On Sunday (Jan. 25), a few people could be found inside the sanctuary of Calvary Baptist Church in Minneapolis. But they weren’t there for worship, as they instead sought a place for reflection and warmth. The pastor and many members were part of a joint worship service a couple of miles away at Judson Memorial Baptist Church. This wasn’t preplanned, but came together quickly as an alternative option after nurse Alex Pretti was executed Saturday by federal agents in the street just a block from Calvary’s building.
Because of the security perimeter set up by the Minnesota National Guard and the Minneapolis Police Department after the shooting, it would be difficult for many church members to make it to the building. So Rev. Christian Collins Winn instead co-led a service with his fellow American Baptist Churches USA minister, Rev. Travis Norvell of Judson.
During the opening of the service, Collins Winn shared about walking over to the site of the murder the night before, hearing the angry “drums of war” in the street of people shouting “F ICE” and a quieter group around the site where Pretti had been shot who were chanting, “No hate, no fear; Immigrants are welcome here.” He added he saw it all as a needed “holy mix” that “we walk through in our life, with the anger, the pain, and the frustration, but also the sadness, grief, and hopefully the hope, the light. And that’s what I hope today that we can grasp hold of both of those, we can find a place to lodge both of those.”
Screengrab as Rev. Christian Collins Winn (left) and Rev. Travis Norvell read prayers people wrote down during a joint worship service on Jan. 25, 2025, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
While Collins Winn read part of Psalm 55 — about “violence and strife in our city” — as a prayer, Norvell lit a candle to remember Pretti, Renee Good, and “all of the people that have been abducted from our cities.” The two pastors also shared part of a liturgy that had been used two days earlier during an interfaith event as hundreds of clergy members marched to protest ICE. Instead of a sermon, the service featured times of prayer and space for members of the congregations to share what they were feeling and experiencing right now. Before closing the service, Norvell read from Ephesians 6, but with an updated paraphrase.
“Take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day and, having done everything, to stand firm. Stand, therefore, with the gas mask of truth. Put on your hi-vis vest of righteousness. As for your shoes, make sure they are snow boots with yak tracks on them; whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of this, make sure that you have your phone so you can record the truth and stand up to the lies that are being told. Take the whistle of salvation. Take the sword that is your love, that no ICE agent can ever take away from you. For these things are yours,” he offered. “Pray for one another so that when we speak, a message may be given to the rest of this nation and this world that what we are making known with boldness is the mystery of the gospel for which we are ambassadors under occupation.”
While the Sunday worship service for Calvary occurred at Judson’s building, Calvary’s building was also a place of service that day. Some members stood at the street corner outside Calvary to offer hot drinks, food, and handwarmers to people walking to or from the memorial for Pretti. And the church opened up its building for people who needed to warm up, find a bathroom, or just experience a moment of rest in the sanctuary. With music quietly playing in the background, a few people sat in the pews for a moment of reflection or just a break from what was occurring outside. The church plans to provide this quiet, warm space for people each evening this week.
“Calvary Baptist Church has been a faithful presence in the geographic heart of the Whittier neighborhood in Minneapolis since 1883,” Collins Winn told Word&Way. “Our community began as a mission to children in the neighborhood, and has a long history of social witness in the area. In essence, we are and have been committed to trying to live into the Jesus way and the practices of mercy, justice, and humility.”
“Prior to the murder of Alex Pretti, and in response to the murder of Renee Good and ICE activity in our neighborhoods and city, we were already organizing ourselves to help the helpers among us in their work of walking with vulnerable neighbors. When Alex was murdered, we leaned into our orientation to be a presence in the neighborhood and sought to project care and provide space,” he added. “We also rent our building to therapists, so we are looking this week to providing mental health services and yoga, alongside of our study time, which is currently focused on Howard Thurman’s work, Jesus and the Disinherited. Thuman’s work has been especially helpful to me over the years. His location in the Civil Rights movement and the Black Church traditions, at the nexus point between the mystical-contemplative and the nonviolent resistance traditions, has been very instructive as we seek to be of use to God and a source of goodness for our neighbors. That’s really all we want to do: be a source of goodness for our neighbors. We think God can make some good use of that in the long work of getting ourselves free of the powers and principalities that seek to enclose and encircle so as to extract from human and creaturely life a terrible price. I encourage all communities of faith and good will to get to the work of rooting themselves in community and the sources of life, so that they may care for their neighbors, especially the most vulnerable among them, and so that they can be free people, not hemmed in by violence, terror, and fear.”
While a local Southern Baptist church makes news as it supports one of its pastors who also serves as an ICE leader, an American Baptist (formerly known as Northern Baptist) congregation is ministering to people in the community who are being terrorized by ICE and other federal agencies.
This article has been updated to include a comment from Collins Winn.
