"All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation..." (2 Cor. 5:18)
We are looking for volunteers and/or teams of committed people in communities across Canada to organize tour stops in their community.
What is it?
Inspired by God's call to live as ministers of reconciliation, reForming Relationships is a Canadian cross-country art tour featuring Kisemanito Pakitinasuwin - 'The Creator's Sacrifice', a series of 17 paintings depicting the Easter story in Woodland artistic style. These paintings by Cree artist Ovide Bighetty were commissioned in 2002 by Indian Metis Christian Fellowship, a ministry of the Christian Reformed Church to Aboriginal people in Regina, SK. The tour will start in the Fall of 2011 in Saskatoon, SK and travel to Christian Reformed communities across Canada. reForming Relationships is presented by the CRC's Canadian Aborignal Ministry Committee.
Why an art tour?
The title of this cross-country art tour - reForming Relationships - gets at the heart of what this tour is all about: forging and deepening relationships between Christian Reformed and Aboriginal communities. In some places this will mean building on the foundations of existing relationships. In other places it will mean learning about Aboriginal culture and current lived experience, perhaps for the first time, and providing opportunities for relationships to be built. But in all places, it will be living out Jesus’ ministry of restoring (re-forming) relationships broken by sin.
Where will the tour be?
reForming Relationships will be a national tour made up of a series of Canadian tour stops that are organized to fit the unique local context. This is where we need your help! The current schedule includes:
Saskatoon, SK October - December 2011
Winnipeg, MB January 2012
Emo, ON February 2012
Thunder Bay, ON March 2012
Guelph, ON April 2012
Sarnia, ON May 2012
Ancaster, ON (Redeemer University College) June 2012 during SYNOD
We are also looking for additional hosts for Eastern Canada in the latter part of 2012- in particular in Classes Quinte and Eastern Canada, as well as in Classis Toronto. The tour will be in Edmonton for Spring 2013, to be followed by stops in Alberta and British Columbia.
What can it look like?
Since each location is different, with a unique local context, there are no limits to what a reForming Relationships tour stop could look like in your area. You could host an Aboriginal speaker, an opening reception or workshop, a learning series about local Aboriginal culture, display the art in a local gallery, host the Blanket Exercise, use the art as the subject for a youth group or Sunday School study series...anything you think would reach rFR’s two main goals:
1. Helping CRC members to learn about Aboriginal peoples and their cultures, and the history and current realities of relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples in Canada, and
2. To be a catalyst for new and renewed relationships with Aboriginal people and communities.
Will you join us?
If you would like to learn more, or are interested in organizing a reForming Relationships tour stop in your community, contact Steve van de Hoef (1-800-730-3490) or ServiceLink at volunteer@crcna.org.
Back to 'North America' Opportunities'
