Every once in a while, one gets the chance to participate in something really special. Something that may change the way you look at the world, or ground you more firmly in your sense of a just community. This series is just such a chance.
We are privileged to announce that Hennepin Avenue UMC is partnering with Minnesota Council of Churches to present a three-part series of documentary viewings and wisdom- sharing gatherings.
Guided by Indigenous and Black Minnesotans, we will create a space for deep conversations that can lead to heart-change, and more fervent engagement in our own process of truth-telling as we seek to address reparations as a faith community.
We invite you to participate in what is an exceptional opportunity.
Past Impart Events
May 9 | Keep the Story Alive
On May 9, the film The Indian System was presented as a part of the three-part series called Impart: Wisdom from the Community. Rev. Kelly Sherman-Conroy shared her story as an Indigenous person in Minnesota, weaving historical context into present-day lived experience. This session included intentional small group and large group reflection. Watch the event recording below.
Kelly Sherman-Conroy; Mato Wašté Winyan (Good Bear Woman)
Kelly Sherman-Conroy has grounded her life in the Holy Spirit and the deep spiritual practices intertwined between her Lakota identity and Christian beliefs. As a proud member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe, Kelly dedicates her time to social justice, racial reconciliation, Indigenous leadership, and family ministry. Kelly is a Doctoral Candidate at Luther Seminary, where her focus is Lakota thought, philosophy and spirituality and how these forms inform Christianity and move Lakota people past trauma to healing.
Walking with people of all cultures, she actively provides ministry around the exploration of intersections of identity, personal narratives, and faith. Kelly has two decades of teaching and leading in family ministry and keeps busy by actively being involved in the Minnesota Council of Churches (Board of Directors); American Indian Alaska Native Lutheran Association Inc. (Executive Council); ELCA Youth Ministry Network (Board of Directors); ELCA Authentic Diversity Committee; Minister of Social Justice & Advocacy at Nativity Lutheran Church, Minneapolis; Convenor of the Twin Cities Interfaith Movement Chaplains.
The Indian System- filmmaker Sheldon Wolfchild portrays his grandfather, Medicine Bottle as he tells a Dakota oral history of the 1862 war, the subsequent hangings of the Dakota 38 Plus 2, and the removal of the Dakota from Minnesota. To learn more about The Indian System visit https://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/...
June 13 | Grounded in Your Truth
On June 13, the film Jim Crow of the North was presented and AsaleSol Young addressed the context and meaning in the layers of their identity as Black Minnesotan. This session included intentional small group and large group reflection. Watch the event recording below.
AsaleSol Young (she/they)
Executive Director of Urban Homeworks
AsaleSol was born in Chicago, and grew up in Evanston, IL as a member of a Black legacy family. They were raised within Black theater, activist, and intellectual communities. AsaleSol was introduced to the Twin Cities as an African American Studies and Theater Arts student at Carleton College. They studied activist theatre in England and dance in Jamaica. AsaleSol taught High School English and Theater with Teach for America in New Orleans. It was there that AsaleSol began to witness the impact of stable housing on one’s opportunities for a thriving life. When AsaleSol returned to the Twin Cities in 2010, she continued seeking radically just institutions centering young people and their voices. AsaleSol worked at Project Success and the Northside Achievement Zone before developing a charter school model. She joined Urban Homeworks in 2017. Her passion for a more humane and whole society comes with unrelenting compassion and fight for individuals and families without stable homes.
AsaleSol is a proud homeowner in the North Minneapolis, Camden neighborhood. AsaleSol is a descendant of Haitians - and is proud of their legacy of freedom. She is someone who deeply enjoys community farming, art projects, rowing, running in all seasons, camping, bouldering, traveling, and scuba diving.
July 11 | Kingdom Builders
On July 11, the film White Savior took what we’ve churned up in our past two sessions and processed it through the lens of how we relate to God. Joann Conroy and Angela Khabeb, led us through an exploration of the unique role the body of Christ has to play as we shape a better future for all.
Rev. Joann Conroy; Winyan Wakan (Holy Woman)
Rev. Joann Conroy- Chaplain at the Good Samaritan Society Center, Maplewood
Enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota.
Rev. Joann Conroy was born and raised on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota during a time of great unrest and transition nationally in reservation communities. The Reverend sees a strong opportunity to learn from her people how the Church might lead sustainable environmental practices and a spiritually based stewardship for our planet.
Her grandmother gave her a Sioux name, Winyan Wakan, meaning Holy Woman, when she was only 13 years old, years before she heeded the calling to Seminary. Rev. Conroy holds a master of divinity from the Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN, and is an ordained ELCA Pastor. She is active in numerous faith-based, care and justice organizations that seek to build bridges and connections within the faith and beyond. But perhaps most importantly she is the Mother of two very successful children and an unabashedly proud grandmother!
President of the American Indian and Alaska Native Lutheran Association; Chaplain at the Good Samaritan Society Center, Maplewood, MN; Board Member of the National Lutheran Campus Ministry Association; Saint Paul Area Synod (SPAS) Anti- Racism and Multicultural (ARM) workgroup; Board of Director for the Vesper society; ELCA Ad-Hoc Committee for Ecumenical and Inter-Religious relations - establishing pastoral guidelines for ministry in a multi-religious world; the Sustainability Table Steering Committee ELCA; the Minnesota Multifaith Network Council; the Twin Cities Inter-Religious Volunteer Chaplains; ELCA Churchwide Doctrine of Discovery Committee; A member of Lutheran Church of the Redeemer.
Rev. Angela Khabeb
Rev. Angela T. Khabeb, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, MN
Pastor Angela’s core spiritual belief is quite simple: Jesus is intimately and infinitely concerned with each and every one of us.
The Rev. Angela T. Khabeb joined the Holy Trinity ministry staff in August 2018. She has authored a number of articles on Living Lutheran. She pivoted the function of Trinity Church to meet community needs in the aftermath of the George Floyd uprising and was a national voice of unity and healing appearing a number of times on Faith Friday on Good Morning America.
Pastor Angela, a Bridges Scholar, completed seminary at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago where she won the James Kenneth Echols Prize for Excellence in Preaching. Pastor Angela completed her undergrad at Carthage College in Kenosha. She is originally from Omaha, Nebraska but has lived in many other cities, including Chicago, Denver, Kenosha, and Springfield, Missouri. From 2000-2002, Angela was an ELCA missionary in Namibia, Africa where she met and married her husband, Benhi. Benhi and Angela have been married since 2001 and they have three wonderful children, Konami, Khenna, and Khonni. In their spare time, this vibrant family enjoys world music, creative writing, leisurely walks, and bike riding.
She brings a sense of hope, humor, and love to all her ministries.