About Lutheran Campus Ministry of Bemidji

Statement of Welcome

Bemidji Lutheran Campus Ministry aims to create a spiritual space for all who are seeking God’s love and grace with a special welcome and attention given to students at BSU and NTC.

We gather together as people with great faith, little faith, different faiths and sometimes no faith. It is together where we find community and where we can see the Sacred in each other.

In this community we do our best to welcome all because we believe God welcomes all. God’s love is meant to be shared here regardless of privilege, politics, skin color, sexual orientation, gender identity + expression, relationship status or ability.

We welcome students who wrestle with addiction, physical or mental health, socio-economic challenges or anything that too often divides us.

We specifically affirm and uplift the leadership and faithful gifts LGBTQIA2S+ students, Black students, Indigenous students, students of color and others who often find themselves on the margins of our churches and society.

Land Acknowledgement

Bemidji Lutheran Campus Ministry acknowledges that we are gathering on the traditional lands of the Indigenous People of Turtle Island (North America), the first Americans.

Our Lutheran Campus Center is located upon the ancestral homelands of the Anishinaabe, Assiniboine, and Dakota people.

This land acknowledgement is a starting point, not an ending point, for our work as Bemidji Lutheran Campus Ministry as we strive to follow Jesus alongside our neighbors of the sovereign federally recognized tribes of the Leech Lake, Red Lake and White Earth bands of the Ojibwe people.

In affirming this land as the homeland of our indigenous neighbors, we recognize the legacies of violence and cultural genocide that occurred alongside the displacement of their communities, as well as the responsibility we all share to not let these truths be buried any longer.

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What does "Lutheran" mean?

Lutheran Campus Ministry is connected to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)! We're a part of one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States. The ELCA is a church that has a living, daring confidence in God's grace.

Grace is the hope, forgiveness, joy and new life that is always, always available to us in God. We believe one of the ways grace announces itself in our lives is through faith. For us, faith comes through hearing the good news of God in Jesus:

We are loved unconditionally by the One who created us!
God has promised to meet us and be with us in hard times as well as good ones!
We get to see, feel, hear and know God in our communities and relationships with people around us!
It's beause of God in Jesus that we are called into the courage to wonder, discover and boldly participate in what God is up to in the world!

We welcome you to join this community of faith regardless of your age, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, ability, life experience, complexities and questions. You have a unique story that can only add to the richness of the larger story that makes up the ELCA and Lutheran Campus Ministry. You don't need to believe what we believe to belong! There is a place for you here!

What is Bemidji Lutheran Campus Ministry all about?

"Lutheran Campus Ministry is here to be a community of support and connection. We know college can be a tough time, especially for our spiritual lives. Our hope is to facilitate a creative, fun, life-giving and Spirit filled space for you to connect with God and others!" - Pastor Emily Papke-Larson, current Campus Pastor of LCM Bemidji.

"Lutheran Campus Ministry is an organization set out to help students grow in their faith as well as provide a place for students to hang out and have fun with fellow students." - Pastor Jim Holthus (a.k.a. "PJ"), former Campus Pastor of LCM Bemidji.

Lutheran Campus Ministry of Bemidji

1221 Birchmont Drive NE, Bemidji, MN 56601

218-751-5326 info@lcmbemidji.org

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