ChristianWeek

WINNIPEG, MB—Amid confusing doctrinal waters, Canadian Anglicans are charting even more new territory with the installation of the first national indigenous bishop, Mark MacDonald.

The hopeful June 25 installation in Winnipeg is another step toward full recognition of the authority and identity of Aboriginal Peoples, says outgoing primate Andrew Hutchison, and is meant to "give a place for their ways in the protocols of the churches.

"We're hoping to bridge the divide between the gospel, which has been a powerful force in native culture, with the less accepted authority of the Western institutional church," says MacDonald.

Macdonald, who remains bishop of Navajoland in the United States, will be the first spiritual authority representing Aboriginal Peoples in Canada to the Anglican Church. The installation followed National Aboriginal Day, when nine Canadian churches re-affirmed their commitment to working for aboriginal self-government in a covenant signed 20 years ago.

"The elders have asked, with great love and respect for those who have brought the gospel, that this all be done within the canons and protocols of the Anglican Church," says MacDonald. "Further, they have said clearly that unfolding of effective aboriginal ministry, pastoral care and community should shape the structures of aboriginal church life, rather than the other way around."

MacDonald's appointment comes more than 20 years after the Anglican church gave Aboriginal Peoples a greater voice in their official decision-making structure. "Aboriginal rights is a fundamental issue for the church," says MacDonald. "When colonizers debated the humanity of Aboriginals, the church supported them. When it came time to make critical agreements and treaties, the church was very much trying to stand as an advocate for native people."

However, that support became ambiguous after many churches agreed with the idea that the best way to deal with Aboriginals was to assimilate them into society, says MacDonald. "The church had a confused mission policy for a long time. I'm not so sure that the church as a whole doesn't have a confused policy now, but what it has done is to see that treaty rights are a critical, and you might say primal, form of justice in Canadian society."

Originally involved in urban ministries in Wisconsin and later serving in remote regions as bishop of Alaska, MacDonald is looking forward to working closely with his friend Ray Aldred, chair of Evangelical Fellowship of Canada Native Ministries Council.

"My first task is going to be to listen a lot, but also to try to discern with leadership what God is doing. We seem to have a feeling that this is the moment God has chosen to reveal the power of the Spirit in native communities that has never happened before," says MacDonald.

MacDonald views the relationship of the gospel to aboriginal identity as a changing force for the Canadian church—"its potential from my point of view is limitless."

Dedication in worship, love of God above all else and a reconsideration of the concept of property are some of the ways MacDonald sees Aboriginal Peoples challenging the church.

"Modern Christians have learned to live according to the bottom line of Western society so much that they don't realize how much God has taken second place in our lives because of the way our society is structured.

"Native societies would challenge the church to say 'all of this stuff belongs to God, not to you'. People don't own things."

Both MacDonald and Hutchison are unsure how integration of native ways will affect church structure in the long run, but are confident a new day is dawning for Aboriginals in Canada.

"People understood that what might be seen as separation was actually differentiation," says MacDonald, referring to apostle Peter and Paul's respective ministries. "That differentiation in Christ led to deeper unity and to a larger fulfillment of God's plan for the nations."

For MacDonald, Aboriginal Peoples love/hate relationship with the institutional church is something that won't be leaving any time soon. Nevertheless, he says, "we listen to the Christian church as an elder as well."