Posted 1003 days ago

Sanctuary Covenant Church in Minneapolis, MN

Sanctuary Covenant Church is an example of a Mosaic church plant that has created a richly multicultural community learning to share the gifts of God’s kingdom across the boundaries of race and class. The church is becoming a living, breathing model of the new family that Jesus was intent on creating. As you will see, one of their distinguishing characteristics is the focus outward on the needs of the people in the urban community of which they are a part in Minneapolis. The pastor of this innovative church plant, Efrem Smith, is a co-author of the important book The Hip Hop Church. He will be joining us at MSA’s “New Conspirators” conference at the end of February to share the story of Sanctuary Covenant.

Profile by Pastor Efrem Smith

How and when did Sanctuary start?

We started Sanctuary Covenant on Super Bowl Sunday in 2003 with a multiethnic group of 25 committed people.

Describe the church today in terms of demographics—attendance, age range and ethnicity.

Today our church is comprised of 260 members with a weekly attendance of 750. Our congregation is 55% white, 35% African American and 10% are Latino and Asian. We are a younger congregation with 45% of our congregation in the 19 to 33 age range. We have a lot of kids and a few older people.

Describe the quality of your community.

Our worship and preaching style has decidedly African flavor. Our music is influenced by urban gospel, jazz, blues, and now hip hop. Members meet in three kinds of multi-cultural groupings: 1) neighborhood groups, 2) affinity groups around topics from the arts to social justice, 3) support groups for those dealing with addiction issues or in divorce recovery. The church has a strong emphasis on inviting people into “racial righteousness,” discussing issues of race, privilege, oppression and reconciliation. Sanctuary Covenant seeks to be a living example of cultural richness of God’s kingdom. We encourage members to share their stories and food in order to become family to one another across boundaries of race and class. Church potlucks include delicious flavors from Asian, African American, Latino and Anglo cultures.

Describe the local and global mission.

Missions at Sanctuary Covenant emphasize evangelism, justice and mercy. Within that, there are three distinct mission thrusts. The first area of ministry is community development. We have a separate community development organization that focuses on the needs of youth in our urban neighborhood as well as offering programs in economic development and community health care. Our second area is outreach to youth and families in our predominately African-American neighborhood. For example, the local supermarket hosts our summer hip hop worship services in their parking lot. In fact, they even provide free hotdogs and soda to everyone who comes. The third area is serving our neighbors all over the world primarily through World Relief. We focus primarily on work in Haiti, Honduras and Tanzania. We give around 50% of our income to both local and global mission.

We also give back to the community by renting a middle school to worship in, and our offices are in an alcohol and drug treatment facility in the community. We are committed to being a multi-cultural congregation centered in God’s mission to others. I find that one of my main roles as pastor is to remind members of our mission-centered vision and values. In fact, I tell those who are visiting that it is OK if this is just a pit stop, but don’t consider joining us if you aren’t committed to our vision and core values.

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