BETHEL COMMUNITY CHURCH
  • Home
    • Building Check In
  • Services
    • Relaunch
    • Register to Attend
    • Connect
    • Prayer
  • Who we are
    • Council & Staff
    • Bethel's Story
    • Mission and Vision
    • Contact us
  • Ministries
    • Children's Ministry
    • Alpha
    • Dove Taekwondo
    • Men's Ministry
    • Prayer Ministry
    • Small Groups
    • WillowWood Preschool
    • Women's Ministry
    • World Missions >
      • Bettesu Village
    • Youth Ministry
    • Young Adults Ministry
  • Media
    • 21 Day John Reading Challenge
    • Podcasts
    • RightNow Media
    • Pastor's Corner
    • Worship Resources
    • Holy Week
    • Video Archive
    • Bulletin and Community News
    • Member Photo Directory
  • GIVE
  • Grow
    • Growth Path
    • Current Bible Study
    • Bible Studies
    • Porn Recovery and Prevention Resources
  • SERVE
    • Serve Opportunities >
      • Adult Ministries
      • Alpha
      • Children's Ministries
      • Dove Taekwondo
      • Prayer Ministries
      • Serve Ministries
      • Welcome Ministries
      • Worship Ministries
      • Youth Ministries
    • Schedules

OUR VISIT TO THE SADDLE LAKE RESERVATION

2/24/2017

 
Picture
OUR VISIT TO THE SADDLE LAKE RESERVATION
Eleven of us from Bethel drove to the Saddle Lake Reservation this past Wednesday. We spent the day touring its various facilities and meeting the people there.  We were guided by missionary Philip Lee, whose work among the youth of Saddle Lake we support.  Our hope was to learn more about the First Nations people at Saddle Lake and, in some small way, to be agents of reconciliation. 

Two things about the trip stand out to me in particular.  The first is the unique spiritual openness of the people we encountered.  On several occasions we asked if we could pray for the person who had just spoken to us about some facet of life at Saddle Lake—the Economic Development Officer, the Administrator at the Council building, our residential school tour guide.  In every case these people were not only welcoming of this but genuinely appreciative.  On one occasion, after learning that we had been praying for the youth of Saddle Lake while in the Youth Center, an employee suggested we also go to the building where the (all too frequent) funerals are conducted and pray there, as well.

The other aspect of the trip that stands out to me is much sadder.  It was our tour of the residential school.  It explains why First Nations peoples can be so resistant to the Gospel. Terrible things were perpetrated at that school in the name of Christ, under the priests and nuns who supervised it.

Alsena White, our guide and a survivor of the system, explained how she lost her name when she entered the residential school at aged 5 and was referred to solely by her identifying number, “eleven,” from that day forward.  Since she was judged a slow learner, those in charge made her a housemaid. She never learned how to read and write.  Alsena was routinely sworn at, humiliated, and physically abused.  She remembers being severely punished because she smiled and waved at her brother when she saw him in the school cafeteria.  (Girls were not to have contact with the boys.)

Even as those of us who went to Saddle Lake continue to process our thoughts, our Church has plans to further our connection with this reservation.  We have invited Alsena White to come to speak at the Truth and Reconciliation evening which we have planned May 7.  (I think you will be touched, as we were, by her honesty and warmth).  We are hoping that a group from Saddle Lake will also come here and have a meal with us as part of that day.  We want our upcoming Truth and Reconciliation event to be about real people and real relationships rather than about abstract concepts.

​On our tour of Saddle Lake, wherever we went, Philip Lee introduced us as “the people from the Church in Edmonton who pray for Saddle Lake.”  This is a accurate description.  There are many at Bethel committed to praying for Saddle Lake.  I encourage you to keep this First Nation’s people, and our ongoing relationship with them, in your prayers. –Pastor Tom
​

Dean Shingoose
3/6/2017 09:36:11 pm

It's heartening to hear that a segment of the Christian community in Edmonton is attempting to be agents of reconciliation and healing by visiting the Saddle Lake First Nation. May the Creator bless you and grant you favour in your 'relationship' with the Aboriginal community. Thank you for your chuch's response to the TRC's 'Calls to Action'. The Aboriginal community (urban & reserve) needs to see more meaningful effort made toward reconciliation and healing initiatives on the part of Canadian denominations and churches.
Blessings!
Dean


Comments are closed.

    Pastor's Corner

    Come here for news on what is happening in Bethel Church from our Pastors.

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    RSS Feed

Who We Are
Bethel's Story
Mission & Vision
Council & Staff
Beliefs
Ministries
Sunday's
Neighbourhood 
Programs
Church Family
Children
 
  WillowWood Preschool
  Youth
  Young Adults
  Women
 World Missions
Media
     Podcasts
     Facebook
Contact Us

© Bethel Community Church 2017. All Rights Reserved. 
  • Home
    • Building Check In
  • Services
    • Relaunch
    • Register to Attend
    • Connect
    • Prayer
  • Who we are
    • Council & Staff
    • Bethel's Story
    • Mission and Vision
    • Contact us
  • Ministries
    • Children's Ministry
    • Alpha
    • Dove Taekwondo
    • Men's Ministry
    • Prayer Ministry
    • Small Groups
    • WillowWood Preschool
    • Women's Ministry
    • World Missions >
      • Bettesu Village
    • Youth Ministry
    • Young Adults Ministry
  • Media
    • 21 Day John Reading Challenge
    • Podcasts
    • RightNow Media
    • Pastor's Corner
    • Worship Resources
    • Holy Week
    • Video Archive
    • Bulletin and Community News
    • Member Photo Directory
  • GIVE
  • Grow
    • Growth Path
    • Current Bible Study
    • Bible Studies
    • Porn Recovery and Prevention Resources
  • SERVE
    • Serve Opportunities >
      • Adult Ministries
      • Alpha
      • Children's Ministries
      • Dove Taekwondo
      • Prayer Ministries
      • Serve Ministries
      • Welcome Ministries
      • Worship Ministries
      • Youth Ministries
    • Schedules