Land Acknowledgement
(& Commitments)
Dakota Hoska’s "What feathers can teach us"
During Lent 2022, Calvary Baptist Church initiated our journey of truth telling about Minnesota’s Indigenous history.
We grieved and lamented at what we learned about the violent, exploitative, and oppressive acts committed in God’s name to claim land and power over Indigenous people. This was in direct contradiction to Jesus’ message that the meek shall inherit the earth. We visited and honored Bdote, the sacred place of creation for the Dakota people, at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers. We were compelled to respond and share the truth of what we learned. From this emerged our land acknowledgement and commitments. To learn more check out our 2022 Lenten Devotional and The History of Calvary’s land here.
What is a land acknowledgment?
It is a statement to honor and acknowledge the Indigenous people from whom the land was stolen and who still nonetheless persist in stewardship of the land today.
Why have a land acknowledgment?
To Realize & Repent:
To witness the truth of our church’s history.
To publicly confess and repent of the injustices we have contributed to.
To educate church members.
To Repair & Reshape:
To honor and respect the stewardship and leadership of our Indigenous neighbors.
To connect our church history with our values and theology, and ensure our actions match our values.
To guide future acts of solidarity with Indigenous justice in partnerships, financial spending, environmental justice, and truth telling.
A land acknowledgment is empty without commitments. Calvary Baptist Church has an Indigenous Solidarity workgroup to guide action on these commitments. Please reach out to connect@calvarychurchmpls.org if you would like to join the effort. For resources to learn more about land acknowledgments, click here.
Land Acknowledgment & Commitments
Calvary Baptist Church is located on sacred Dakota land, in the area stewarded by the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Community and in close proximity to Anishinabe and Ho Chunk territories. This land was first stolen by Zebulon Pike in 1805 in a “purchase” that was never fully paid nor approved by most Dakota tribes. The Dakota resisted the ways of white Americans in parceling land to individuals and viewing creation as a resource to exploit, even when treaties and other government acts in 1851 and 1863 forced them to cede all Dakota land and be expelled from Minnesota. The Dakota continued to honor their familial relationship with this land, even when boarding schools destroyed their culture and harmed their children. The Dakota remain here today, leading the call for all Minnesotans to heal our land, care for our children, and reject oppression in its many forms.
Calvary Baptist Church acknowledges that we have inherited a legacy of abusing God’s name to steal, murder, exploit and lie. This legacy has deeply harmed our Dakota neighbors and has kept us from seeing what we also lost in our relationship to creation and Creator. We have benefited financially and socially in the use of our church building on stolen land for which we paid next to nothing in money, yet have paid a costly amount in the damage to our relationship with our Indigenous neighbors. For too long, we have ignored the cries for justice, though Jesus calls us to live in truth and actively love our neighbors as ourselves. We have continued to be tempted by values of ownership and control, acting as though we earned through hard work what has only ever been a gift from God to benefit all people.
As a church, God calls us to join our Indigenous neighbors in the work of repairing broken relationships, healing our own distorted theologies, and creating wholeness for all. We seek to repent of our past and turn from continued harm today by committing to the following actions:
Commit to learning from our Indigenous neighbors how to steward and love the land while challenging the white supremacist values of control and exploitation in how we operate as a Church.
Commit to telling the truth about our history, particularly with new members and at community events, for our own healing.
Commit to financial reparations through paying annual back rent on our land to Dakota and Ojibwe organizations.
Commit to an ongoing relationship with Dakota communities, to provide accountability for us in our journey and to be in loving solidarity with our neighbors.
Commit to supporting environmental justice and tribal sovereignty as part of our values of Justice and of the Earth as God's good gift for all our neighbors.
Short Summary of Land Acknowledgment
Calvary Baptist Church is located on sacred Dakota land, in the area stewarded by the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Community and in close proximity to Anishinabe and Ho Chunk territories. Although this land was stolen through various treaties and the Dakota have faced genocide and expulsion, they have persisted in honoring their familial relationship with this land. Calvary Baptist Church acknowledges that we have inherited a legacy of abusing God’s name to steal, murder, exploit, and lie. As a church, God calls us to join our Indigenous neighbors in the work of healing and creating wholeness for all. We commit to repenting of our past, learning from the Dakota, truth telling about our history, paying financial reparations, building ongoing relationships, engaging in environmental justice, and advocating for tribal sovereignty. Join us in this work.
Partnerships
Calvary Baptist Church is a member of the Twin Cities Repair Community for Makoce Ikikcupi. Makoce Ikikcupi, which means "land recovery" in Dakota, is an Indigenous-led project of reparative justice to re-establish spiritual and physical relationship with the Dakota homeland in Minnesota. Learn more here. The Twin Cities Repair Community is a network of churches and other communities who are committed to following the leadership of Makoce Ikikcupi. Member congregations commit to having an Indigenous Solidarity workgroup, developing a land acknowledgment, meeting monthly for accountability with the Repair Community, putting restitution in the budget, participating in volunteer workdays at Makoce Ikikcupi, and engaging in creation care.