Minnesota Adventist Church Ministers to Protesters and More News Shorts
April 28, 2021
In this week’s Adventist news round-up, the Kenyan Community Seventh-day Adventist Church, which lies ten miles from where Officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd last year, offers a safe space to protestors. Plus, more news from around the world.
Minnesota Adventist Church Ministers to Protesters.
Religion News Service reports that the Kenyan Community Seventh-day Adventist Church’s involvement with demonstrations in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, went viral recently when a photo of police officers surrounding the church was shared widely on social media. Simeon Momanyi, pastor of the Kenyan Community Seventh-day Adventist Church, has worked to strike a balance between abiding by law enforcement and ministering to protesters decrying racism and police brutality. Brooklyn Center, a suburb of Minneapolis, lies ten miles from the spot where Officer Derek Chauvin was filmed killing Geor
The Twitter post featuring the photo that went viral over 13,000 retweets and counting said the church was harboring people “hurt by police violence” during an April 12 protest over the police killing of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, during a traffic stop the previous day.
“This was how the cops responded,” Mischa Coldwater wrote.
Except the troopers weren’t guarding the church, they were guarding the police station next door although it isn’t pictured in the photo.
Maj. Melanie Nelson, spokeswoman for Operation Safety Net, said the State Patrol troopers in the photo were staged there to respond to any potential unrest.
Minnesota churches caught in standoffs between protesters and police
At least two congregations have found themselves at the center of standoffs between police and racial justice demonstrators over the past week, both in Brooklyn Center. Police stand in formation near Kenyan Community Seventh-day Adventist Church in Brooklyn Center, a suburb of Minneapolis, Monday, April 12, 2021. Daunte Wright was killed in Brooklyn Center on April 11, 2021. Photo by Scott Streble
April 20, 2021
(RNS) For more than a week, Simeon Momanyi has worked to strike a balance between abiding by law enforcement and ministering to protesters decrying racism and police brutality. It’s a complex task: Kenyan Community Seventh-day Adventist Church, where he serves as pastor, is adjacent to a police precinct in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, where protests have flared following the death of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man who was shot and killed by an officer earlier this month.