A story to heal our land
By Rev. Michael J. Lafleur

The two row campum bert is "considered the granddaddy of wampum belts to the Iroquois, one which is constantly evoked as being the guiding principle of our relationships with the colonial powers..."
Courtesy: wampumchronicles.com

We live in a world that is marred by broken relationships and is desperate for healing and wholeness. More than ever, the Church needs to recover and re-engage in corporate repentance and reconciliation.

Within many evangelical churches, we've come to think of repentance and reconciliation as individual doctrines, characteristics of a person coming to faith in Christ. But if we are trying to be faithful ambassadors of reconciliation, there is so much more to consider.

Transformation of hearts, communities and nations starts with living in relational wholeness with those from congregational, denominational, and racial backgrounds different than our own. It also necessitates pursuing social reconciliation wherever there is historical or present-day relational brokenness.

As believers we are all members of one Body, designed by God to be enriched by each other's diversity, and to fulfill the Great Commission interdependently. While there are many fronts on which restoration and reconciliation should be pursued, one of the most essential to the healing of the land is directly related to First Nations' people.

A real-life story of corporate repentance and reconciliation

In the late 1990s, a group of spiritual leaders in Mississauga, Ontario and the surrounding area began to delve into the history of that city. In the process they uncovered ancient sins against the original stewards of the land. A long, careful process of research and relationship-building began with the Mississaugas of New Credit.

"The Mississaugas claim the British Crown's purchase of the land in 1787 was not adequately explained to native leaders—the deed itself was blank and was not signed by Crown representatives . . . The Mississaugas maintain their ancestors never accepted the boundaries of the 1805 treaty and were unfairly compensated."
—National Post, June 18 2003, as reported by Jarvis Collegiate Toronto

In the spring of 2000, the reconciliation process led to the "Road to Community Transformation" conference. Some 200 leaders (including members of the Meadowvale Community Christian Reformed Church) from across Toronto attended. International leaders, such as Alistair Petrie, spoke to us on stewarding the land and releasing God's transforming power into every level of society. Roger Mitchell, an ambassador of reconciliation from the United Kingdom, taught and modelled repentance and reconciliation. During the conference, several First Nations speakers, including Manfred North Peigan and Grand Chief Larry Sault, helped raise our awareness of native issues related to the healing of the land in our region and across the nation.

With this abundance of powerful teaching, we were prepared to move into a Reconciliation Service.

Approximately 40 First Nations believers from the New Credit and Six Nations area graciously accepted our invitation and gathered with conference participants. Like Daniel and Nehemiah, various non-native pastors confessed the sins of our society and the Church that were committed against our native peoples. Grand Chief Larry Sault, empowered to speak on behalf of the New Credit Band Council, listened as Roger Mitchell poured out his heart in contrition and repentance, asking forgiveness for specific sins of our European forefathers. Mitchell led corporate repentance with four admissions:

• We failed to allow the grace of the gospel to operate through us. We came in racial superiority and exclusivity.
  
  
• We disinherited you of the land you were stewarding, a stewardship that was implicitly more Biblical than we British had ever known since William the Conqueror had come and stolen our land. We should have come in meekness and humility. We came to usurp, control and dominate.
  
  
• We murdered your people through alcohol, diseases, and even took the life of your great Chief Wabakinine and his wife in 1893 and never brought those responsible to justice. Instead, we schemed to "divide and conquer" the various bands of First Peoples by stirring up old animosities among you.
  
  
• We brought you a tainted gospel in the midst of our own confusion and sin—particularly undermining the work and calling of the great Mississauga Chief and revivalist, Peter Jones. Revival and transformation in the 1820s among Mississaugas of the Credit was a sign of God's destiny for this city and country as a place of blessing and healing to the nations. We destroyed that work of God.

Chief Larry Sault took his time to consider Roger's words, and then graciously released forgiveness to us on behalf of his people. Something wonderful began to break open. Larry asked Roger to forgive them for the bitterness they have held against the British Crown. Local pastors were then called forward to freely speak their repentance to Pastors Earl and Phil Sault for specific sins committed against their ancestors. Earl Sault of the New Credit First Nations exhibited the "spirit of Joseph," saying "I am your brother. You stole my land, took my brothers and sold religion as a door to my heart. Satan meant it for destruction, but God meant it for good—that's today! We extend the right hand of fellowship and forgiveness."

It was a "kairos" moment, as God released healing into our respective communities through this reconciliation!

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