Indigenous In The City - Part One

April 01, 2022 by Kevin Rogers in At Risk Youth, Canada, Christianity, First Nations Canada, Kevin Rogers, Mission Canada, PAOC, Religion & Spirituality, Substance Abuse, Urban Ministry, Dan Collado, Jim Thunder, Levi Samson Beardy

It is my honour today to invite a team of indigenous Christians from various parts of Canada onto the podcast to talk about what it means to be an indigenous or aboriginal person living in Canadian cities. Stats Canada uses the terms ‘aboriginal’ and ‘indigenous’ to refer to people that are First Nations, Metis and Inuit. It is estimated that about one-half live in urban areas as compared to those living on reservation land and non-urban areas.

Dan Collado, has been serving the Lord in full-time ministry since 1993. He initially took a step of faith and went to live and pastor in small isolated fly-in Indigenous communities in northern Ontario, and later in Nunavut. After some 15 years of pastoral ministry, while continuing to feel the burden for Indigenous initiatives, Dan accepted the role as Academic Director of Aboriginal Bible Academy (ABA) in 2009. Dan is part of the Mohawk nation and resides in Napanee, ON.

Jim Thunder is Director of Economic Development at Norway House Cree Nation and lives in Winnipeg, MB. He is an adjunct professor of Indigenous Economic Leadership at University of Manitoba.

Levi Samson Beardy is the Oji-Cree pastor of Aboriginal Believers’ Church in Toronto.

Links:

Dan Collado - Mission Canada Indigenous Priority

https://paoc.org/canada/workers/priorityindigenouscanadians

https://paoc.org/canada/workers/dancollado

Aboriginal Bible Academy

https://www.aboriginalbibleacademy.ca/about

Jim Thunder MBA

https://ca.linkedin.com/in/jimthunder

Levi Samson Beardy

https://ca.linkedin.com/in/levi-samson-beardy-9639537

Aboriginal Believers’ Church

https://www.facebook.com/AbOriginalBelieversChurch/

Lightning Rod Conversations (with Chris Chase)

December 01, 2020 by Kevin Rogers in Canada, Christianity, PAOC, Religion & Spirituality, Urban Ministry

This is part 2 of Kevin Rogers' interview with Chris Chase. In this episode we look at the need in culture for tables of conversation where we can listen intelligently to two sides of an issue. The urban Christian can be a lightning rod that is able to disperse potentially destructive power and ground it in peace-making.

Race Talk Windsor-Detroit (Part 2)

July 15, 2020 by Kevin Rogers in Canada, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality, Urban Ministry

I was involved in a local conversation shortly after the death of George Floyd under the knee of officer Derek Chauvin. Christopher Cobbler and I gathered a mixed-race panel of pastors from Windsor and Detroit to talk about the black-white divide.

Because Windsor is a border city to Detroit, we likely have an enhanced perspective on America’s history of oppression against black slaves. Border cities are also part of the Underground Railroad where American slaves escaped. Harriet Tubman called Canada ‘The Promised Land’ and at that time, it was an escape from slavery’s tyranny.

That does not mean that Canada has not had its own struggles with racial tension; that is an unfortunate part of human nature that surfaces in every nation and every generation.

This is part two of that conversation with Chris Cobbler, Nelly Latchman, Kellen Brooks, Josh Bowers and myself. If you have not yet heard part one, why don’t you go back and download that first.