‘[They] Serve Their Neighbors,’ Says ‘The Sin of Empathy’ Author and Cities Church Cofounder Joe Rigney

Dr. Joe Rigney, author of “The Sin of Empathy,” told Fox News host Harris Faulkner that Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, is not a “political church.” Instead, he said, its members “have a very simple mission: spread the gospel of Jesus.”

Rigney serves as an associate pastor at Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, where Douglas Wilson is the senior pastor. Rigney is also a fellow of theology and M.Div. program director at New Saint Andrews College.

Before joining Christ Church, Rigney helped plant and served as a pastor at Cities Church. He also previously served as a professor and president of Bethlehem College & Seminary and as a teacher at Desiring God.

RELATED: Cities Church Calls Anti-ICE Protest That Disrupted Worship Service ‘Shameful’ and ‘Unlawful’

Cities Church is pastored by Jonathan Parnell and is where Desiring God President and CEO Marshall Segal and Executive Editor David Mathis serve as pastors.

On Tuesday, Jan. 20, Cities Church released a statement calling the disruption “shameful” and “unlawful.”

‘This Is Not a Political Church,’ Joe Rigney Tells Harris Faulkner

While speaking with Faulkner, Rigney echoed the recent statement from Cities Church leadership.

“My first thought is, as my friend Jonathan said, it was shameful. That was a normal congregation. It’s a normal congregation of Christian worshipers,” Rigney said. “Every town in this country is filled with people like this who want to worship Jesus, love one another, serve their neighbors, seek the good of their cities. That’s what this church’s priorities are.”

“So to have these lawless demonstrators, these lawless agitators, enter in, take over the service, yell, scream, frighten children, was absolutely appalling,” he continued. “And I think it’s appalling that the state officials there and the mayor seemed to not be concerned about it but just [seem] to think that this is a perfectly legitimate tactic to harass people in church.”

RELATED: The Scandal of Evangelical Empathy: How Did We Even Get Here?

Rigney described the church he once pastored as nonpolitical, with a simple mission focused on proclaiming the gospel of Jesus.

“This is not a political church. These people have a very simple mission. They want to spread the gospel of Jesus. They want to worship Jesus according to their traditions and according to Scriptures—that’s what they’re about,” Rigney said.

“And so to have this demon-possessed man run through their congregation screaming at their children—you have to understand these are kids that he’s screaming at—simply because one of their one of their pastors,” said Rigney, “also serves as a law enforcement agent who’s dedicated to taking rapists and violent criminals off the streets—he puts his life on the line every day.”