2024 RCA Focus Event by Roger Grace
Windom, Minnesota
Shalom Hill Farm in southwestern Minnesota was the location for the 2024 Rural Chaplains Association Focus Event. The theme for the gathering was “Diversity in Rural Communities” and we chose the location due to the diversity of the population in that area. One example of the diverse nature of the community is that in the local school district, there are about 37 different languages and 85 dialects spoken. This is in a small city with only about 14,000 total population.
The Rev. Dr. Mark Yackel-Juleen, who along with his wife co-founded Shalom Hill Farm, hosted the event and arranged for a tour of a local chicken processing plant. There are several such plants in the area, and they are a major reason for the diversity of the region. Immigrants moved into southwestern Minnesota because the plants were unable to find enough local labor to operate them. The one we visited had a large percentage of employees from Guatemala and others from Mexico and some from southeast Asia. The plant tour was for those Rural Chaplains who were able to arrive early, as it took place Wednesday before the official start of the Focus Event. Our formal opening, Native American Welcome, an overview of the plans for the event and evening prayer wrapped up day one of the event.
Thursday, we drove to Worthington, MN and gathered at the First United Methodist Church where Lisa Kramer, who worked with Catholic Charities prior to retirement, talked about her efforts through Juntas Familias to help reunite families that had been separated by immigration. Many of these people work in the meat packing industries – beef, pork, or chicken, and they came to Minnesota looking for a better life for themselves and their families. Among those who came there are African Americans who migrated within the U.S., Vietnamese, Laotians, Mexicans, Guatemalans, Haitians, and others from Asia. Many of those who have immigrated there from the south were young teenagers who were sent by their families in hopes that they would be able to gain employment and help their relatives who stayed behind. Some of those who came across as teens, are now married with children and may not have seen their families of origin in two or three decades. Lisa helped design a program to try to reunite families here in the U.S. with the families they left behind when they were young. She also assisted with Project Care, providing transportation, legal advice, and other necessities for those who are working to gain legal status here.
Worthington First UMC is also the home for the Hispanic Ministry there. Pastor Angel and his wife lead a congregation that has from 24-50 people. They started with just the pastor and his wife and have steadily increased since then. Pastor Angel’s backstory is one of growing up in Mexico City, crossing the border into California with his cousin at the age of 23, hoping to find work, but only after moving to Wisconsin. While in Wisconsin he became involved in the drug scene and periods of homelessness prior to his conversion and his subsequent call into the ministry.
Our planned visit to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Worthington did not work out, due to family circumstances. However, being rural, we adapted our schedule and instead toured the Our Lady of Guadalupe Free Clinic. It was founded by Father Jim, who is now retired, to provide free health care to immigrants, the poor, and the uninsured of Nobles County Minnesota. They work in partnership with several doctors from the Mayo Clinic who come on a regular basis to help meet the medical needs of the people. We were so impressed with their ministry that we voted to send the offering we received at our certification service to the clinic.
Following lunch, we returned to Shalom Hill Farm where Rev. Mark Swanson, Regional Director of Growing Project Development from Growing Hope Globally (GHG), reported on the ministry of that organization. GHG came about after some farmers in northwestern Ohio came together to try to meet the hunger needs of people in developing countries. Formerly known as Foods Resource Bank, GHG now has 45 agricultural programs in 31 different countries and has 109 growing projects in 19 states here in the U.S. They work hard to create partnerships between Urban/Suburban congregations and Rural/Town & Country Churches to raise awareness and funds to address hunger. You can find more information at: GrowingHopeGlobally.org
Friday morning, we visited the small community of Walnut Grove, MN. You may be familiar with that name from the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder and the TV series, “Little House on the Prairie.” We spent some time with the EMS director and a leader of the Hmong community who settled in Walnut Grove about 20 years ago. After immigrating from Thailand and Laos and settling in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, the Elders of the community decided that the big city was not where they wanted to raise their families. They looked for an area that was more rural, as that was their background before coming to the U.S. They looked at Walnut Grove, because they had heard of it through the Little House on the Prairie books and TV series. After interviewing city officials, they moved the entire Hmong community to Walnut Grove about 20 years ago.
Friday afternoon was spent doing the work of the Rural Chaplains Association. Our Recruitment, Communication, and Partnerships working groups met and made plans for the future. The business meeting followed with reports from the Treasurer, the proposed budget for next year, and the Nominations Committee Report and Elections. Three members of the Core Leadership Team are finishing their terms. They are: Shirley Townsend-Jones-NC, Secretary, David Ruesink-TX, Treasurer, and Roger Grace-OH, Chair of the Core Leadership Team. Elected to fill their positions were: Carlene Triplett-OH, Secretary, Inba Inbarasu-NE, Treasurer, and Gayle Lesure-WV, Chair.
Our Certification and Holy Communion Service was led by the Rev. Dr. Woojae Im, District Superintendent of the Prairie Winds District of the Minnesota Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church. At that time, we certified two new Rural Chaplains, the Rev. Roberto Ochoa, United Church of Christ, and the Rev. Eric Skillings, United Church of Canada. Eric will be working with the Core Leadership Team to plan our next Focus Event, which we hope to hold in Canada next year.
At our Focus Event this year, we had seven denominations represented and four countries (U.S., Canada, Zambia. India).
That’s it for now. Thanks.