Being church while the neighborhood burns
“There’s a fire that cannot be extinguished except by justice.”
Ingrid C. A. Rasmussen and Angela Khabeb are pastors at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in south Minneapolis. When protests, violence, and property destruction erupted after the killing of George Floyd by a police officer, Holy Trinity quickly emerged as an organizational center for volunteers, medics, and wounded protesters.
Tell us about your church and its neighborhood. How long has Holy Trinity been serving the community and in what ways?
Rasmussen: Holy Trinity is 116 years old, and the church’s sense of connectedness to the local community is a central piece of its mission and identity. The Longfellow neighborhood is quite mixed in terms of income and race, and it’s long been a center for various immigrant communities. Lake Street is culturally rich and diverse: the Scandinavian gift shop stands beside a popular Latino grocery store.
