We are saddened to report that Community Covenant Church in Minneapolis was the victim of arson, racist graffiti and other property damage late last night. A grand piano in the church's sanctuary was set on fire in the first of a series of attacks in the area overnight.

According to the Star Tribune: Pastor Luke Swanson said "the piano is in ashes, much of the sanctuary is covered in soot" and walls throughout the church have been damaged by smoke, leaving him to conclude that his congregation and others won't be able to use the building for many weeks.

Please keep Community Covenant Church and its members and leaders in your prayers, and look for more details in the Covenant Newswire story coming later today. Donations will be accepted to aid with repairs.

In the meantime, here is an excerpt from a letter from Swanson:

My heart is heavy in reporting to you that there was a break-in at Community Covenant Church last night and vandals set fire to the sanctuary. The fire was contained to the sanctuary. The fire department responded quickly when smoke was seen coming from the church, but there is extensive smoke damage to the entire first floor and fire damage to much of the sanctuary. All we know at this time is someone broke in and started the fire intentionally. We will know more as the investigation is completed.

 

Special thanks to Pat Jones, Kebu Johnson, Dorico Ambros, Randy Scott, and Kipp Krasean who stayed late into the night to help clean up all the water from the fire hoses.

As we learned this week with the children at VBS, we can stand strong in Jesus. Community Covenant is united in Jesus and we will clean up and rebuild. We will also pray for those who persecute us.

 

For now, we are thankful no one was hurt and we know that God promises never to leave us.

 

Stand Strong Church!

Pastor Luke Swanson