported, some churches, including in the Twin Cities, have posted notices on their doors saying no ICE or Border Patrol agents are allowed inside. Others have reported a drop in attendance, particularly during enforcement surges.

Following the protest in Cities Church, Harmeet Dhillon, the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, posted on social media that there “is zero tolerance for this kind of illegal behavior & we will not stand for it.”

Dhillon posted on X that her office was investigating “potential violations of the federal FACE Act,” calling the incident “un-American and outrageous.”

The federal 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act prohibits interference or intimidation of “any person by force, threat of force, or physical obstruction exercising or seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the protest despicable, warning in a social media post that “President Trump will not tolerate the intimidation and harassment of Christians in their sacred places of worship.”

Several pastors commented on the need to better security at churches in today’s volatile political environment.

The Rev. Joe Rigney, who was one of the founding pastors at Cities Church in 2015 and served there until 2023, said safety would have been his first concern had a group disrupted service, especially after the fatal shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic school Mass last summer.

Associated Press journalist Holly Meyer in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed.