Dear friends, 

What happened at Cities Church last Sunday should matter to all of us. It isn’t possible to outline all of the ways in this email, and there are many others providing helpful perspectives. But if you haven't read and shared the public statement issued by the leadership at Cities Church, I encourage you to do so. You can read their statement here.

Let me add a few related thoughts to consider as well.

First of all, the right worship of God necessarily challenges all forms of idolatry, whether political, social, or personal. Sadly, our age is filled with idols. Churches like yours and mine contend against this idolatry every time we gather to worship the King of kings. Our opportunity going forward is to fill up Minnesota with songs of praise and hearts overflowing with joy for what Jesus has done for us. Call upon your neighbors and co-workers to join you at church every Sunday, study the Word, believe God's promises, pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven, live out the gospel unashamedly, and rejoice when you get pushback. These are some of the best ways to counter what we saw last Sunday.

Also, think about it this way: so many of our social and political problems are downstream from the failure to worship God as He desires. Our state cannot flourish unless we get back to the headwaters of worship.

This is why the protection of worship and houses of worship is essential. And this is why the footage of the agitators at Cities Church last Sunday is so reprehensible. It strikes not only at the heart of religious liberty but threatens the well-being of the state. We cannot afford to have churches or believers interrupted in their most central, sacred work.

Yours in Christ,