Taking faith to the streets of Minneapolis

It’s a bitter cold Friday night on the streets of downtown Minneapolis. And alongside families with no place to sleep, you’ll find a group of Bethel students—passing out clothes or food, playing board games with kids, or simply praying.

For the past two years students from Bethel Student Ministries have partnered with Inner City Christian Ministries Life Center (ICCM), a ministry center that helps people with basic needs and walks with them on their faith journey, by supporting ICCM’s Friday Night Street Team. The partnership offers students opportunities to walk alongside experienced Christ-followers and learn how they can take their faith into the world and serve others. “Through this model, they grow their skills, their awareness, and their own ability to discern what God is doing around them—and how they can actively respond to God’s activity,” Campus Pastor Matt Runion says. “It’s an example of the kind of fruit Jesus was talking about in John 15 when He said to His disciples, ‘I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit.’”

One Friday night each month, about 20 students meet on campus. They pray together, asking God to work through them; they review the night’s itinerary; and then they carpool to downtown Minneapolis. There, they split up to serve in different locations. One place they go is Little Earth—a housing development with more than 1,000 residents. “The streets our students walk with ICCM are in neighborhoods that many of our students have been shaped to believe are ‘bad’ neighborhoods or areas to be avoided,” Runion says. “They are walking with godly, wise partners who know and love these neighborhoods and help our students mitigate risks and represent Christ in powerful ways.” ICCM has worked with Little Earth for decades. So, thanks to their existing relationships, Bethel students are getting to know families by name, helping meet their physical needs, and also getting to pray with them.

Student Ministries Executive Director Canon Dyer ’25 recalls meeting and praying with a man who goes by the name of “Candyman.” Although Candyman had no place to sleep one particular night and was in dire need of food, blankets, and clothing, his only prayer request for Dyer was that he would remain faithful to God. “It was one of the most amazing experiences that I have ever had. The only thing he cared about was his faith,” says Dyer, a regular on the Friday Night Street Team. “When we go into these communities, our faith is challenged as we see the difficulties that people experience in life, and we are encouraged by the ways that they persevere through those struggles."

For Emily Krueger ’24, director of outreach for Student Ministries, it was a little boy who moved her heart. Krueger was covering his hands with hers to warm them up when he looked at her and said only “pray.” Krueger was shocked the boy knew the word because he didn’t know much English. “I just started praying over his life. Even though he didn’t understand every word I said, I felt the presence of the Lord so strongly in that moment,” Krueger says.

Working with ICCM exemplifies Bethel’s commitment to deepening students’ faith and then empowering them to take it beyond campus. “When it comes to our spiritual development work with students at Bethel, we use concepts like ‘mission’ and ‘outreach’ and ‘activism’ as synonymous with faith in Jesus,” Runion says. “In this case, the partnership with ICCM not only shows that Bethel students are doing that but they are also doing it alongside a local ministry that is an expert in its neighborhood.”

Krueger says this experience has made her more confident in her faith and more willing to step outside her comfort zone. “The leaders of ICCM have taught me how to love those who need it the most. They have shown me how to shine the light of Jesus in the most broken places,” Krueger says.

For Dyer, this type of outreach is a two-way street. “My favorite Bible passage is Proverbs 27:17 which says, ‘As iron sharpens iron, so one friend sharpens another.’ When we go out and spend time with people, we show them that we care, and through us, they can see that God cares for them,” he says. “It fosters growth for us as much if not more than it does for the people we serve.”

Deepen your faith at Bethel.

The Student Ministries branch of Bethel Student Government (BSG) provides College of Arts & Sciences students with regular opportunities to encounter God in new and profound ways.

Learn More.