Native American pastor Jim Bear Jacobs to present Carleton convocation

Native American pastor and cultural facilitator Jim Bear Jacobs will present Carleton College’s weekly convocation on Friday, November 2 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in the Skinner Memorial Chapel. Jacobs’ presentation is designed to promote racial and cultural reconciliation through the healing power of stories.

Carleton convocations are free and open to the public. They are recorded and archived for online viewing here.

Jacobs is a member of the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Nation — an American Indian tribe located in central Wisconsin — and a pastor at the Church of All Nations, a multicultural community church in Columbia Heights, Minnesota. While studies show that Christian churches are among the most segregated gathering places in the United States, the Church of All Nations is a national leader in challenging this status quo. The church affirms the increasing need for multicultural churches in an increasingly multicultural society to offer hope of racial, cultural, and generational reconciliation and healing.

In addition to his role with the church, Jacobs founded “Healing Minnesota Stories” in 2012, an effort to promote understanding and healing between Native American and non-Native people, particularly those in various faith communities. The initiative functions on the belief that stories have the power to heal. “Stories heal,” their website says, “because they make invisible pain visible.” Through sharing stories and increasing awareness of the value of American Indian language, culture, and our shared history, they aim to bring peoples of various communities and faiths (especially Native American and non-Native people) together.

Jacobs has earned degrees in pastoral studies and Christian theology, and has served various churches as youth minister, adult Christian educator, and director of men’s ministries. In addition to his work with the Church of All Nations and Healing Minnesota Stories, he is a cultural facilitator in the Twin Cities and works to raise the public’s awareness of American Indian causes and injustices.

This event is sponsored by Carleton College Convocations. For more information, including disability accommodations, call (507) 222-4308. The Skinner Memorial Chapel is located at First and College Streets in Northfield.