I was at the last two General Assemblies, one as a commissioner and one as a visitor. Warren Whittaker and I are the directors of Winnipeg Inner City Missions, one of the church's seven ministries with aboriginal peoples in Canada. I do not think the people in the church understand that even with the motions passed at assembly in both years, the aboriginal ministries are not being given access to the use of the funds designated for healing and reconciliation to support and augment our work.
We are in the business of healing and reconciliation every day. Our staff work under the constant pressure of crisis-style ministries with inadequate funding and inadequate levels of staff. We are called to our ministries and serve because we have responded to that call. We are on the front line along with our aboriginal brothers and sisters experiencing the long-term effects of residential schools and colonialism. Long-term poverty (seven generations now), family dysfunction, hopelessness, addictions, violence and crime are all present in the form of very real people with sad histories, a name and broken spirits. Our calling is to care for God's people, minister to their spirits, restore hope, and help people rediscover joy.
We, more than anyone, are cognizant of the urgent need to reconcile and heal with the church at large and for the church to learn to walk together with our aboriginal friends. We intentionally include the larger church in our ministries in the form of our presbyteries, synods and local congregations. Mission teams visit and provide needed human and financial resources. Mission groups, committees of session and study groups across Canada who are interested may contact us for opportunities to learn more and to help. How better to help the church and aboriginal people to heal and to reconcile with God and each other? How better to spend our corporate financial resources as the church?
