Focusing on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was timely as both the federal government and the Anglican Church of Canada begin to implement the recommendations made in the TRC report. “I think it’s important that youth be a part of the conversation about reconciliation, so we can make connections between living out our faith and taking action on this issue in our communities,” said the Rev. Christian Harvey, joint organizer of the event and the youth social justice coordinator for Trent-Durham.

Mr. Agowissa, an Anishinaabe cultural teacher, began the morning with a smudging ceremony and gave traditional teachings on First Nations history and culture. Youth participants were excited to learn from his teachings about the spiritual and cultural way of life for First Nations people.

“When Cam told the stories of his people, I was really moved by the depth of his spirituality and what he said about all religions being based in the belief of a higher power. We call it God and Jesus, he calls it Creator,” said Lydia Keesmaat-Walsh, 17.

In the afternoon, National Indigenous Bishop Mark MacDonald drew connections between scripture and First Nations teachings. “First Nations people see many traditional teachings of the four directions and the medicine wheel in the Bible,” he said.

Along with sharing their rich cultural traditions, both speakers told of the painful history of residential schools. Mr. Agowissa explained how residential schools were designed to assimilate First Nations children through what the TRC calls a “cultural genocide.” He spoke with emotion as he explained how family structures were broken when children were taken from their families and placed in residential schools. In the afternoon, Bishop MacDonald stunned participants by noting that 20­ to 50 per cent of children who went to residential school died, through malnutrition, disease or abuse.

Yet we were not left numb by these facts. Youth were encouraged to be leaders in the reconciliation process; we were urged to learn more about First Nations culture and get involved in the process of reconciliation.

Ms. Keesmaat-­Walsh said she left the event feeling inspired. “When the first settlers came here, they hurt the aboriginal people who lived here, and the Europeans continued to hurt them for years and years,” she said. “They never said, ‘I’m sorry, let me try to make it better.’ Now it’s our responsibility, not only as Christians but, as Cam would say, as fellow spirits, to say, ‘I’m sorry this happened to you. What can I do to make it better?’” It is advice we can all follow in living out our faith and in making reconciliation a reality.

The post Youth urged to work for reconciliation appeared first on The Toronto Anglican.

Throughout the next two and a half days, eight youth ministers from the Diocese of Toronto were stretched and challenged to delve deeply into the three themes of the conference: the Bible, theology and race.

Representing more than a dozen denominations, 400 youth leaders from across North America gathered at Fourth Presbyterian Church in downtown Chicago in March to wrestle with the urgent justice and faith issues of today.

The gathering, called the Progressive Youth Ministry Conference, was born out of the need for mainline and progressive churches to explore youth ministry within our own traditions, since most youth ministry events and curricula cater to evangelicals.

“Often the mainline church is not seen as a major player in youth ministry,” says the Rev. Christian Harvey, the youth minister for St. John the Evangelist, Peterborough. “It was inspiring to see youth ministers from mainline churches come together and challenge that preconception. They took the conversation beyond how to get youth to go to church and asked what it means to be a youth minister in a society that is dripping with racism and commercialism.”

Speakers taught us new ways to encounter scripture. The Rev. Debbie Blue, a founding minister of House of Mercy in St. Paul, Minnesota, encouraged us to appreciate the Bible for all its contradictions and ambiguities.

“My favourite part of the conference was Debbie’s talk about the Bible and about how it’s this really intense and outrageous book full of stories,” says Melinda Suarez of St. John, West Toronto. “It gave me curiosity and excitement to look at the Bible with new eyes and to encourage my youth to look at the Bible for all the weirdness and parables that it brings.”

Frank Yamada, the president of McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, emphasized that “reading the Bible every day should not be the property of fundamentalists.”

Along with encouraging participants to reclaim a radical commitment to scripture, the conference wasn’t afraid to tackle serious topics and challenge the status quo. The biggest question asked by speakers was, ‘Is the church relevant today?’

The Rev. Amy Butler, who preached during the closing worship, asked hard questions about the relevance of church in people’s lives. As the new pastor of the historic Riverside Church in New York City, she asked, “In a world that considers our cathedrals and even the pulpit where Martin Luther King Jr. preached irrelevant, what is the future of our church?”

Speakers talked about racism and ongoing issues of police brutality as a defining issue of our times. In the United States, the killing of unarmed black men like Michael Brown of Ferguson, Missouri, by white police officers sparked protests and outrage across the country. Ms. Butler was among dozens of faith leaders who went to Ferguson to support the protesters. They had an honest message for religious leaders: your potlucks do nothing for us, nothing to keep black men like Michael Brown from being shot in the street.

Racism and racial profiling by police are problems in Canada as well. In Toronto, residents of lowincome communities have spoken out about the racial profiling faced by many people of colour. As youth leaders, we are constantly asked by youth these poignant questions: Why be a part of the church? What is the church doing about the justice issues of today?

“One-third of Americans report never entering a church,” said Ms. Butler. “We could be afraid or we could admit our irrelevance and get creative in love.”

The conference allowed us as youth ministers to hold the question of the irrelevance of church in one hand and deep hope in the other. As Ms. Butler lamented the loss of relevance, she also spoke of the deep importance that youth ministry brings.

“Youth pastors go into the most desperate places of human becoming (adolescence) and you camp there,” she said. “Desperate times of angst and discovery call for extreme investment. Who knows where hope and possibility might be born?”

I felt a deep sense of hope, knowing that today’s progressive religious leaders are inspiring new conversations in the church. Ms. Butler’s closing comments filled me with a reverence for where the Spirit is leading. When her teenage son said he didn’t want to attend the Christmas Eve service because he didn’t believe in God, Ms. Butler wished that she had told him, “People who don’t believe in God are welcome at church. They are welcome to bring doubts and raise questions. Church is a place where love is born, and love is lived out.”

As a youth minister, I hope to welcome all youth to experience church as this: a place where love is born and lived out.

The post Youth leaders inspired, challenged appeared first on The Toronto Anglican.