The Pastor’s Piece – Pastor Kevin Cernek, FCFI Chaplain

Village Voices

January 25, 2026

You may have read, seen, and/or heard about Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, where a couple Sundays ago a mob of anti-ICE protesters swarmed the building and some of the agitators overtook the pulpit while others engaged in various combative and profane chants, insulting the worshipers and causing them to cancel the service. When the pastor, Jonathan Parnell, was confronted, he spoke firmly and confidently on camera. He called the intrusion unacceptable and shameful because it interrupted a gathering of Christians worshiping Jesus. He told the protesters that the purpose of the service was worship: “We’re here to worship Jesus, because that’s the hope of these cities, that’s the hope of the world – Jesus Christ.” Way to go Pastor Parnell!

Cities Church was founded in January 2015. The congregation meets in a church building that was constructed in 1912 by an Episcopal body of believers. The Cities Church website declares their goal of: “Making joyful disciples of Jesus who remember His realness in all of life.” The Cities Church website includes some commentary on the historic building where they worship, specifically their stained-glass windows. On their website (https://www.citieschurch.com/the-truths-our-building-tells), it says:

The sun filtered through their pigments, telling us a bit of the story of God and His great deeds for us and for our salvation. The things of earth are truly given for our good, not only to enjoy but to see anew once the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ shines in our hearts, taking away our blindness.

But the light of His glory also shines through the things of the world and its history because they all belong to and speak of the Triune God. From inside the church, from inside the gospel, the world is irradiated with the light of God who is light, and we see it more truly from inside than those do outside.

But these windows also serve that world outside. In the long darkness of our winters, in the evenings, this summit hill is lit with the glow of our windows from the inside out. The light from within the church — God, the gospel, we who are the “light of the world” — shines through these same windows telling a bit of the story of what God has given for the life of the world. They beckon people to come and see how the Light has shone and is shining in the darkness, and to know that the darkness has not and cannot overcome it.

Agitators can storm a building, protest its pastor, and even stop a worship service, but nothing will stop the march of the Gospel or block out the Light of the World, Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, we prepare for persecution and pray for the peace and safety of our Christian brothers and sisters in Minnesota and beyond. 

When the world storms into the sanctuary, it is not because worship has lost its power, but because it still has it. The Bible says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” (Proverbs 9:10). But when society loses its fear of God, it begins to treat holy things as optional and sacred spaces as common. God warned His people, “Those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed,” (1 Samuel 2:30).

Disagreement does not grant permission to desecrate. Protest does not outrank prayer. And outrage does not override reverence. God said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations,” (Isaiah 56:7). Not a house of interruption. Not a house of intimidation.

But this is also our moment of testing. Scripture tells us, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control,” (2 Timothy 1:7). The church does not respond to pressure by retreating, and we do not respond to hostility by becoming hostile. We respond by standing firm. Paul says, “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love,” (1 Corinthians 16:13–14).

The early church faced threats, arrests, and disruption. And what did they pray? Not for safety, but for boldness. “And when they had prayed, the place where they were gathered was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness,” (Acts 4:31).

So let the church hear this: We are not intimidated. We are not ashamed. We are not silent. We will gather. We will worship. We will preach Christ crucified and risen. Because Jesus promised, “I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,” (Matthew 16:18). The world may walk into the sanctuary, but it does not own it. Christ does. And He is on the throne.  

“We’re here to worship Jesus, because that’s the hope of these cities, that’s the hope of the world – Jesus Christ.”

(Kevin Cernek is Lead Pastor of Martintown Community Church in Martintown, Wisconsin)