Western Rural Ministry Retreat
Seventeen participants gathered in the welcoming atmosphere of Mount St. Francis Retreat Centre in Cochrane, 45 minutes from Calgary airport. On the other side of the hill, Cochrane is a bustling growing town, but Mount St. Francis is surrounded by acres of green and one would think him or herself far out in the country. We gathered, seeking healing, encouragement, and community. Our members included 7 Americans and 10 Canadians, staff of theological colleges, members of denominational judicatories, pastors of local churches, some of them retired, and, to our delight, a lay worship leader.
The first evening began with worship and getting to know each other. The next morning began with morning prayer, followed by the meeting of the Rural Church Network of the United States and Canada. Mark Yackel-Juleen brought the exciting news that the Lily Foundation was giving $5 million to RCN. One of the proposals from RCN was to research how to prepare worship leaders for exercising ministry in shared ministries of different denominations.
On Wednesday afternoon, the group visited Land of Dreams in Calgary, (https://ccisab.ca/land-of-dreams) a community garden started to bring together newcomers to be community, to raise familiar food and to find healing from working in God’s good earth. We saw innovative ways of mulching, reclaiming, and enriching land which had been scraped away in the construction of a roadway.
We returned to hear Robin Haensel’s Doctor of Ministry research on sparsely-settled regions and seeing possibilities for Christians in communities after church buildings close, and concluded the evening with a social time.
On Thursday morning, after prayer, the group set out for Morley (Mini Thni) Stoney Nakoda nation. We stopped first at McDougall Church, https://broadview.org/stoney-nakoda-mcdougall-church/., where we were reminded of the complex nature of land, First-Nation communities which were forced together onto reserve land, and the responsibilities of treaty and reconciliation. We met Tony and John Snow at Stoney Park Campground, meeting beside a Medicine Wheel constructed of stones in the open plain. The Medicine Wheel had been part of ceremonial carried out during the 1970’s Indigenous Ecumenical Conference organized by Rev. Chief John Snow, the father of Tony and John. It was a time of bringing indigenous people from all over North America and other parts of the world, to practice traditional ceremony and regain their spiritual souls which had been so damaged by residential schools and government policy. (A book which documents this Conference is Around the Sacred Fire by James Treat, U Illinois Press, a powerful story!)
After discussion and explanation, our group was led in walking the Medicine Wheel and offering tobacco at the 4 portals. We entered at the East Door and exited at the North Door. We then ate delicious stew and bannock prepared by our hosts.
From Morley we followed the highway to the tourist town of Banff, meeting Kevin Driver who has pastored in the Full Gospel congregation for 25 years. He described for us his ministry among the migrant workers who serve in the tourist industry of Banff, and the huge turnover of community members and of his congregation that takes place each year. After some discussion, we took time to visit some of the high spots of beauty, and saw some of the wildlife.
We joined to eat at Zyka Restaurant, and then joined for evening prayer at the park at the river side. As we finished our prayers and hymns, we were astounded by the full rainbow that appeared.
We drove back to Mount St. Francis, in the late afternoon of the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, full of inspiration from the day. Our first two participants left that evening, and the rest of us on Friday morning.
The executive of the Rural Church Network of the US and Canada has new members: secretary Lisa Robison, treasurer Inba Inbarasu, vice chair Roberto Ochoa, and Canadian representatives, Shelly Manley-Tannis from Saskatchewan and John Neff from Ontario.
All of us, returning to our ministries, took precious memories and precious relationships from our time together.
Catherine Christie - CiRCLe M Chair
