An Invitation to a Movie Event:

Emanuel Film and Discussion

Some of us at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church have been studying and having conversations about race, justice and how these two concepts play into how we live out our faith. We feel it is important to begin expanding our conversations with other members of our congregation. We have decided to host a screening of the film “Emanuel” with small group discussions afterwards. As you may be aware, the film is about the Emanuel AME Church shooting that killed nine members of their congregation at a bible study meeting. Featuring interviews with survivors and family members, the film examines the history of race relations in Charleston, South Carolina and the effect on the community from the offered forgiveness of the shooter by church members.

We would like to extend an invitation to your congregation to participate in this event. We have four individuals who have agreed to act as small group facilitators. We would also like to invite individuals from the participating congregations to help facilitate the discussion. HTLC will host a screening of the film for the facilitators three weeks prior to the event and discuss how to facilitate a discussion about the film. We intend to use the Emanuel discussion guide created by Sojourners (see attached link below).

Here are the key dates:

Sunday, December 4th, 2022

• • 2pm – start film (1:30 running time)
• • 3:30pm – break
• • 3:45pm – begin small group discussion for 45 min to an hour
• • Officially wrap up by 5pm

Sunday, November 13th, 2022

• • 12:15pm – screen film at HTLC for small group facilitators
• • Small group facilitation discussion to be led by Pastor Emily Ebert

Here is a link to the movie discussion guide.

We hope you will consider partnering with us to start conversations within our church communities about racial reconciliation. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Pastor Emily at  or Joan Eggert at .

In Christ,

Pastor Emily & Joan Eggert