By Jack Hurbanis
Even having grown up at St. John’s Lutheran in south Minneapolis, if you would have asked me how many churches were in the Minneapolis Area Synod or who the bishop was, my response would have been, “I thought bishops had to be Catholic.” My church knowledge didn’t extend past the few in my neighborhood, the Episcopal church my maternal grandparents attended in Edina, and Saints Peter and Paul Lutheran in Riverside, Illinois, where I was baptized and my paternal grandparents worshiped. So when on January 20, 2022 (my eighth day as a synod staff member), Emilie Bouvier asked if I wanted to tag along to a Northern Conference meeting at Salem Evangelical in Dalbo, I had to open up Google Maps.
I had never been to Dalbo before and that trip began my introduction to the Minneapolis Area Synod. Even though I’d been a part of it for nearly my entire life, I had never known that I was part of a community that includes congregations in urban, suburban, ex-urban, rural, and places everywhere in between.
No better drive will show you just how many different life experiences are captured within our synod than the one I took two Sundays ago, driving from the synod office in the Stevens Square neighborhood of Minneapolis, one of the most densely populated places in the state of Minnesota, to Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Redeemer just outside of Henderson, a town of about 1,000 people at the southern border of our synod.
“Community gathering spaces are becoming harder and harder to find.”
I passed by 25-story office buildings, farms, rows of single-family homes, the Minnesota River, lakes, and Minnesota’s Largest Candy Store – a stop I’ll be returning to when they open in May. But once I arrived for worship, I found the same thing I have found each time I’ve gotten to visit a new congregation – folks chatting about their weeks, the new happenings in their lives, and exciting upcoming plans. As an organizer, I think a lot about how to create places where neighbors can connect and seeing those Sunday morning conversations never ceases to put a smile on my face.
UNSURPRISINGLY, my favorite part of attending church on Sunday was the coffee hour – that communal time to slow down, have a meaningful conversation, and build real relationships with a multigenerational group of people with all different lived experiences. Often called “third spaces” or community gathering spaces that aren’t workplace or home, these opportunities for conversation with those not in our immediate circle are becoming harder and harder to find, … and without them people grow more disconnected from their community.
“Even though I’d been a part of it for nearly my entire life, I had never known that I was part of a community that includes congregations in urban, suburban, ex-urban, rural, and places everywhere in between.”
I can now say that I know that the Minneapolis Area Synod has 136 congregations (and 4 synodically authorized worshiping communities) and that Bishop Ann doesn’t get calls from the Vatican (although she has visited there). I have had the chance to visit a number of those 136 but have many more to go – so thank you to those who have already welcomed me into your space and if you are interested in having a conversation about the synod’s environmental organizing efforts and how you could get involved, please connect with me!
And a special blessing to every coffee hour conversation this coming Sunday.