On Sunday morning, Rev. George Yando drives his van past two houses, picking up people who can't drive to the reserve on their own. Seated comfortably, the three elderly men and women talk candidly, laughing about their week and the rutted road that takes them to the small white church on the Mistawasis reserve.
“My priority is to give native people hope and a future,” said Rev. Hoosik Kim, director of Edmonton Urban Native Ministry. “Sticking to the past cannot draw people into a better future. I recognize that aboriginals in this land need both physical and mental healing. They also need reconciliation in various relationships. Going one step forward, they require leadership for the generations to come.”
Most Presbyterians have probably heard of native residential schools and the various abuses suffered by children who attended them. Most probably know their church had […]
When I was 11 years young, my parents sent me to Loose Moose Bible Camp as a prize for memorizing Scripture verses like “Be ye kind one to another.” I was beaten up twice that week by Bruce Johnson, the meanest kid this side of Harlem. Bruce had wrists as big as my thighs and tattoos the size of Bermuda. He was so unsaved that he couldn't even sing along on “Kum Ba Yah,” or “It Only Takes A Spark To Get A Fire Going.”
In the north end of Winnipeg, the aboriginal population — many of them poor, homeless, hurting — continues to grow. Drugs are rampant, violence is a constant threat, and absent or addicted parents fail to provide a warm and positive environment for their children. Enter Flora House.
ENI – The American Religious Newswriters Association held their annual poll in December to name the top religion news:
When Frehley McKay died last year in a gang war, no one wanted to host the funeral, fearing retaliation from McKay's gang rivals. With nowhere for friends and family to gather, nowhere to lay the coffin for its last rites, the people of Anishinabe Fellowship Centre stepped forward, offering the centre as the place where the 22-year-old's loved ones would say farewell. Police in bullet-proof vests camped out at each corner to ensure no more violence ensued.
The Towards a World Without AIDS campaign of Presbyterian World Service and Development not only funds projects in far away countries; it assists people right here in Canada. As of December 31st, more than $1 million had been raised for the campaign since its launch in 2004. About $75,000 of that has been allocated to support projects in Canada, such as:
Rev. Dr. Cynthia Chenard Iona, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Rev. Dr. Laurence DeWolfe Church of St. David, Halifax, Nova Scotia Rev. Dr. Hans Kouwenberg Calvin, Abbotsford, […]
Last January, a rotting old building used for low-rent apartments in Kenora, Ont., was destroyed by fire. Forty tenants were left homeless, their few belongings ruined. With nowhere else to go, they made their way to Anamiewigummig, or the Kenora Fellowship Centre, the town's only overnight emergency shelter, where they can find coffee and a warm meal, comfy couches with a view of pristine waters, company from the resident pet turtle, and most importantly, someone to talk to about their problems.
ENI – Britain's Christian Muslim Forum has strongly criticised moves to take the religious message out of Christmas in the country on the grounds that offence might be caused to members of other faiths.
Assembly Council adopted a draft policy on racial harassment entitled Growing in Christ: Seeing the Image of God in Our Neighbour, at its November meeting. “The Presbyterian Church in Canada welcomes its cultural diversity,” states the policy. “Both at the congregational and national level, the Presbyterian Church will actively involve the cultural diversity in its midst when it comes to decision-making, service on boards and committees, preparation for ministry in the church, representation of the church at all levels and employment within the church.”
ENI – “Our Christian values are at the core of our call for urgent, concerted action on climate change. Not only do we believe that, in the beginning, we were given stewardship of the earth, but we believe that good news for the world's poor people is rooted in justice. Climate change brutally exposes humanity's failure and the failure of its institutions,” a united Christian platform of Caritas Internationalis and the All Africa Conference of Churches said in a statment at the UN conference on climate change held in Nairobi in November.
This summer I spent time with the statistical report of The Presbyterian Church in Canada. One-quarter (25.7 per cent or 238) of PCC congregations reported […]
ENI – Pope Benedict XVI and leaders of five other leading faiths in Britain have subscribed to an inaugural $1.15-billion bond issued by the British Treasury that will pay for immunizing half a billion children in developing countries over the next 10 years.
Thanks Giving: Growing Generosity Among God's People
It was a special spot embedded in the wilderness of the Rocky Mountains. It was a hot spring nestled in a cliff on the edge of Sheep Creek. My Dad and I lived in a shack without running water, so we went there every Sunday for our weekly bath. Even when it was 35 below (Celsius) and the snow was three feet deep, the hot spring maintained lush green vegetation and warmth for a few metres around, an oasis in the icy desert of winter.
ENI – Two of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian synods in Malawi which are at loggerheads with one another over boundaries, have rejected offers from the country's civil society to act as arbitrators.
The Life and Mission Agency Committee met outside of Ontario for the first time, gathering at Surrey Presbyterian Church in British Columbia in November. The Korean congregation offered the invitation, and hosted the meetings. Committee members visited area congregations, missions and schools. Mary Fontaine, founder of the native Hummingbird Ministries mission in Vancouver, visited the committee.
The Sense of the Call: A Sabbath Way of Life for Those Who Serve God, the Church and the World