Truth & Reconciliation

Truth and Reconciliation at Northview

A few years ago Northview began to participate in the Truth and Reconciliation conversation by observing an “Orange Shirt Sunday.” This was accompanied by reading a Treaty 4 Land Acknowledgement. Shortly after this, we included the Land Acknowledgement as a regular slide in our pre-service scroll. Then in June of this year we participated in “the Blanket Exercise” led by Jonathan Maracle from Broken Walls and Adam Kline, who heads up the Intercultural Engagement Team for the Free Methodist Church in Canada.

During this ministry year we want to continue to engage in the Truth and Reconciliation conversation in a variety of ways. However, it is important for us as a church to understand why we are doing what we are doing and what we hope to accomplish.

Why We Are Engaging in Truth and Reconciliation

Some might think that we are simply bowing to the prevailing culture by joining this conversation. Some may fear that we are exchanging the “real” gospel of Jesus in favour of a “social” gospel. We want to be clear that our engagement in this work is both consistent with our mission and gospel-centric. Our church has discerned our mission to be: to embody Jesus in our neighbourhoods. We are engaging in this work because we believe that the Indigenous Peoples in Regina and the surrounding area are our neighbours and we are called to love them by extending the Shalom (peace) of the Kingdom that Jesus has established through his cross.

What We Hope to Accomplish Through This Engagement

As we’ve said before, the Indigenous Peoples are not a problem to be solved, but a people to be loved. So, we first of all hope to be obedient by loving our neighbours. And, through this obedience, we hope to become better ambassadors of the kingdom, so that our Indigenous brothers and sisters would know that they can embrace Jesus as Lord without having to give up their Indigenous identities. Additionally, we want to take responsibility for the hurts of the past that have an ongoing traumatic effect on the Indigenous Peoples today. This is not about assigning blame, but enabling healing to begin.

What We Are Planning for This Year

We are going to continue to participate in Orange Shirt Day (Oct 1) and also explore Red Dress Day (May 5). We want to engage as learners, so we are going to build a glossary of Indigenous symbols to better understand our neighbours. And we are going to hear their stories that form the base of the TRC in Canada. Finally, we are going to share some films and facilitate tough conversations. We also hope to bring in local Indigenous voices so that we are building a reciprocal relationship.

We hope you join in! If you have any questions or concerns regarding Northview’s engagement in Truth and Reconciliation, please contact Pastor David.