Guest Blogs Archives - Mpls Area Synod ELCA

The Tapestry of Food, Music, and Education

January 17th, 2025

By Melissa Melnick Gonzalez

Guided by the Spirit and led by Creator God, Tapestry shares the love of Jesus through food, music, and education. We build bridges and provide opportunities for people to cross them with those different from themselves.

Food
Because some of our best conversations happen over a meal, Tapestry’s Sunday evening worship has always been followed by dinner. We are people from Bolivia, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the United States, and Venezuela, with eight teams that serve food after worship.

Tapestry also serves homemade food during Community Meals before Spanish and English classes on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, for Bible Study Wednesdays, breakfast with Coffee & Conversation on Fridays, and at various events during the year. Tapestry has also begun partnering with Hope Project to prepare and serve meals for unhoused people in the Twin Cities.

Tapestry can even serve a meal at your place of worship or teach a cooking lesson — with eating of course!

Music
The Tapestry Band just completed a year-long project with a grant from the Calvin Institute of Worship. Musicians composed 12 new songs (10 of which have been recorded so far) that will be available soon to listen to and to use as recordings in worship! They even have lead sheets to play the music in your church. These talented musicians are from Puerto Rico, the United States, and Venezuela and songs are in English and/or Spanish! The band is often available to lead worship and other events with a large repertoire of music from the ELW, ACS, LLC, our original music, and other songs played with Latin rhythms!

Education
Tapestry began teaching Spanish and English (ESL) courses in 2017 and has continued to share this ministry with the Church and the community! These courses help us learn about each other, our cultures, hopes, dreams, joys, and struggles through language learning. Our teachers come from the Tapestry community, and it is a joy to be able to teach and learn from each other!

In addition, Tapestry offers Bible study led by Deacon Josue Gonzalez every Wednesday.

Tapestry families have also been blessed with summer camp opportunities at Camp Amnicon and Ox Lake with the assistance of grants from the Minneapolis Area Synod. We’re looking forward to our first winter camp this March!

Tapestry was blessed to celebrate 10 years of ministry in September, 2024, with an ecumenical conference that included leaders from various Latin American countries along with a special worship service, both featuring Dr. Sandra Montes, author of Becoming Real and Thriving in Ministry. We give thanks for this wonderful gift of a loving and gracious God.

Pastor Melissa, Deacon Josue Gonzalez, and Tapestry leaders often speak, preach, and teach around the Synod and beyond. Please feel free to contact either for more information.

You are also invited to worship in English and Spanish with Tapestry on Sunday evenings at 5:00 p.m. and stay for dinner and conversation! Tapestry is hosted by Oak Grove Lutheran Church at 7045 Lyndale Ave So, Richfield, MN 55423.

Counting Joys and Hopes

December 16th, 2024

By Pastors Jorge and Stephanie Espinoza, Iglesia Luterana Cristo Obrero

This post continues the Mission Table’s “Year of Partnership” highlighting the new and strategic ministries of the Minneapolis Area Synod. Cristo Obrero is one of three new mission development congregations, and accompanies Latino families living in mobile home parks in Chaska and Shakopee.

Advent, Advent, a little light burns,
first one, then two, then three and four,
then the Christ Child stands at the door.

This Advent, as we light one candle, then two, then three and four, waiting with joy for the Christ Child, we would like to share four joys from this last year of ministry:

Cross of Peace members at Outlaw Ranch

Five years ago, we began worship in a tornado shelter in a mobile home park. One of our first services was the Posada, which is a traditional reenactment of Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem. It was cold and drafty, we all had to wear our coats inside! This fall, we began weekly worship. In two weeks, we will celebrate the Posada again. This time in the warm building that Cross of Peace in Shakopee lends to us.
This is the third summer we have taken families to Outlaw Ranch (one of our ELCA camps in Custer, SD) for a week of bilingual family camp. This year adults from Cristo Obrero helped lead sessions in the bilingual study on Food & the Bible. Our leaders taught bilingual cooking classes on food from the Bible. They were amazing!
Cristo Obrero is the church home of a growing number of people who identify as LGBTQ. People are finding comfort in our message of God’s love and grace for all.
We have generous mission partners, 10 area congregations and numerous individuals, who support our ministry financially. We are also blessed to partner with them in many ministry opportunities. For example, last week we had a tamale fundraiser at Immanuel in Eden Prairie and they are going with us to camp this summer!

This Advent, as we light one candle, then two, then three and four, waiting with hope for the Christ Child, we would like to share four hopes for this next year of ministry:

La Posada in 2023

We are a church of immigrants, and it is difficult for us to financially sustain a pastor and a ministry. Even with our growing stewardship at weekly worship, the generous offerings of our people are around $150 a week. We need additional mission partners and congregations to help us be able to share God’s love with our Latino neighbors. We need an additional $3,000 of mission support for 2024 and $30,000 for 2025. Can you prayerfully consider partnering with us?
We are working on financial sustainability. Our congregation members have an idea of purchasing a corn roasting trailer. We can sell corn at events to help contribute to financially supporting our church and have the added benefit of the presence of our church out in the community. Are you interested in helping us with a business plan? Buying a corn roaster? Helping us set up a small non-profit?
We are so grateful to have space in a local congregation, but when we were able to be in the mobile home parks, our attendance at worship was double, sometimes triple of our current attendance. Would you want to serve on a team to explore the possibility of a purchasing or renting space in one of the Chaska mobile home parks?
Please pray for us. Immigrant families will have additional struggles and challenges in this coming year.

Please join us on December 22 at 4:00 p.m. at Cross of Peace in Shakopee for our Posada. We will walk with Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem as we wait with joy and hope for the Christ Child! There will be worship, food, and of course, pinatas!

Mission support can be given directly to Cristo Obrero through Venmo (@Cristo-Obrero) or by mailing a check to 1506 Wood Duck Trail, Shakopee, MN 55379.