Be Bold event: Good News/ Real News, 29 May 2019

This gathering is a follow up to last year’s Be Bold gathering. All racialized and Indigenous lay leaders and ministry personnel are welcome. Come and share individual and scriptural experiences and stories related to InterCultural Ministry from Indigenous and racialized perspectives, from 10:00AM-4:00PM at First United Church in Swift Current, SK, Wednesday May 29.

Resource people: all present; Charlene Burns; Rev. Sun Do Hyun, Rev Nobuko Iwai; others TBA.

Please bring to share: 1) a Biblical passage with the theme of InterCultural Ministry; 2) One issue or news report related to racial Justice or public policy of reconciliation or InterCultural ministry in Saskatchewan/Canada. The Biblical passage and the racial justice issue may be either linked to each other or unrelated

Registration: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GMCBCZN

Agenda and cost: We ask that all participants plan to come for the whole day (10:00AM-4:00PM). We will send a complete agenda closer to the time. Lunch and snacks will be provided.  Registration is $25; the fee can be reduced or removed if it creates a barrier to your being with us. Please email jgraham@united-church.ca if you need us to waive or reduce the fee. Please bring cash or a cheque payable to “Region 4 of the United Church of Canada”. It can be mailed to: Living Skies Regional Office; 60 Athabasca St. E., Moose Jaw, SK S6H 0L2 (please note “Be Bold event” on the cheque).

 For more information, please contact Rev SunDo Hyun  hyunsundo@hotmail.com or Intercultural Network co-conveners Nobuko Iwai (nobuko.gpuc@sasktel.net) and Brian Mitchell-Walker (bmw@bemindfullywell.com)

 

 

Report from the Be Bold intercultural gathering May 2018

In May 2018, prior to the SK Conference annual meeting, the Conference’s Intercultural Network held a gathering for clergy and lay leaders who are Indigenous or people of colour.

The goal: to create a safer space to “boldly share stories of overcoming fear, as well as discuss ways to (continue) living out of generosity and openness and calling the whole church to celebrate diversity and practice inclusivity.” From this lively gathering of 20 or so people came recommendations for the continued work of SK Conference/ Region 4, and for General Council. Some of the recommendations were brought to the floor of SK Conference’s annual meeting, and went from there to the triennial General Council meeting of the national church in July 2018. Please share the report freely, and take some time to read through this summary of the work and recommendations this group offers the wider church: Be Bold Intercultural Gathering Report- May 2018, SK Conference (PDF)

Group shot!

May 23 Be Bold gathering

Be Bold: a gathering for racialized church leaders in SK Conference, organized by the Intercultural Network of SK Conference.

Wednesday May 23 2018, 10:00AM- 4:00PM. Battleford United Church, 52 4th Ave W, Battleford SK. Click here for a map.

Cost: $30 (The fee can be reduced or removed if it creates a barrier to your being with us. Please email jgraham@skconf.ca if you need us to waive or reduce the fee.) Please bring cash, or a cheque payable to SK Conference. 

Registration form: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LHX5BVJ 

Download a PDF flyer here, and please share widely! Read on for full details.

Intercultural Network survey

Please help the Intercultural Network renew its work with our Conference. Co-conveners Nobuko Iwai and Brian Mitchell-Walker would like your thoughts on your own context and your wisdom on priorities for the work over the next year and a half. Whether you’re new to intercultural work or have been involved for years, your thoughts are very important. The survey will take 10-20 minutes to fill out and your responses can be confidential. Here it is: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VVL63NZ

An Awkward Conversation in the Church event

Alberta-Northwest Conference “welcomes its neighbours” to a conversation about race that is more important than ever in light of racist rallies on both sides of the border. An Awkward Conversation in the Church: Race, Discrimination and the Mission of The United Church of Canada will be held October 4-6, 2017 at the Providence Renewal Centre in Edmonton.

Info and registration:  https://albertanorthwestconference.ca/14840-registration-open-octobers-awkward-conversation-conference/

The Intercultural network encourages you to consider attending. If you are interested in attending, please let the Intercultural Network conveners know; contact Nobuko Iwai or Brian Mitchell-Walker, or get in touch with Julie Graham at the Conference office.

National Aboriginal Day June 21: Find an event near you

Many groups have called on the federal government to make June 21 a national holiday, so that all Canadians can celebrate and learn alongside Indigenous communities.  We aren’t there yet, unfortunately (something to bring up with your Member of Parliament!).  But all who are able to take some time to attend events the week of June 21^st  are encouraged to do so as an act of education and reconciliation.

The Office of the Treaty Commissioner has a number of events listed, many of which include local United Church participation: http://www.otc.ca/events

Saskatchewan Aboriginal Friendship Centres offer many events as well and can help direct you to local events: http://www.afcs.ca/

Blanket Exercise in Regina on June 1

Join us June 1 from 2:30 onwards at Christ Lutheran Church in Regina for the Blanket Exercise, an interactive experience that explores the impact of the history between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada. Without knowing our shared history, we cannot come to reconciliation.

All welcome, no matter your age or identity! The church is wheelchair accessible.

Please share the poster and our Facebook event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/568729493304121/

This will be our SK Conference annual meeting education event.

Participate in the Blanket Exercise

Explore the 500 year relationship between indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples through an experiential activity and conversation.

Wednesday, January 27, 2016   from 1:30 to 3:30pm
Queen’s House of Retreat & Renewal Centre
601 Taylor St. W., Saskatoon, SK

If you are planning to attend, please contact us at director@ccforum.ca  by January 26 so we can have a good estimate of participant numbers.

Optional Conversation to follow:
Theology and Culture from 3:45 – 4:45pm
Building on the Blanket Exercise and other experiences, an opportunity to reflect on how culture shapes theology as people of faith relate across cultural differences.

Blanket Exercise facilitators:  Julie Graham and Dory Cook.  The Blanket Exercise was
developed by the Aboriginal Rights Coalition (ARC), one of ten ecumenical coalitions the churches brought together to form KAIROS in 2001.
Sponsored by Canadian Churches Forum www.ccforum.ca

This opportunity, open to the wider public, is a part of the week long program, “Engage Difference! Deepening Understanding for Intercultural Ministry”  www.ccforum.ca/DUIM   Can’t make it to this event?  To bring the Blanket Exercise to your community, contact Saskatchewan Conference Mission and Education staff Julie Graham at jgraham@skconf.ca

For a poster for this event, please click here .

Meeting Acknowledgements

Saskatchewan Conference encourages congregations, pastoral charges and presbyteries to include two acknowledgements at the beginning of their meetings/worship services.

The first acknowledgement should be regarding the traditional territories and treaty land that we are situated on.  To facilitate that we have included a map to help determine your location in relationship to the Treaties Areas .  For information about the language group, which will give you whose traditional territory you live on, please check out one of these links:

Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre   (maps coming soon to this site)

Saskatchewan GenWeb   (please scoll down to the Aboriginal – First Nations – Native section)

Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan 

The other acknowledgement is around being an Affirming Conference. The following is included in the minutes of Conference Executive minutes:

And so we also acknowledge that Saskatchewan Conference is an Affirming Conference of The United Church of Canada as one that embraces diversity and strives to include and be a safe place for all people regardless of age, gender, race, culture, education, ability, economic status, marital status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

Please feel free to contact the Conference Office, at 306-721-3311 or  bdiebert@skconf.ca    if you have any questions.

10 Ways Not to Respond to Racism

Article from Rabble addresses common challenges & issues when confronted with racism
http://fb.me/2YgQJFVD1