jerad's blog

The Minnesota Council of Churches Board of Directors is proud to announce that after a national search a new CEO has been selected.

Part of the body of Christ recently canceled a panel on polarization because members were polarized about the inclusion of a speaker. The news highlights the problem of polarization within Christian communities and reminds us all about the resources we have to address it.

Reflections on My Leadership Journey for Racial Justice

by Curtiss Paul DeYoung, Co-CEO, Minnesota Council of Churches

CROSSPOSTED FROM THE E-VANGELIST, ONLINE MAGAZINE OF ST. JOHN EPISCOPAL CHURCH SAINT PAUL

Would you believe that neither the head of Minnesota’s GOP nor its DFL party think of their counterparts as “enemies?” The word – and the existential threat, the need to eliminate that it implies – is one both leaders actively avoid using when referring to people with whom they disagree.

More than eight million Ukrainians have been forced to leave their homes since the Russian invasion. According to the Minnesota Department of Human Services, about 300 people have been admitted as humanitarian parolees to Minnesota. Most Ukrainians who come to Minnesota do so through the Humanitarian Parole program. 

Ukrainian Humanitarian Parolees who entered the United States on or after February 24, 2022, and before September 30, 2023, and their immediate relatives, are eligible for the following public benefits to the same extent as refugees.

Rev. Dr. Curtiss Paul DeYoung to retire as Co-CEO of Minnesota Council of Churches

National search for new CEO led by Ballinger Leafblad

I have been to Palestine and Israel five times since 2006. During the first days after the shocking and horrific attack by Hamas on civilians in Israel, I paused from making a statement out of respect for Jewish-led processes of grief. Soon civilians in Gaza and the West Bank were also under attack. I keep thinking about the PEOPLE of the Holy Land.

Support political prisoners in Russia

“I was in prison and you came to me.” -Matthew 25:36b

Since 2012 churches have been practicing communion on election day. In 2023 congregations have a unique opportunity: Sunday, November 5 is exactly one year before Election Day 2024. Given the disinformation and division the United States faced in 2020, the development of new AI technologies being used to activate our anger, the reduction of barriers to hate speech on social media, and the accelerated "great sort" in many communities brought on in the COVID era next year's elections could be more rancorous - and find followers of Jesus more divided - than ever.