The spiritual care ministry finds itself responding to more situations of “civil unrest” following recent shootings and police killings.
Less than a year after ministering at a memorial to George Floyd in South Minneapolis, chaplains Robert and Frieda Roulds returned to the Twin Cities last week to offer spiritual care in the aftermath of another black man’s death at the hand of police.
The husband-wife team arrived in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, three days after Daunte Wright was fatally shot by an officer during a traffic stop. At a memorial erected at the site of the incident, emotions were high as they heard tearful mourners recount their experiences with racism and ongoing frustration with law enforcement.
“They don’t realize that it’s one grief after another after another,” Frieda Rounds said. “They are carrying a lot with them.”
The Rouldses, from Illinois, are two of five chaplains deployed to Minnesota by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA)’s rapid response team. This is the eighth time in its 20-year history that BGEA has sent chaplains in response to situations it deems “civil unrest,” most of which stem from police killings.
Though their ministry focuses on temporary emotional and spiritual care after a crisis, they’ve returned to the same area for the second time in just under a year and ended up recognizing some of the same people from before.
Minneapolis has endured so much trauma—COVID-19 restrictions and deaths; George Floyd’s death; the murder trial of former officer Derek Chauvin, who is accused of killing Floyd; and now Wright’s death—that the chaplains say people don’t know where to start process everything that’s happened over the past year.
“If you haven’t resolved one grief or trauma, you ...
from Christianity Today Magazine
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