North Minneapolis Church Brings Healing, Peace To Needy Community

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – On the nights immediately following George Floyd’s death, Rev. Edrin Williams sat in a chair by his bedroom window, unable to sleep, and gazed out into the darkness.

Williams, a South Carolina native who has pastored Sanctuary Covenant Church in North Minneapolis since 2011 and was appointed Senior Pastor in 2019, wrestled with his thoughts and wondered how the unrest caused by police brutality and racial inequity had found its way to his city. But as the head of a multi-racial church that is located 15 minutes from where Floyd died while in the custody of white Minneapolis police officers, the reality that the looting and rioting that followed Floyd’s death was being carried out in the streets that are so familiar to Williams and his congregants began to painfully sink in.

Now, even as rioting and protests that sparked national outrage have given way to more peaceful demonstrations, Williams, who is black, still contemplates what life has become as military vehicles patrol city streets and National Guard soldiers walking with their weapons in full view continue in an environment Williams can only describe as surreal.

“There’s a heaviness that comes with it,” Williams told Patch in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “This is real. This is not something that we’re watching on TV. This is actually impacting the places that you frequent over the course of time.”

He added: “Is this actually America? This doesn’t seem like our country.”

But as Minneapolis and other cities around the country have grappled with issues of systematic racisms while seeking justice for Floyd, Williams wondered how his church could make a difference. Sanctuary Covenant Church was founded to serve a part of the city that is often over-policed and under-resourced and where residents often struggle with simple, everyday needs.

So at a time when Williams believes churches have a unique opportunity to bring peace and healing to their neighborhoods, Sanctuary has started to become just that. A sanctuary.

What started with grilling food and opening up the church’s parking lot for local residents to come together has turned into a much larger community outreach. After a nearby Cub Foods was looted and damaged by fire and a local Walgreen’s was forced to close, the church has become a makeshift food distribution center that has served up to 500 families in one day alone earlier this week. The community service came at a time when Williams could feel some of the tension and anger begin to north from South Minneapolis toward the church’s neighborhood.

But as people began to come together, Williams felt some of those feelings lighten and more local residents found refuge in the environment that surrounded the church’s movement of loving their neighbors in meaningful ways. But if the church’s service was going to mean anything, Williams and others knew the effort had to extend beyond one day.

“This is something we want to do as long as we need to do it,” Williams said.

Jesse Ross, a North Minneapolis native who has been at Sanctuary since its founding in 2003, is now part of an effort to assist a hardscrabble neighborhood he been part of all of his life. He has been inspired to see his fellow church members come together to help at a time when Ross, like Williams, has committed to be an agent of change and assisting black- and brown-owned businesses while he deals with his own feelings.

“I think this is the true essence of why Sanctuary was created,” Ross told Patch in a telephone interview. “.. To see people come together to literally say, ‘this is what we’ve been talking about (as a church)’ and now we have an opportunity to be who we’ve been talking about. And nobody has hesitated and nobody has not answered the call to show up in different ways to help.”

The effort, Ross said, has taken on an organic grassroots feel as the church has taken it on itself to spearhead the healing in North Minneapolis without asking for outside assistance. While contributions have come from around the region and beyond to assist with the community service, the effort has grown exponentially.

“Is started with a barbecue and it has grown into something we had nothing we expected,” Ross said. “We showed up to do one thing and we realized the community needed another thing and (the church) says, if we can do it, we’re here.”

Bailey Sutter, who has been attending Sanctuary for the past four years, spends most days at the church, helping to distribute food and other goods to those in need. While Sutter was already aware of the needs that exist in the community, the church’s response to Floyd’s death has helped to bring a sense of peace to the neighborhood. But while the generosity of so many has spurred the church’s efforts, Sutter said that the number of people who show up on a daily basis to receive assistance is a reflection of how many issues with food insecurity exists in the area.

That’s where Sanctuary has been called into action, Sutter said.

“It’s really beautiful to see so many people step up and serve in ways that they can and to see the church be the church,” Sutter said.

She added: “I think a lot of people have been willing to go the extra mile to make sure their neighbor has what they need.”

Since starting the effort two days after Floyd’s death, area churches and others have stated to add to the bounty of food and other goods being distributed at Sanctuary. The collection grew to thousands of pounds of groceries and essential items, which the church distributes between 12-2 p.m. each day. Area residents start showing up around 7 a.m. and wait for five hours as word has spread not only in North Minneapolis, but from around the Twin Cities as the church’s reach has been expanded more than anyone could have ever imagined.

While the church’s congregation of 600-700 has come together regardless of where parishioners live or what their race may be, Williams has been inspired by the sense of community that continues to define Sanctuary's mission as members continue to find new and meaningful ways to help others around them.

“We’re always praying that we would be a church that is relevant, that would serve the community, that would love the community,” Williams said. “This tragedy of Mr. Floyd’s death has sped up that process, sped up that work and has increased our efforts exponentially in ways we would have not been able to do otherwise. It’s been so inspiring to see our church step up to the plate and live out our mission.

“I really think it is having a tangible impact on the community … I know our work is making a difference."