New Wine: Western Intercultural Ministry Network Gathering

Online this fall with Eric Law and Tony Snow

Intercultural Ministry

We can’t gather in Calgary as originally planned, but we can come together online, even bigger than before! Join us for part 2 of last year’s cross-Canada gathering of people committed to the United Church’s intercultural vision. Rev. Dr. Eric Law and Tony Snow will be our lead resource people. (Read on for their biographies.) All people of all identities and backgrounds are welcome.

When: Fridays on September 25, October 2, and October 9, 2020.

Cost: FREE. Thank you to the Regional Councils who support our network through their budgets, and to the people of the United Church of Canada, who support this ministry through your Mission and Service givings.

The sessions will begin at 9:00 AM Pacific; 10:00 AM in AB; 11:00 AM in MB and NW Ontario; noon in ON and QC; 1:00 PM in the Maritimes and 1:30 in NL.  These will be three-hour sessions, with presentations and small group discussion. Tools for talking with your ministry or others between sessions will be offered.

How to Register

Sessions are free but registration is still required. Here’s the form: https://form.jotform.com/201737339170252

Daily themes:

September 25:  Missional Ministries
October 2:  Sustainable Ministries
October 9:  Intercultural Ministries

There will be a presentations, dialogue between Tony and Eric, small group conversations, Q and A, and a break in each session.  This is not a typical webinar where participants just listen to the speaker the whole time!

At the end of each day, participants will be given “homework” for the week to do – something contextual to their ministries. They will bring their experience and reflection back to the following session.

Our lead resource people:

Rev. Dr. Eric H. F. Law is the founder and executive director of the Kaleidoscope Institute, which provides resources to equip church leaders to create diverse and sustainable communities.  He has been a consultant and trainer for over 25 years, working with the Roman Catholic, Episcopal, United Methodist, Presbyterian, American Baptist, United Church of Christ and Lutheran churches in the United States, Canada, Asia, Australia and Europe.  He is the author of over 10 books including Finding Intimacy in a World of Fear, Holy Currencies, Drawing on Holy Currencies, The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb (also available in Spanish), and Inclusion: Making Room for Grace.

He is an Episcopal priest, a composer of church music, a photographer and a playwright.  He writes a weekly blog called The Sustainist: Spirituality for Sustainable Communities in a Networked World.   http://ehflaw.typepad.come/blog/

Tony Snow is the Coordinator for Right Relations for Chinook Winds Region of The United Church of Canada. He is currently in his final year of study at the Vancouver School of Theology, Masters of Divinity program and is set to be ordained in 2021. Tony is a member of the Stoney Nakoda First Nation and a descendent of the signatories of Treaty Number 7 in southern Alberta. He comes from a long line of theologians and spiritualists from the Nakoda Sioux tradition. His father, the late Dr. Rev. Chief John Snow Sr., was the first ordained minister in the United Church in Alberta and western Canada. In the 1970s Chief Snow began Indian Ecumenical Conference held at Morley, Alberta where Tony’s spiritual discernment and religious education began.

Since that time Tony has been a strong advocate of Indigenous rights, Indigenous Traditional Knowledge and Indigenous Spiritual teachings. He continues to work with many groups within The United Church of Canada including the Climate Advisory Committee, the White Privilege Reference Group, the Archival Records Task Group and others to provide historical context and Indigenous understandings that relate to reconciliation and right relations practice. He is also on the leadership team of the Calgary Interfaith Council and Decolonizing Christianity Canada.