The United States military engagement in Somalia—commonly known as Black Hawk Down—is a well-known military debacle.1 In the armed conflict following the downing of two American Blackhawk helicopters in the streets of Mogadishu, the city became a scene of unimaginable confusion. Somali women and children were gunned down with automatic weapons. American soldiers were captured and dragged through the streets. It was not always clear who was fighting whom. Eventually, military discipline broke down, and it was every unit for itself. When the fighting was over, members of the United States Army walked around the Somali soccer stadium in a daze, trying to figure out what had happened.

There are many military lessons to be learned from the street-fight in Mogadishu. One of the most obvious is that soldiers need to know their rules of engagement—the guidelines that tell them what they can and cannot do in a particular conflict. Once discipline and communication broke down in Somalia, the American soldiers essentially had to make up their own rules as they went along.

There are times when similar confusion reigns in the church. Christians lose track of what they are fighting for and whom they are fighting against. Sometimes they even fire at random. The sad result is that many Christians are wounded by “friendly fire.” Fortunately, God has given his church rules of engagement,