“The Church that confesses Christ in public demonstrates its commitment through involvement in public life-globally and locally, nationally and in neighborhoods… Participation in public life is essential to doing justice and undoing injustice.” – From the ELCA Social Statement, Freed in Christ

The Minneapolis Area Synod believes in the power of direct action organizing as a tool to lift up diverse leaders and create long-lasting structural change that is felt in the lives of real people. Currently, this work is being carried out by the Synod’s Strategic Organizing Against Racism (SOAR) team with the help of a synod staff member.

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Strategic Organizing Against Racism (SOAR)

SOAR is the team of leaders in the Minneapolis Area Synod who are dedicated to using direct action organizing to create just and healthy neighborhoods for all. Team members have participated in the Synod’s Community Organizer Training led by trainers from the Midwest Academy. 

Currently, the organizer and the team are working on two issues:

1) Voter Re-Enfranchisement and Collateral Sanctions

The criminal justice system in this country (which has led to the disproportionate mass incarceration of Black and Brown bodies) is steeped in white supremacy. But what happens when a person is labeled a “felon”? The answer: collateral sanctions.

Collateral Sanctions are a legal penalty, disability or disadvantage, however denominated, that is imposed on a person automatically upon that person’s conviction for a felony, misdemeanor or other offense, even if it is not included in the sentence. This includes everything from legal discrimination in housing and employment practices to denying people their civil right to vote.

You can learn more with these Voter Re-enfranchisement Resources.

From the ELCA Social Statement, The Church and Criminal Justice – Hearing the Cries: “The harms of collateral sanctions extend beyond those convicted of crimes to families and communities.” (47)

Learn more about this issue and why we are engaging it!

Join our list
Read the fact sheet
Watch a video

2. Indian Boarding School Healing and Action Team

The Indian Boarding School Healing and Action Team was born out of a movement moment. 2021 media coverage across the U.S. and Canada has been focused on the remains of Indigenous children at Indian residential and boarding schools, with now more than 7,000 children recovered.

For more than 100 years, Indian Boarding Schools attempted to assimilate Native American children by separating them from their families and forcing them to abandon traditional ways, often through emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. Of the 300 or more schools that operated in the U.S., more than 70 of them were run by the Church.

This team is focused on:

  1. Providing opportunities for learning and lament – especially connecting the events of the past with the effects on Indigenous people today
  2. Engaging with leaders in congregations, offering opportunities for leadership development and moments for action
  3. Working with Indigenous lawmakers and activating our leaders to support legislation that works to mitigate the harms the Indian Boarding Schools have wrought
  4. Partnering with other synods and organizations like the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS)

Indian Boarding Schools resources:

A worship service of lamentation for The Feast of Holy Innocents

A collaboration of the Minneapolis and Saint Paul Areas Synods, this lament service was put together as part of a response to the request of the Native American Alaska Native Lutheran Association to “Remember the Children.” In this service you will hear readings from the Feast of Holy Innocents, music for mourners, and the names of 225 children killed in the United States government’s attempts to “Kill the Indian, Save the Man.”

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