The following is a preview of the conversation Wayne Stapleton, VP of Cross-Cultural Engagement, and Parry Stelter will be having on November 9: Riding the Waves of Grief. Parry is a Cree and Métis member of Alexander First Nation. A resident of Edmonton, Alberta, he is a preacher of the Gospel and a writer and author.
How do you perceive the grief you are speaking of?
My parents, uncles, and aunts went to Residential School. The grief they experienced in their lives as a result of being separated from their parents, and their parents, who are my grandparents, also went to those schools. They also experienced abuse, which led to addictions running rampant in their lives. This is called intergenerational trauma.
How do you perceive this grief in Indigenous, Métis, or First Nations people?
The grief that took place in my life and in my family’s life, which also includes my siblings and cousins, comes from persecution and marginalization as Indigenous, Métis, or First Nations people. This grief has been experienced by Indigenous people as a whole. The term Indigenous is an umbrella term that includes First Nations, Métis, and the people of the north commonly referred to as Inuit, Yup’ik, Unangan (Aleut), Alaska Natives, and Dene.
How do you perceive this grief in White people?
Since I grew up with White people and have had relationships with White people my whole life, I am familiar with the kind of grief they as a whole have experienced, no matter their ethnic background – whether they are German, Portuguese, Ukrainian, British, French, Russian. The grief I have seen in them is tied to the loss experienced when whole families have emigrated to Canada seeking a better life, often leaving members of their families behind.
Describe ministry that seeks to address this grief.
The type of ministry needed to bring healing for the grieving, regardless of ethnicity, is to develop skills to ride the “waves of grief” no matter the source of that grief, regardless of whether they are Indigenous or White. Another part of this ministry, specifically for White people, is to be accurately and adequately informed about the true history of North America. Why is this needed? It will help them understand the grief of the Indigenous people of North America and perhaps even begin to identify with this grief, in some small, human way.
How does the Gospel address this grief?
- Jesus Wept (John 11:33–35)
Jesus knew Lazarus would be raised, yet he still entered into the grief of Mary, Martha, and those around him. His response shows that knowing God is at work does not eliminate the experience of grief.
- Blessed Are Those Who Mourn (Matthew 5:4)
Jesus doesn’t condemn mourning. He acknowledges it and promises comfort. For Christians, reconciliation is not simply about correcting a historical record. It involves truth, repentance, relationship, justice, healing, humility, and walking together.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Canada specifically called churches to address their own role and to adopt the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a framework for reconciliation.
- Build relationships with local Elders and Knowledge Keepers.
- Develop relationships with nearby First Nations, Métis communities, and Inuit organizations.
Overcoming Cultural Boundaries through Christ
The story of Cornelius in Acts 10 has a powerful connection to reaching Indigenous peoples in Canada with the Gospel – especially when it is approached through the themes of relationship, humility, listening, crossing-cultural boundaries, and recognizing that God is already at work among people before we arrive.
Peter had to overcome his own cultural assumptions. Before meeting Cornelius, Peter had been taught to think in terms of clean and unclean, Jew and Gentile. God challenged Peter’s assumptions through the vision of the sheet: “What God has cleansed, you must not call common” (Acts 10:15 RSV).
Peter then understood: “God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean” (Acts 10:28).
This revelation has significant implications for Indigenous ministry in Canada. The Gospel should never be presented as though Indigenous people need to become culturally European in order to become followers of Jesus. The challenge for the Christian messenger is to examine assumptions about Indigenous cultures, traditions, spirituality, community structures, and ways of understanding relationships, and then to apply the biblical truth that God has come to redeem people in Christ, regardless of culture.