New Branches StaffIf you have questions or are interested in using or renting building space, contact the New Branches Events Coordinator and Building Manager, Dennis Wallisch at [email protected] or call 612-405-1153.
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New Branches BoardNew Branches is governed by the New Branches Board. The New Branches Board consists of representatives from each of our three partner congregations.
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Partner Congregation StaffEach of our partner churches maintain their own staff, including staff responsible for ministerial and worship leadership, children, youth, and adult faith formation programs, communications, finance, music, administration, and more.
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Shared Values
The New Branches partnership came out of years of creative conversations, imagining what we can do together. Our congregations were drawn together by shared values and priorities, including racial justice and LBGTQIA+ inclusion. Sharing one physical space reduces our environmental footprint--and allows us to focus financial and human resources on mission and ministry. We're doing more together.
An extensive building renovation makes it possible for each congregation to worship separately, retaining its individual faith identify. Building ownership and management is equally shared.
An extensive building renovation makes it possible for each congregation to worship separately, retaining its individual faith identify. Building ownership and management is equally shared.
Land Acknowledgment
We acknowledge that New Branches is located on ancestral land of the sovereign Dakota Nation, stolen through dishonest dealings and broken treaties. We honor as truth that this land was, is, and will always be sacred to the Dakota people and integral to their identity and spirituality.
With gratitude for the many ways that we continue to benefit from the wisdom and work of the Dakota people and those with whom they shared this land, we acknowledge the complicity of Christian churches in past and present injustices. These harmful acts range from genocide, ethnic cleansing, forced assimilation, and unjust exile to ongoing practices that oppress and marginalize Indigenous people. We commit to continued learning and truth-telling. And we commit to taking action, led by our Native relatives, that leads to justice for Indigenous people—in our community and beyond.
New Branches is an ecumenical partnership between three faith communities: Lake Nokomis Lutheran Church, Living
Table United Church of Christ, and Spirit of St. Stephen’s Catholic Community.
More About the Acknowledgement
Following guidance offered by Native people and the Native Governance Center, the New Branches partnership of faith communities has embarked on a shared journey to learn the history of the land on which member congregations worship and the impact that policies and actions of those who came before us in faith had on the lives of Native people already living on the land now known as Minnesota - the Dakota and Anishinaabe Tribes to whom this land was and is sacred.
The Land Acknowledgement and Beyond Group has spent two of the last three years doing research, attending programs led by Native leaders, analyzing a variety of resources, educating ourselves, writing, collaborating, discussing, leading listening sessions for members of New Branches and processing the results of the sessions and additional written feedback received. The group then recommended, and the New Branches Board adopted the Land Acknowledgement for New Branches above on December 4, 2023. Our Acknowledgement is a living document that is intended to evolve as we live into our chosen words and our understandings evolve.
The words chosen in the Acknowledgement reflect our desire to honor, respect, and acknowledge the land and the first people of this land, while also educating people who are not Native. The same is true of the Acknowledgement’s length. If any text is to be adapted for a
particular use, then the speaker is encouraged to weigh the honor, respect, and intent of each section of the Acknowledgement.
If you are inspired by and plan to use and/or adapt our Acknowledgement, or to develop a land acknowledgement of your own, we strongly urge and encourage you to:
• Begin with a self-assessment and research of the land you occupy, or your organization occupies. The Native Governance Center has wonderful resources available to get you started.
• Be humble and courageous enough to acknowledge what you don’t know, and to take steps to educate yourself.
• Be willing to do the work necessary to learn the complicated and oXen difficult history of Native Nations, particularly what they encountered when colonizers came to North America.
• Be aware that relationships and actions are needed to accompany, honor, and live the words of a land acknowledgement so that it will move beyond “optical allyship” with all Native people.
In speaking this Land Acknowledgement, you have assumed a responsibility. Welcome to this journey!
The Land Acknowledgement and Beyond Group is made up of individuals from the three faith communities that make up the New Branches partnership.
With gratitude for the many ways that we continue to benefit from the wisdom and work of the Dakota people and those with whom they shared this land, we acknowledge the complicity of Christian churches in past and present injustices. These harmful acts range from genocide, ethnic cleansing, forced assimilation, and unjust exile to ongoing practices that oppress and marginalize Indigenous people. We commit to continued learning and truth-telling. And we commit to taking action, led by our Native relatives, that leads to justice for Indigenous people—in our community and beyond.
New Branches is an ecumenical partnership between three faith communities: Lake Nokomis Lutheran Church, Living
Table United Church of Christ, and Spirit of St. Stephen’s Catholic Community.
More About the Acknowledgement
Following guidance offered by Native people and the Native Governance Center, the New Branches partnership of faith communities has embarked on a shared journey to learn the history of the land on which member congregations worship and the impact that policies and actions of those who came before us in faith had on the lives of Native people already living on the land now known as Minnesota - the Dakota and Anishinaabe Tribes to whom this land was and is sacred.
The Land Acknowledgement and Beyond Group has spent two of the last three years doing research, attending programs led by Native leaders, analyzing a variety of resources, educating ourselves, writing, collaborating, discussing, leading listening sessions for members of New Branches and processing the results of the sessions and additional written feedback received. The group then recommended, and the New Branches Board adopted the Land Acknowledgement for New Branches above on December 4, 2023. Our Acknowledgement is a living document that is intended to evolve as we live into our chosen words and our understandings evolve.
The words chosen in the Acknowledgement reflect our desire to honor, respect, and acknowledge the land and the first people of this land, while also educating people who are not Native. The same is true of the Acknowledgement’s length. If any text is to be adapted for a
particular use, then the speaker is encouraged to weigh the honor, respect, and intent of each section of the Acknowledgement.
If you are inspired by and plan to use and/or adapt our Acknowledgement, or to develop a land acknowledgement of your own, we strongly urge and encourage you to:
• Begin with a self-assessment and research of the land you occupy, or your organization occupies. The Native Governance Center has wonderful resources available to get you started.
• Be humble and courageous enough to acknowledge what you don’t know, and to take steps to educate yourself.
• Be willing to do the work necessary to learn the complicated and oXen difficult history of Native Nations, particularly what they encountered when colonizers came to North America.
• Be aware that relationships and actions are needed to accompany, honor, and live the words of a land acknowledgement so that it will move beyond “optical allyship” with all Native people.
In speaking this Land Acknowledgement, you have assumed a responsibility. Welcome to this journey!
The Land Acknowledgement and Beyond Group is made up of individuals from the three faith communities that make up the New Branches partnership.