A Legal Guide to Defending Your Church from Don Lemon
Last month’s raid on Cities Church in St. Paul, organized by Black Lives Matter activists and Don Lemon, was a wake-up call for some Christians. Activists stormed a Sunday service, terrorized families, and disrupted worship—and the congregation had no clear plan for how to respond.
A grand jury indictment explains how Black Lives Matter conducted the raid. Raiders coordinated the attack in a “pre-op briefing” and then entered the church in two planned waves. First, a stealth wave entered the church discreetly, attempting to blend in with the worshippers and take up key positions around the church. A second wave then stormed in to enclose the congregation and began blowing whistles and screaming.
Raiders announced that “the time for Judgment had come” and that “This is the house of the devil.” They occupied the main aisle of the church and closely surrounded the church’s pastor as Lemon peppered him with questions.
The raiders also singled out and confronted crying children, telling them, “Do you know your parents are Nazis? They’re going to burn in hell.” After chasing most of the congregation from the church, the raiders boasted about stopping the service, chanting, “Who shut this down? We shut this down”.
The response of some Christians to the attack has revealed a kind of learned helplessness. Many seem to assume that, so long as raiders do not physically attack anyone or threaten violence, church security teams have no right to remove them from the premises.
This assumption is not true. Trespassing and loud heckling are not a constitutional loophole that allows anti-Christians to freely shut down your church service, terrorize children, and nullify your constitutional, civil, and property rights. If someone ever raids your church to shut down your service and terrorize your congregation, here’s a quick guide to how you can lawfully respond.
Laws vary significantly by state—and some of those differences are enormous. As an attorney, I’ve defended the legal rights of churches in New Hampshire—a fairly middle-of-the-road state as far as defense-of-property questions go. The following summary is therefore applicable to churches across much of the country. Bear in mind, however, that some states reside on extreme ends of the defense-of-property bell curve.
Certain states also have laws that specifically address defense-of-property matters in the church context. Idaho recently passed an exemplary new law designed to protect church security teams. At the same time, California has gone in the opposite direction—effectively prohibiting most churches from having security volunteers at all. Every church should consult with an attorney in their state and understand the laws of the place where they worship.
Let’s assume that, like in St. Paul, raiders enter your church and behave in a loud and menacing manner—but are not initially making explicit threats of violence, brandishing weapons, or touching anyone.
First, a church employee or member of your volunteer security team should clearly and forcefully tell the intruders to leave. It’s also a good idea to have a trained volunteer call the police at this point. However—contrary to the assumptions of many Christians who commented on the Cities Church raid—you have no legal obligation to wait for the police to arrive before your security team removes the intruders.
If intruders refuse to leave, they are committing criminal trespass—and your security team may generally use any non-deadly force they reasonably believe is necessary to remove them. Most states follow some version of this standard. New Hampshire and Texas have explicit statutory protections here—and Texas goes further than most. If they can safely do so, it’s generally a good idea for your security team to start by attempting to firmly shepherd the intruders out of the church, grabbing or guiding them by the back or shoulders.
Suppose the intruders respond by resisting your security team. At this point, your options are determined by what actions the security team “reasonably believes” are necessary to remove the intruders.
Reasonable necessity changes according to the circumstances of the raid. For example, if there is only one intruder and you have a security team of two capable men, your team is likely only justified in forcibly grabbing the intruder and dragging him from the church.
If your situation is more like the Cities Church raid, on the other hand, your legal options are much broader. At that point, I would advise most security teams that they are on safe legal grounds to mace the raiders or punch them in the face. They could also follow the example of Jesus in John 2:15-17.
In general, you may use deadly force only if you reasonably believe that an assailant poses an imminent threat of serious harm or death to you or a third person. In some states—including New Hampshire—you are also allowed to use deadly force whenever you reasonably believe that an assailant is about to commit arson against your premises, a forcible burglary, kidnapping, or any forcible sexual offense—not limited to rape.
These principles also apply to your security team. This means that if, for example, your security team attempts to remove raiders, and the raiders respond by brandishing a deadly weapon, your team can safely use deadly force.
Idaho deserves special recognition as one of the best states in America for defending your church from a raid. Idaho recently enacted a law granting civil immunity to volunteer security personnel of religious organizations—a provision that should serve as a model for every state legislature in the country. More importantly, Idaho law presumes that a person repelling an intruder acted reasonably if the intruder entered the property in “a violent and tumultuous manner.” This presumption of reasonableness could easily encompass a coordinated church raid.
Not every state is Idaho, however. Massachusetts has no clear statute authorizing non-deadly force for the removal of trespassers. While jury instructions in Massachusetts are superficially similar to New Hampshire law, in practice, the Bay State takes a restrictive view of most defense-of-property claims. In one landmark legal decision, for example, a Massachusetts court upheld the conviction of a woman who struck two men with an iron fire poker in her own home after they refused to leave. If you pastor a church in Massachusetts, your security team needs to understand that the law may not protect them the way it would in New Hampshire.
On the opposite end of Idaho, California is one of the worst states in the US for defending your church from raiders. In 2024, California passed a new law—SB 1454—that seems designed to make it easier to terrorize and kill religious people in their places of worship. Some California nonprofit lawyers warn that a broad reading of this law could functionally prohibit churches from having volunteer security guards at all—subjecting them to the same rigorous and expensive training requirements imposed on full-time professional security.
It should go without saying that it’s a good general rule to have a volunteer security team trained to understand these legal principles. Legally and practically, you should also generally prefer security team volunteers who have military or law enforcement experience—as well as for the team to carry both firearms and other, non-deadly alternatives. A prepared, well-equipped security team of two men might have been able to quickly disperse the attack on Cities Church in St. Paul and allowed its members to continue worshipping.
By consulting with a local church-aligned attorney and understanding the law in your state, your church’s volunteer security team can maximize their chances of defending your rights—and the physical safety of worshippers—while remaining on sound legal footing. Understand, however, that not all state officials will welcome your church’s attempts to defend itself. Risks and even sacrifices may sometimes be necessary to ensure that all members of your church remain safe.
The St. Paul raiders succeeded because they were prepared, and the congregation was not. Don’t let that happen to your church. Talk to an attorney in your state, organize a volunteer security team, and train them to understand the law.
Church leaders who fail to prepare security protocols are not demonstrating their faithfulness or turning the other cheek—they are sacrificing the safety of those entrusted to their care. As Christ prepared a whip to drive trespassers from the Temple, you should prepare to defend your brothers and sisters in Christ in the exercise of their right to worship.
