All are welcome — except those we don’t like

While white evangelicals like to brand their churches to their neighbors as cool and kind, their behavior toward their neighbors often is cruel. I recently came across a perfect example of this through the social media posts of Nate Schlomann, executive pastor of Village Church, a Reformed Baptist congregation near Richmond, Va.

“Trump is not deporting enough illegals or sending enough leftist judges to prison,” he posted on X in May. A few months earlier, he wrote, “Train yourself to be joyful when you see illegals crying. That is justice, and it must happen for Americans to afford a home.”

That’s quite a statement to read while we’re watching videos of ICE slamming into vehicles, ripping babies from their parents’ arms, pepper spraying randomly into cars, and pulling guns out as they kidnap people with no identification or warrant.

A brief survey of Schlomann’s social media feed found a whole slew of additional offensive posts about immigrants.

• “I will take your $2,000 checks if you agree to deport 20 million people by the end of the administration.”
• “What we want is 50 million people deported/remigrated.”
• “The evangelical elites don’t want you to know this, but you don’t have to feel bad about illegals getting justice as we defend our children’s future. You actually can just care about your kids without qualification and that’s OK.”
• “The illegals are destroying our country rapidly now and if you won’t say it, you are worse than an unbeliever. Open your eyes. A quick trip to the mall is all you need around here to see this is true. We’re in big trouble. If you’re afraid of being called a racist for talking about this, you hate our children.”
• “All this fuss, and we’re not deporting nearly enough people, and we’re being way too nice about it.”
• “Any means of deporting illegals is legal. They are not citizens.”

Just go to the mall, open your eyes, and you’ll know everyone’s legal status and that they’re destroying our country? Sure, that doesn’t sound racist at all. And if we call him out on it, then he thinks we hate kids.

And it’s not just nonwhite people on the left he can’t seem to stand. It’s nonwhite people on the right as well. When the White House announced Vivek Ramaswamy was leaving DOGE, Schlomann posted, “Bye. America first means Americans first.”

This despite the fact that Ramaswamy was born and raised in Ohio.

But aren’t we supposed to welcome the stranger, a follower of Jesus reading Matthew 25 might ask.

“It is not loving to ‘welcome’ people whose illegal presence is hurting your children and neighbors in so many ways,” Schlomann retorts.

Aren’t we supposed to love our neighbors?

“To love your kids you must also justly say to illegals, go home. Failing to do this is failing to love your neighbor,” he posts. “Love your neighbor and send all the illegals home. Many will cry as that happens: do not be discouraged or manipulated from doing the right thing because of that. That’s what actual decent people want.”

According to Schlomann, everyone is put in their place of authority and submission. What ultimately matters in this hierarchy is being a perfect American. And even if you’re a conservative U.S.-born citizen like Ramaswamy, you’re not perfect enough for him. Only select people matter in this framework. To the people who matter go all the spoils capitalism has to offer. The rest must be violently sent away into the punishment of exile by any means necessary, while the perfect ones celebrate with joy-filled pitiless indifference.

Given how he’s talking in such a hostile manner toward his neighbors, and that he’s a pastor, one might wonder how his church would relate to their neighbors.

‘Plan A Visit’

Despite all the rot spewing forth from the dark soul of Schlomann, Village Church’s website makes quite the attempt to paint a very different, much more welcoming mirage.

“We know meeting someone for the first time can be intimidating and going to a new church for the first time can be nerve-racking,” their “Plan A Visit” page says. “We want to help make your first experience at Village Church a great one!”

They let visitors know they can “sing along and/or engage with worship however you feel most comfortable.” Sounds cozy.

While during the week, Schlomann only cares about his own kids and says to hell with his neighbors’ kids, Village Church says they prioritize children’s safety.

When talking about the Communion table, they say “it is perfectly fine to simply observe as a guest.”

They describe their culture as “casual but reverent” and claim, “We try not to take ourselves too seriously.”

Visitors are encouraged to “come as you are and expect to feel welcomed as our guest.”

And if a visitor fills out a form prior to their visit, the church promises, “We’ll make sure to give you the VIP treatment upon your first visit.”

Meanwhile, as these visitors are comfortably engaging the music and getting the VIP treatment, Schlomann must be looking down on them from the stage, noticing their skin color and evaluating how he thinks they should be treated accordingly.

What happens if one of the women visiting is a newly made single mother, in desperate need of a community because her husband was yanked from her arms in front of her children earlier that week? What if the music is moving her in her trauma to tears? According to Schlomann, the guy on stage, he will have trained himself to be joyful at her tears. And given that he’s encouraging others to train themselves toward such cruelty as well, what if three of the masked men who took her husband are there sitting in the comfy cozy chairs around her?

Behavior, branding, beliefs

While Schlomann and the people who follow him behave with cruelty, they brand themselves as kind. So where is this cruelty coming from?

“Despite their branding of kindness, their cruel behavior is paralleled in cruel beliefs.”

It doesn’t appear to be coming from the more hospitable branding of their website. That is, until you click on the more detailed PDF about their “Statement of Biblical Doctrine.” Then suddenly, you start to notice that despite their branding of kindness, their cruel behavior is paralleled in cruel beliefs.

To Village Church, the universe is structured as a hierarchy of authority and submission. The kingdom of God is defined as an “exercise of God’s sovereignty” and an “invasive power that plunders” in order to establish “a new community” in which men and women “assume distinctive roles” that include “the husband exercising headship” and “the wife submitting.” This obsession with power, plundering and ensuring the submission of women is clearly paralleled in Schlomann’s obsession with power, plundering and ensuring the submission of nonwhite people.

Of utmost importance in this belief system is perfection. They claim the Bible is “without error,” that God is “infinitely perfect,” Jesus “perfectly obeyed,” and those who trust Jesus are credited with “perfect obedience.” This need for perfection is paralleled in Schlomann’s need for the perfect American, of whom nonwhite U.S. born citizens aren’t even perfect enough.

Because they are Reformed Baptists, they hold to the conservative evangelical pop-Calvinist idea that only a chosen few matter in any real sense. They say God “set his saving love on those he has chosen.” And to them are given “riches.” This selective care is paralleled in Schlomann’s concern for the financial well-being only of his children by giving them the exclusive riches of homeownership.

Justice, to these people, is the retribution of exile and violent punishment against human bodies. In his Crucifixion, Jesus supposedly satisfied God’s wrath for the few chosen rich people. Those whom Village Church doesn’t consider to be God’s children get sent into the exile of “eternal conscious punishment in hell,” while the declared perfect Village Church members experience “eternal blessedness” and are “enthralled.” This parallels Schlomann’s encouragement to gaze upon the tears of immigrants with joy filled pitiless indifference.

According to their statement of faith, “A zeal for personal and public obedience flows from this free justification.” If we’re to honor them by taking them at their word, then the “zeal for personal and public obedience” we see on display in Schlomann’s posts flow from their beliefs about the gospel, not from their branding. The undeniable reality here is that the cruelty of their behavior is paralleled in the cruelty of their beliefs.

It’s really simple. Their gospel is cruelty toward their neighbors. So of course living out their gospel would be cruelty as well.

 

Rick Pidcock is a 2004 graduate of Bob Jones University, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Bible. He’s a freelance writer based in South Carolina and a former Clemons Fellow with BNG. He completed a Master of Arts degree in worship from Northern Seminary. He is a stay-at-home father of five children and produces music under the artist name Provoke Wonder. Follow his blog at www.rickpidcock.com.

 

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