Nĕstooāāk Building our Capability

Nĕstooāāk
Building our Capability
Increasing the Capacity of First Nations Followers of Jesus
2008-2009

This project is designed to train Native men and women to be more effective in personal, family and community life – and therefore more effective as ministers of the Good News among our own. It addresses the often unique challenges experienced by Native people as they seek to live out a faithful walk in the way of Jesus. It is a project designed to build capacity in personal life and ministry skills so that Native people can do for themselves what only they truly can – lead healthy lives in Christ. In that way, others may be won to Him to lead healthy lives.

"Why build capacity when people just need to hear the simple truth of the gospel?" you might say. A good question!

For many generations Native North Americans have believed Christian faith required them to become like Euro North Americans. Many still do! Consequently, Native North Americans have, in best-case scenarios, struggled to embrace God within an increasingly secularized western Christianity while simultaneously stepping away from much of their own ways of being in the world. In worst cases, they have rejected Christ outright because of requirements which, in their view, would culturally emasculate them.

On top of that, grinding poverty, socially dysfunctional communities, high suicide rates, family breakdown and marital collapse has made it difficult to see the Good News for what it is – the beginning of new life. Many simply see it as the continuation of the old repression their ancestors experienced. The Native Christian experience in Canada, therefore, suggests a number of very valid reasons for the "rollercoaster" experience of Christian faith – an experience that is deeply rooted in the Native North American community.

Stated simply, without the capacity to grow, adapt and make life with Jesus our own, the same issues we confront today – abuse, addiction, violence, suicide, transient faith, family instability – will linger as challenges for tomorrow. That's why it's important to build people's ability to own and transmit faith in Jesus in ways which make sense and, which make authentic disciples.

While it is our expectation that Native people in ministry will want to ensure they attend, this training event is for all people who want to do ministry "in a good way" among native people – whether Native or not. The presentations are from primarily Native men and women and are skills focused – not simply theory. They stem from many years of ministry experience and even more years of personal and collective discipleship.

So, if you are presently involved in or, are considering involvement in Native ministry, this is your invitation from My People International to make this a priority on your calendar.

What's the Training About?

Our objectives in this approach to training are straightforward:

To instruct Native people from a body of theology and biblical teaching that resonates with their culture and traditions while remaining biblically faithful. Native North Americans are best suited to this task – not entirely on our own by any means, but certainly taking the most prominent role;
To use the existing informal and formal learning contexts of Native people to instruct in issues which impact the Native community both negatively and positively in the transmission of the gospel and the making of disciples;
To include the more traditional issues of discipleship but ensure they are set within the traditions and learning styles of Aboriginal people;
To use instructional dialogue as a primary method of teaching; telling the story - what God is doing among us – as we learn what God has done among others. In some case, such as the training offered in Ee-neh-neh-mun Circle, this is the only way in which painful stories can be told and truly heard.

While our prayer is to give strength to people of faith in Jesus, we understand that faith and community for Native people are not isolated – evangelism is an important outcome of our work. So is intercultural mission. We therefore also believe that now is the time to empower our people to fully and authentically possess, and then tell, the Good News of Jesus Christ to others – regardless of skin color, traditions, culture or parentage. We are committed to the old message as a contemporary message, current and powerful, for today's generation.

What's the Content?

First, four themes emphasized throughout the training materials and conferences provide focus for personal health and well-being:

  1. Practicing God's Presence in the Margins
   • Native Spirituality and Spiritual Life Development
  2. Mentoring peer support and wholeness
  3. Understanding Indigenous Thought in Biblical perspective
  4. Developing a Healthy Native Lifestyle
   •Systems and Dynamics in Family, Church, Organizations and Society
     •Recovery From Abuse (Ee-neh-neh-mun)
      •Marriage/Family
   •Understanding Community

Next, a number of workshops are available for building capacity to do good ministry:

Workshops

Cross-cultural Partnerships
Contextualization: Issues and Practice
Biblical Interpretation through Native Eyes
Preaching a Faithful Gospel
Church Planting Strategies
Suicide Prevention and Intervention
Peer Counselling: An Introduction
Sexual Abuse Issues
Culture in Faith: Communication through cultural mediums
Administrating the local church

For more detailed information contact MPI.