[Editor's note: This guest blog illustrates how local congregations are equipped in so many ways by the programs of Minnesota Council of Churches. Rev. Gonzalez' church plant, Tapestry, has directly or indirectly been supported by MCC Respectful Conversations, the grants promoted in the MCC newsletter, MCC Refugee Services staff connection, and the audiences who read News for the Common Good.
Watch Ruling Elder Rev. Elona Street Stewart's sermonic charge here. The submitted text of her remarks is below.
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In response to the sermonic charges offered by Bishop Jeffrey L. Smith and Ruling Elder Rev. Elona Street Stewart, MCC's new CEO Elder Suzanne P. Kelly shares her vision for the future of manifesting the unity of the body of Christ and building the common good in the world through the Minnesota Council of Churches.
Watch Elder Kelly's sermonic response here and find her submitted text below.
Minnesota Council of Churches will be closed for a wellness week from December 30 – January 3. In 2025 we anticipate unknown policy shifts that will impact the communities we serve and MCC staff ourselves. Yet we are still committed to building the common good in the world. We will remain focused on people with refugee status. We will continue to foster racial justice in our state. We will keep bringing peace and training peacemakers to depolarize our conflicts and when faced with divisions we will keep building bridges of interfaith relationships.
News for the Common Good is our bi-weekly newsletter reaching faith community decision-makers in Minnesota and beyond. In it, we share ways MCC programs can help you to make the world a better place, where you might find our staff in the news or in the world, other events of interest to people of faith in and around our state, as well as resources, think-pieces, workshops, grant oppotrunities, news from our member denominations, jobs in our field, and sometimes national events.
Due to the closure of both metropolitan and suburban school districts to extreme cold, the Minnesota Church Center will be closed on Tuesday, January 21.
President Trump’s executive order suspending refugee entry into the United States and the related freeze on federal funds for resettlement agencies that support new arrivals has forced the Minnesota Council of Churches (MCC) to implement an initial workforce reduction comprised of seven employees who staff the organization’s refugee reception and placement
