I grew up hearing the term Minnesota Nice. It always carried a positive regard to me. I believed that Minnesotans earned this expression through over-the-top politeness. It made sense, I thought because Minnesotans really ARE nice!

Later in life, I understood a cynical meaning. The phrase could suggest that Minnesotans were nice to your face but would complain after you left. Minnesota Nice could describe a sense of passive aggressiveness because Minnesotans don’t like confrontation or to truly say what they feel.

While this cynical meaning can hold truth, I believe that Minnesotans yearn to be nice. I believe Minnesotans have pride in collective suffering (especially in discussing weather or sports). I believe Minnesotans watch out for their neighbor—even the ones who let their lawns grow too long or leave a few toys out at night. I believe Minnesotans that say “you betcha” or subconsciously add “ope” in a sentence truly are Nice Minnesotans.

This summer, my Minnesota Nice collided with Carolina Southern Hospitality.

Southern Hospitality is a genuine warmth and kindness shown to visitors, including welcoming people. Its roots come from the church as Southerners showed hospitality through being kind to strangers, as taught in the parable of the Good Samaritan or other biblical passages.

Could this be real?

I admit I was suspicious, especially with my skeptical Minnesota Nice lenses that I’ve acquired over time.

However, the people I’ve met in South Carolina aspire to live up to their Southern Hospitality reputation.

Politeness and friendly conversation from grocery store checkers and wait staff at restaurants ran rampant. One clerk asked me if I wanted free sweet tea with my sandwich. I asked if it was any good. The two women in line next to me loudly laughed. I told them, with that response, how can I pass up this opportunity? The sweet tea did not disappoint.

Smiles from strangers in cars or on walks were expected to be returned.

And Southern Hospitality certainly was pervasive in the many churches that I visited. Every church provided a welcome and friendly invitation to return and worship again.

One church in particular, Ebenezer Lutheran, in Columbia, SC felt like home. They supported a Circle of Welcome to walk with a refugee family from Congo. They have a monthly gathering in the community called 14:6, a shout-out to John 14:6 where Jesus says “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” They meet on the 14^th day of the month at 6 pm at a public location with food and holy conversation.

They also noticed that a small group of US Army chaplain trainees kept returning. In true Southern Hospitality, they invited us to join their choir!

Pastor Paul approached me before we left and asked if Ebenezer could send us with a blessing on our last Sunday worshipping with them. This invitation was well received—even by friends who weren’t Lutheran—that they were welcome to receive this radical hospitality. The congregation barely knew us, but they prayed over us and the many different places that each of us was being sent back to.

It was a powerful and inspirational act of kindness to me.

I return home filled with the Spirit of Southern Hospitality and graciously seek to share more Minnesota Nice (the good kind) as I can.

Pastor John Klawiter is the senior pastor of Faith Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation in Forest Lake. For more information, email him at