Most of the time, when I hear or read news about climate change, I experience a sense of overwhelming hopelessness. Last year, more than 100 heat records were broken across British Columbia, Alberta, Yukon and Northwest Territories. During the heat wave, I went out on the streets and parks of Downtown Vancouver to hand out water bottles to our homeless neighbours. I remember that it was too hot even to have much of a conversation and I remember feeling powerless to help.

Dec 1972

I was a 16-year-old rebel who left home because I didn’t like being told what to do or to have rules. So my mom and I agreed it was time for me to leave home. I went to Vernon and panhandled on the streets. I survived on tea, garlic toast and cigarettes. My last night on the streets I entered a cold, dark, empty building that was once a Christian coffeehouse. I had no pillows, blankets, or bed. I tried to sleep on that cold concrete floor with just carpet and my clothes to fend off the chill.

Our churches have the responsibility to equip our members to faithfully confront the devastating relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples in Canada. Our eyes and hearts are being opened to the concealed colonial history of the oppression and marginalization of First Nations, Inuit and Métis people and communities.

I came across a story a few years ago now that has both historical and Baptist roots, a story of Baptist missionaries who worked hard at relieving the oppression of the Congolese people at the hand of Belgian King Leopold as he sought rubber for the increased production of tires, globally. Alice Seeley married John Harris in Britain, and together they left for missionary work in the Congo. Before leaving for the Congo, Alice was gifted a Kodak Brownie camera, and this enabled her to document the atrocities happening to the Congolese people.

When we look at our communities, we recognize the needs in the lives of many of our neighbours. In Canada, social agencies play an important role in confronting the needs in our communities and providing many supports for our neighbours. It is important for us to support the good work they are doing.

October 17th is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. On this day 34 years ago, over a hundred thousand people gathered in Paris for the signing of Universal Declaration of Human Rights to honour and recognize victims of extreme poverty, violence and hunger. It was declared that poverty was a violation of human rights, and that we needed to band together to eradicate this problem.

As Christians we have a calling placed on us by the Lord. He has commanded us to love others and to care for those in need, to be His representation on this earth. What does this look like practically?

I am so grateful for the many churches across the CBWC that have reached out to global refugees and offered them hope for a new life in Canada. Some churches assist Canadian newcomers to sponsor refugee family members to join them here.

Scripture celebrates the goodness of creation, the fruitfulness of the earth, and the wonder and splendour of the universe. These poetic texts frequently assure us that we are creatures made in God’s image, blessed and tasked as caretakers of creation.

In a recent conversation about Jubilee and some modern examples of living into this biblical principle, I encountered the experience of Arturo and Yola Nacho and their own story of liberation through land reform in Bolivia. I wanted to learn more.