Karen Church at Messiah: Guided by the Holy Spirit

In April 2022, Messiah’s Vestry approved a Task Force to discern “Fresh Expressions of
Church” with Messiah’s Karen members – including “church within a church” and house church models – and to recommend pilot projects to test these ideas.

The Task Force included ten parishioners - five Karen and five Anglo - with support from
Messiah’s Deacon and focused on four ministry areas: Worship, Youth, Children and Reaching Karen Beyond Messiah. We spent several months discerning the Karen community’s hopes and ideas for ministry in each area. In the fall of 2022 we began offering monthly Karen Eucharist services and programming for youth and visits to Karen living in rural Minnesota. In early 2023 we added programming for families with younger children and in the fall of 2023 we added a monthly Evening Prayer “House Church” service in private homes that includes a community meal and fellowship.

How have we experienced the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our work?

In our Worship ministry area, we have seen God raise up many members of the Karen
community to support and serve in the wide variety of roles needed for the service each month. We also have a “Word of Encouragement/Personal Testimony” instead of a traditional sermon, which has allowed a number of our Karen (elders as well as younger adults) to grow in their comfort sharing their personal faith in a more public way.

Karen youth are being discipled through participation in Messiah’s vibrant youth programming that includes Youth Alpha (in alternate years), Wednesday night Bible Study, Sunday evening Compline, Camp Crosswoods (summer), and youth service projects like the annual Summer Mission Trip and serving at Great Adventure Days (vacation Bible school). Many of our older Karen youth have been confirmed and this also demonstrates to younger youth that Confirmation can be for them too when they are ready. Each summer, around 25 of our Karen youth participate in American Karen Episcopal Youth (AKEY) Day, helping them grow through memorizing Bible passages, prayers and the creeds, preparing worship songs and music to share, and experiencing the supportive value of connecting to other Episcopal Karen youth from around the country.

We are planting seeds of God’s Word in our youngest Karen children through Messiah’s multi-age Sunday School: The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. We have also worked to support families as the best, first teachers of their children with tools like picture story Bibles, story apps that provide Bible story readings in Karen, and guidance in how to use the Book of Common Prayer at home.

As we visit Karen in outstate Minnesota communities like Worthington and Albert Lea, we share an Evening Prayer “house church” service and also help connect these much more isolated Karen families to local Episcopal congregations.

Prayer and staying grounded in God’s Word has been foundational to our work. Each Task Force meeting opens and closes with prayer in either Karen or English and also a short Bible Meditation. As we meditate together on a shared passage we hear God speaking encouragement and guidance to us during our meeting time. All conversation and discussion is interpreted from English to Karen as well as from Karen to English.

We have many hopes for Karen Church at Messiah and we know that God will continue to guide us in the weeks and months to come!