In response to the growing chaos, violence and terror of recent weeks, the session of Westminster Presbyterian Church of Minneapolis, Minnesota, has issued a statement with wording that could help congregations turn toward each other and their neighbors in solidarity and community.
The Outlook recognizes that individual churches issue statements of belief and action, and with the number of churches in our denomination, posting each would be difficult. However, as the Westminster Presbyterian Church is at the heart of deadly chaos, we felt this statement would be helpful for congregations and pastors as they prepare for difficult Sundays ahead.
A Statement from Westminster Presbyterian Church’s session
The session is the governing body of Westminster, entrusted with the spiritual life, mission, and administration of the congregation. It includes 29 elected members, including two youth, along with our six pastors and a clerk. On January 15, 2026, the session met and took two actions. One was authorizing a special offering of financial resources from the congregation to be directed to community partners in the Twin Cities who are on the ground and supporting those most in need of assistance and most at-risk. The other was adopting a statement that names the increasing threat to our democracy and demands an end to the cruelty and terror that unchecked power has brought upon our neighbors and those most vulnerable. The statement, which is intended to both guide our life together and serve as a public expression of our faith, is as follows:
(January 15, 2026) We are the session of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We are the elected clergy and lay leaders of a faith community of more than 3,000 individuals established in 1857.
In December of 2025, our federal government aggressively began to deny the humanity of our immigrant neighbors, strip away their human rights, ignore the protections guaranteed to them by the United States Constitution, and use fear and violence as immigration law enforcement tactics. We stand in opposition to this violence. We stand in solidarity with our neighbors who are being terrorized by this behavior.
Those who are, and have been, exercising their right to support, observe, protest, and peacefully assemble are also being subjected to harm by government actions.
We believe these actions are motivated and informed by white Christian nationalism in our country and its influence on our federal government’s elected officials. We believe white Christian nationalism furthers the sins of systemic racism, Islamophobia, and antisemitism in the United States, and carries assumptions about nativism, white supremacy, authoritarianism, patriarchy, and militarism. It threatens the very core of our democracy. It is counter to God’s hope for the world and how God seeks for us to make our life together.
As a faith community, we stand against the threat of white Christian nationalism, and we cannot remain silent in response to our federal government’s current ICE enforcement tactics in Minnesota and elsewhere.
Jesus teaches us through Scripture to love our neighbors as ourselves, with no exceptions. We commit ourselves to the way of Christ—nonviolent and courageous love, especially toward those most at risk. We proclaim a God who values the full humanity and inherent dignity of all people.
As church members, we have each committed, through Westminster’s Covenant of Membership, to “strive to live as Christ’s faithful disciples, following his teaching, and showing his love and justice.”
Rather than turn against one another, we turn toward community and proclaim God’s love for all. We refuse to submit to the false power of chaos and terror. We refuse to hate, retreat, or to be divided. Rather than giving in to the forces seeking to undermine our sacred connections, we believe Jesus’ example of loving all people must guide our journey together.
As the session, we call for the agencies leading Operation Metro Surge (U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Homeland Security Investigations) to:
- Cease using tactics of terror in our communities near and far;
- End Operation Metro Surge; and
- Act in compliance with the letter and spirit of the United States Constitution and with respect for the human and constitutional rights of both citizens and non-citizens.
We commit to
- Listen to the stories of those most vulnerable;
- Use our energy, intelligence, imagination, love, and resources to enact change born of partnership and accompaniment;
- Counter the rhetoric of hatred and fear;
- Engage honestly with those who hold different points of view by working to seek common ground; and
- Do all the above with mercy, kindness, and humility.
As expressed by the Office of Public Witness of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), “we choose welcome over suspicion, truth over secrecy, and hope over fear.”
By the Session of Westminster Presbyterian Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota
