Deacon Colleen Bernu
Fond du Lac/Cloquet, MN
Colleen Bernu is a Minister of Word and Service in the ELCA where she serves as Director for Evangelical Mission and Synod Minister for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Northeastern Minnesota Synod. Colleen, a descendant first generation of the Fond Du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, lives on the Fond Du Lac Indian Reservation with her family and considers Solon Springs, Wisconsin, on the traditional lands of her Ojibwe community, home. Colleen is a former teacher and is dedicated to using her training and experience to expand diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging through a process of truth-telling that promotes the formation of a common memory so that communal healing may begin. Prior to her call to synod staff, Colleen served as mission developer for Together Here Ministries – a ministry that creates space for transformational change by engaging in learning, listening and relationship building between diverse people groups and communities within the Northeastern Minnesota Synod.
