Opportunities for Community Outreach

In our scriptures, we hear God’s vision for our world: one where all are clothed, fed, seen, and loved for who they are. We humans have created a world that falls very short of that vision, and yet, God has not given up on us, and we have not given up on this world that God so loves.

Our congregation practices being the hands and feet of Jesus as we worship and live. Within our congregation, that includes groups focused on social ministry, outreach, and justice. While we know that these ministries address a small sliver of the great need in the world, we do what we can, almost always imperfectly, knowing that we are rooted in the central resurrection promise of our faith. In the words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, “goodness is stronger than evil; love is stronger than hate; light is stronger than darkness; life is stronger than death.”

Below are ways to get involved in such ministries at Christ Church. We also include here our congregation’s racial justice statement, one small acknowledgment of the many ways we have all fallen short of God’s shalom, in hopes that it can help guide us into the particular ways we may join in the work of God’s healing, reconciliation, and repair.


Christ Church Lutheran Racial Justice Statement

We proclaim that all people, as part of God’s creation, are beloved of God, and are called to be a blessing to one another. Yet, as a primarily white congregation, we acknowledge that we are entwined in a web of racism and unearned privilege that results in injustice for people of color, eroding our shared humanity and distancing us from one another and from God. 

We confess, repent of, and repudiate the times when we as the church have been silent in the face of racial injustice or caused harm to people of color, in ways known or unknown to us. 

We seek to stand with people of all races, cultures, and religions to promote the justice and joy of what Jesus called the Kingdom of God. We commit ourselves to the work of anti-racism and repair, seeking to grow in awareness and accountability. 

We trust in God’s work among us, to draw us out of our brokenness into God’s wholeness. 

With gratitude for the racial justice statement of University Lutheran Church of Hope, whose language some of our statement echoes.

  • The second Thursday of each month, we prepare and deliver an evening meal for eight at Safe House, a shelter for youth experiencing homelessness. It's a small but important way to support these young people.

  • Every Meal (formerly The Sheridan Story) provides bags of food for children in local schools in order to overcome the weekend food gap between Friday and Monday, when children are not able to participate in the free or reduced meal programs at school. We support Every Meal at Howe Elementary School by purchasing bags of food and placing them in children’s backpacks each Friday during the school year. New volunteers are always welcome.

  • Six times a year we deliver noon meals for a week to homebound people in our neighborhood. If you can drive, if you like to connect with people, if you have a heart for elderly or lonely people, this meaningful ministry can use you.

  • The third Friday of alternate months, we prepare and serve an evening meal for 40 men and women at the transitional housing ministry of our neighboring congregation Our Saviour's Lutheran. We delight in creating healthy, tasty meals, and we often cook together in the church kitchen.

  • We collect food donations in the large bin in the back of the sanctuary to supply the food shelf at Community Emergency Service. We also support CES financially and with seasonal collections of food and supplies. As Christ feeds us in his Meal, so we seek to feed the hungry with food and with justice.

  • Since the summer of 2016 we have partnered with St. John’s Lutheran Church in Northfield to sponsor and support a refugee family settling in Minnesota.

  • Formed in 2016, the Racial Justice Task Force provides leadership in educational and advocacy work around racial equity and justice. They also intentionally engage the congregation around issues of racial justice and equity, both in the wider community and within our congregation. The task force has also collaborated with neighboring congregations, and organizations.

    Contact: Rachel Slater

  • A group that meets regularly to share ideas for weaving together the fabric of community both within and outside our church walls.

    Contact: Rachel Slater

 

Community Partners Fund

Following the social unrest and racial reckoning that occurred in the wake of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department in May of 2020, the leadership of Christ Church decided that one small response would be to give more generously to new and existing community partners, especially those serving communities that have experienced systemic racism.

Each year since then, Christ Church members have been invited to give a “second tithe” to partners chosen by our Mission Committee and Racial Justice Task Force. If you would like to pledge and give to the Community Partners Fund, you can do so as you make your financial pledge each year, or talk with Pastor Miriam.