Meeting the New Testament Priority of Christian Persecution

Dr. Greg Cochran, ICC Fellow

When it comes to scheduling meetings, my thoughts echo those of economist Thomas Sowell, who reportedly once said, “People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything.”

Like many Americans, Sowell and I love to hate meetings.

It’s a common sentiment. Fashion designer Michael Kors supposedly said it this way: “For me, true luxury can be caviar, or a day with no meetings, no appointments and no schedules.”

We love to hate meetings, yet we cannot seem to quit them. Perhaps meetings are an essential part of our social DNA. George Will — with astute observation and no small degree of wit — once declared, “Football combines the two worst things about America: it is violence punctuated by committee meetings.” If he’s correct, violence and meetings might be as certain as death and taxes.

Whatever our social DNA dictates, we often engage in violence and meetings.

Sometimes, our meetings actually exist to discuss violence. Such was the case recently, when the White House Religious Liberty Commission spent a Friday afternoon with President Donald Trump. Trump initially formed this commission one year ago. The working group investigated hundreds of cases, interviewed more than 100 witnesses, and compiled a report exceeding 200 pages of details about the increasing problem of Christians and other religious adherents suffering adverse impact in America on account of practicing their faith. The report asserts that “in recent years, Americans from all religious backgrounds have faced increasing persecution for their religious beliefs.”

The Trump Administration commissioned a group to investigate incidents of persecution and violation of religious freedom in the United States. The recent meeting served to affirm the commission’s work, hopefully signaling further action.

This report raises a question for church leaders. If politicians are sensing an increased need for attention to persecution and religious freedom in the U.S., are they ahead of church leaders or behind them on this issue? Who is taking the lead?

To discover the answer, we might return to our proneness to meetings. Summer is apparently the season for denominational meetings. Denominations are meeting:

• The Southern Baptist Convention met in June at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.
• The Assemblies of God met last August in Kansas City, Missouri.
• The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod is scheduled to meet in July in Phoenix, Arizona.
• The Church of God will hold its Biennial General Assembly this August, also in Orlando, Florida, at the Orange County Convention Center.
• The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) met during the last week of June at the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville.
• The Christian and Missionary Alliance met May 28-31, 2025, in Spokane, Washington.
• The Evangelical Free Church of America met June 19-22, 2025, at the Green Valley Community Church in Placerville, California.
• The Christian Reformed Church in North America last met June 13-20, 2025, at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Why mention these denominational meetings? And what, if anything, do these meetings have to do with the White House Religious Liberty Commission? Those two main questions can be answered as follows.

First, these meetings represent the best-known evangelical denominations in the U.S. As a group, Protestant Evangelicals represent only a fraction of the Christian churches in the United States. They obviously do not represent all Christian denominations in America. However, Protestant Evangelicals repeatedly engage culture and work to shape it. Focusing on this subset creates space for analysis. How well are Evangelicals focusing attention on violence against Christians? Evangelicals — like all Americans — hold their meetings. Do their meetings prioritize religious liberty and concern for the persecuted?

To the second question, when Evangelical denominations meet, what do they meet about? What do these denominational meetings have to do with the White House Religious Liberty Commission?

• The annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention featured a resolution against political violence and another against antisemitism. No action was taken regarding persecuted Christians. Most of the Convention’s energy this year was spent passing the Truth and Unity Amendment, designed to safeguard male leadership in pastoral positions.
• The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod published a 523-page workbook ahead of its upcoming meeting in Phoenix. In those 523 pages, more than 370 overtures are published. In major part, these overtures focus on pastoral qualifications, the role of women in ministry, social issues, and concerns about Christian nationalism. Nevertheless, on one page (327), a resolution calls the church to concern for the persecuted:

                  Resolved, That pastors be encouraged to continue training and equipping the saints to face this persecution faithfully and in good conscience, and be strengthened in the same themselves; and be it further  

                  Resolved, That the SELC District give consideration to addressing this topic among her congregations and pastors to give advice and counsel; and be it finally   

                  Resolved, That the district memorialize the Synod to continually take up this issue to equip her church workers and congregations to face the persecution of these gray and latter days with faithfulness and joy, knowing that the Lord will work all things for the good of His Church and His sheep.

• The General Council minutes from the last meeting of the Assemblies of God affirm that no action was taken regarding either religious liberty or Christian persecution. However, the minutes note that the General Council’s legal counsel, Kristen Waggoner (The ADF’s president), advised the church on strategy regarding encroaching government restrictions against religious liberty. Some reports mentioned that Waggoner also discussed persecution.
• The Church of God has historically passed resolutions on both persecution and religious liberty. At the last Biennial Assembly in 2024, the group took action to restore the Ministry of Evangelism to a single office in order (at least partly) to better serve churches in hostile environments. The church also reaffirmed the leadership of the World Missions Department, which, in part, supports underground churches worldwide. At the time of this writing, no specific agenda items were available for 2026, so it is not clear whether any action will be taken regarding religious liberty or persecution.
• The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) recently concluded its General Assembly in Louisville, Kentucky. The General Assembly had an inordinately large number of overtures (nearly 90, rather than the more common 40 or so) to consider. Many of the matters proved to be procedural. Of the major overtures considered, two of them took more attention and energy than the others: the one regarding women serving in deacon ministry (defeated) and the one critical of Christian nationalism. No official actions were taken regarding persecution or religious liberty.
• The Church of the Nazarene meets less frequently than other evangelical denominations. They have not met officially since 2023. They aren’t scheduled to meet again until 2027. At the 2023 meeting, they handled hundreds of proposals regarding church polity. However, they did not take action regarding religious liberty or persecution.
• The Christian and Missionary Alliance held its last Biennial General Council meeting at the end of last May (2025). At that meeting, much business was completed. Still, most of it concerned amendments to the Statement of Faith and revisions to the Constitution and By-Laws, with particular concern for nominations and the election of officers. Reading through the more than 350 pages of minutes yields no clear action taken on either persecution or religious liberty.
• The Evangelical Free Church of America held its last national conference in the summer of 2025. A review of the minutes from that meeting indicates that the group’s focus was trained narrowly on business matters such as passing budgets, electing officers, and amending the By-Laws. No actions stood out regarding persecution or religious liberty.
• The Christian Reformed Church in North America recently completed its annual synod in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Their published agenda — exceeding 400 pages — recounts several overtures related to doctrine, accountability, and ecclesiology. No action was discussed or taken regarding religious liberty or Christian persecution.

So the denominations are meeting. Some meetings, like that of the Southern Baptists, discussed and resolved to oppose violence (political violence in this case). Overall, however, the truth cannot be hidden: very little action at these denominational meetings advances toward equipping the church for persecution or serving those suffering from abuses of religious liberty or violence on account of faith.

Realistically, this critique might be a little harsh — in that the annual meetings rightly focus on church order, governance, and accountability issues, not specific ministry needs like getting resources to suffering saints. Further, one may fairly add that many of these denominations engage organically with global missions and do serve the persecuted church, even if they do not speak about it at their annual meetings. Likewise, these denominational meetings might discuss important persecution priorities in a way that doesn’t leave an impression in the official minutes.

Generally speaking, these denominations do focus on global missions and, as a result, do resource the needs of suffering saints (as noted in the Church of God summary above).

Nevertheless, it must be said that other issues dwarfed the attention given to religious liberty and persecution. Specifically, two concerns received inordinate attention: Christian nationalism and women in ministry. A third concern could be covered under the umbrella concept of sexual orientation and gender identity.

What do denominations meet about? Protestant evangelicals tend to meet about church polity, women in ministry, and Christian nationalism. What do these denominational meetings have to do with the White House Religious Liberty Commission? Not very much.  Perhaps concerns about political entrapment hold these denominations back from affirming the report and echoing the need for a more focused effort on religious liberty issues in the U.S. The possibility also exists that denominations fail to recognize the New Testament priority for serving the persecuted church and equipping saints to navigate the liberty Christians possess — even in hostile contexts. Neither the editors at The New York Times nor the algorithms at Meta and Google will ever place the persecution of Christians as a top priority.

The publication of the White House Religious Liberty Commission report, along with the ongoing publication of the USCIRF reports, and the more recent reports related specifically to Nigeria — all communicate plainly that denominations would be justified in prioritizing concern for the persecuted church. These reports also hint that denominations, like all of us, can get distracted from first priorities.

The remedy for such distraction will derive from a return to the New Testament priority of providing aid for suffering saints (see Matthew 25:35-40, Acts 11:29-30, Romans 15:25-27, 1 Corinthians 16:1-4, 2 Corinthians 8-9, Galatians 6:2-10, Hebrews 6:10, Hebrews 13: 3, 1 John 3:17-18).

Beyond simply emphasizing the need to minister to suffering saints, the New Testament devotes considerable attention to persecution (see the Sermon on the Mount, especially the first 12 verses). Every New Testament writer, with the possible exception of Jude, addresses the topic of persecution. And, of course, Paul writes to Timothy, “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (1 Timothy 3:12, ESV).

The topics discussed at denominational meetings remain important — particularly in the context of a culture confused about sexuality and identity. The point here is not to diminish any work being done. Rather, the point is to say that the priorities of the Scriptures — particularly the New Testament — ought to pervade our meetings.

The response of the denominations toward a report on rising persecution and increased threats to religious liberty ought not to be indifference or fear of political entanglement. Instead, the response should be something like — “Yes, we have been addressing this in our annual meetings for years. Thank you for the report! Let us show you how we have been ministering to the persecuted and equipping our people for increased infractions against liberty.”

Meetings might be less pleasant than watching flies circle your picnic food, but they’re going to happen. And we all will attend them. The key, then, is to make them as meaningful as possible.

To do that, denominational leaders and members need to stay focused on New Testament priorities, such as remaining aware of and ministering to persecuted Christians. Political leaders, likewise, ought to be applauded when their meetings yield a greater focus on First Amendment priorities such as religious liberty.

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