SCM's 10 highlights of 2009

2009 has seen our movement evolving into a more active, visible and relevant presence across Canada.

“I really appreciate the work you do as a training ground for people who are going to make a difference challenging systems of oppression from a place of justice and love. I am eternally grateful for what the SCM has contributed to my life” – Read testimonies about SCM’s impact

From joining the relaunch of SCM-USA in San Francisco to taking indigenous solidarity and eco-justice to the streets, SCM is preparing to take our place again at the cutting-edge of liberation theology and social justice movements in Canada.

We can’t do it without your support – SCM relies on dozens of committed volunteers and hundreds of loyal donors. THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS! (If you have not yet donated for 2009, please consider making or topping up you contribution today )

Thanks to your support, highlights of the year include:

  1. ACTIVE WITNESS: SCMers reminded of movement’s ‘moral force’
  2. SAN FRANCISCO CONFERENCE: Students ‘raise new prophets’
  3. EPIPHANY TOUR: Students share ecumenical vision on 13-stop cross-country tour
  4. SHINE! Students unite from across Canada to ‘radiate a dream of inclusion & liberation’
  5. NEW LOCAL UNIT LAUNCH: SCM @ UBC envisions economic justice
  6. NEW BOARD VISION: SCM’s elected student leadership prioritizes movement growth
  7. PILGRIMAGE OF RESISTANCE: Empire exposure tour engages spiritual activism
  8. ALL THINGS NEW: New look for magazine celebrates eco-justice in full colour
  9. CLIMATE JUSTICE: Movement tackles human and ecological impact of crisis with campaign
  10. 2010: A year of challenge and possibility for SCM

Make sure you check out some of our 2010: Dreams for the new year (bottom) – all of our projects need whatever support you can offer, be that volunteering or offering a donation to continue our work.

ACTIVE WITNESS: SCMers reminded of movement’s ‘moral force’

“For almost 90 years, the Student Christian Movement has been a force for social justice.”
-United Church Observer, September 2009

As 2009 comes to a close, we’re reminded of SCM’s long history – since 1921 – of turning over the tables and seeking justice.

We are significantly smaller than we were 89 years ago, nor are we the primary faith group on many campus as we once were. But today, SCM is becoming more diverse (still far to go, mind you), more connected to our global movement, and more aware of the importance of the mission we’ve inherited.

Let’s take time to celebrate the many ways we are connected, including the myriad ways our members are engaging in social change. Our movement is not about programs or meetings – it’s about building a vibrant network on the intersections of faith and justice. In the past year, SCM members and alumni have:

SCMers are taking up the challenges of leadership in a world torn by violence, empire and fundamentalism, and not only inside the confines of our movement but far beyond it. Thank you for supporting this vision, and for all your hard work!

SAN FRANCISCO CONFERENCE: Students ‘raise new prophets,’ building a North American movement

January 29 – February 1
San Francisco, California

Forty years later after the heyday of student activism in 1968, Christian student activists from across the Christian spectrum are rising as a formidable force again.

Eighty students from across the U.S., Canada and the world – including 18 members of SCM Canada – gathered January 29 – February 1 in San Francisco for a historic conference bringing together progressive Christians with a global vision of change. Raising New Prophets: Arising of a Movement is the first North American conference of the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) in decades and is re-launching a Student Christian Movement in the U.S.

“We are committing to the radical message of Jesus who saw enough bread to go around and justice for all,” said Luciano Kovacs, the federation’s North American secretary. “We hope this conference will inspire us to spend our time and energies to understand the reality of dialogue and partnership if we want to break the yoke that Empire binds together.”

The conference will hear from renowned activist theologian Rita Nakashima Brock (author of ‘Saving Paradise: How Christians Traded Love for this World for Crucifixion and Empire’), host student-led grassroots strategy workshops, and meet with local activists and church leaders.

EPIPHANY TOUR: Students share ecumenical vision on 13-stop cross-country tour

Winnipeg, MB; Edmonton, Calgary and Sylvan Lake, AB; Victoria & Vancouver, BC; San Francisco, CA; Toronto & Ottawa, ON; Montreal QC; Halifax, NS; St. John’s, NL; Fredericton, NB
February – March

SCM’s two General Secretaries, Emily Carr and David Ball, kicked off a 13-stop cross-Canada tour inviting students to share their ecumenical vision with a concert at St Matthew’s Anglican Church, Winnipeg.

The tour included the Midwinter Soul-stice concert, theology on tap discussions, workshops for Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, SCM history slideshows, film nights, and meeting with Senior Friends.

The tour explored questions of linking the pillars of SCM’s mission – justice, community, spirituality – in local contexts, and what a radical ‘dream of inclusion and liberation’ would look like, for the church and for the world.

SHINE! Students unite from across Canada to ‘radiate a dream of inclusion & liberation’

May 2-10, 2009
Toronto, Ontario

SCM and our ground-breaking Queer & Christian Without Contradiction campaign hosted a major national gathering May 2-10, 2009 in Toronto, Ontario, our General Conference on gender and sexual diversity.

Featuring keynotes from Bishop John Selders and Mennonite author Jan Guenther Braun, the conference brought 30 young adults from seven provinces to Toronto to share resources for organizing against homophobia in our churches and communities, and training in grassroots leadership, anti-oppression, arts and worship, and exploring liberation theologies.

Highlights of the conference included SCM’s first in-movement baptism on Toronto Island, reaching consensus on a new Resolution on Gender Identity and Sexuality and beginning discussion around a Draft Resolution on Indigenous Rights , and the launch of exciting new resources, including Epistle Journal, a book discussion guide, and SCM’s first full-colour magazine.

NEW LOCAL UNIT LAUNCH: SCM @ UBC envisions economic justice

September 2009
Vancouver, BC

Ending poverty and homelessness in downtown east side Vancouver was the inspiring vision behind the creation of SCM @ UBC, the first SCM unit in the city in decades.

Students have already organized major events on campus highlighting economic justice, including Stand for Housing, Sermon on the Knoll and more. With the 2010 Olympics approaching, SCM has taken a lead role in planning events to build an economic justice movement in the city, including an ecumenical Ash Wednesday service during the games.

NEW BOARD VISION: SCM’s elected student leadership prioritizes movement growth with new roles

October 3-5
Toronto, ON

Months of strategic visioning took shape as SCM’s elected leadership – the newly-renamed General Board – met in Toronto to set priorities for the movement.

At General Council in May, the movement committed to our future, taking a leap into a decade we hope will see growth, new vision and increased visibility for the SCM.

The decisions restructured the elected Board, transitioning it from a purely regional representation model towards a more empowered and goal-based form. Students are now elected with specific roles, or ‘desks’, which reflect the core priority areas as we push harder to make SCM’s voice heard.

Th new desks include elected Coordinator positions for Outreach, Anti-Oppression, Finance & Fundraising and Communications & Resources. The Western and Eastern regions now have one Coordinator position each.

A strategic planning session led by our Regional Secretary, Luciano Kovacs, reminded us that we cannot do everything, but can do a few core priorities well.

And the Board committed to hiring a second General Secretary and a Staff Associate, bringing the staff team to three and enabling more effective fundraising, travel, and communications. The third position will be filled in the New Year.

PILGRIMAGE OF RESISTANCE: Empire exposure tour engages spiritual activism

November 19-23
Toronto, ON to Fort Benning, Georgia

Fourteen young adults participated in SCM’s fifth annual Pilgrimage of Resistance, journeying to the social justice vigil at the gates of the School of the Americas, a notorious army base which has trained torturers, assassins and dictators in Latin America.

Over this program’s years, the trip has transformed into a spiritual activist journey, visiting Catholic Workers, refugee centres, inner-city communities and activist theologians. The vision is to embody positive alternatives to the empire we live in – lived experiments with nonviolent resistance, direct action, anti-oppression and liberation theology.

Students from across the theological spectrum engaged in dialogue around theology, nonviolence, empire, and indigenous rights in Canada. Many felt that a Pilgrimage within Canada – addressing colonization – would be an important contribution for SCM to make to building solidarity at home.

ALL THINGS NEW: New look for magazine celebrates eco-justice in full colour

November

In more than 20 years, our cross-Canada magazine, All Things New launched into full-colour with a crisp redesign, full of inspiring photos, solid and engaging content from students, and an inspiring message – we can build a movement for eco-justice.

The Fall issues of ATN features articles on a month-long bicycle project, strategies for building diverse coalitions on climate justice, grassroots dispatches from the United Nations in New York and Grassy Narrows First Nation, and a vision of a just transition to a sustainable future.

CLIMATE JUSTICE: Movement tackles human and ecological impact of crisis with campaign, manifesto

December

As world leaders stalled on climate change in Copenhagen, SCMers took action – with a Board statement, manifesto, direct action in Toronto’s stock exchange and a video on climate justice.

SCM released our newest video, Climate Justice: All Creation Groans, and within a week we collected signatures from 130 supporters, from 9 provinces, and from 4 countries. We took to the streets, making a ruckus in Canada’s financial hub, Bay Street and the Toronto Stock Exchange.

But Canada’s leaders in Copenhagen are not listening – and it seems like they continue to do so. Canada has so far “won” several awards from more than 400 environmental groups for being the “worst fossil” on climate change action.

SCM joins countless other groups – from NO One Is Illegal Vancouver to Climate Action Network and Indigenous Environmental Network – in crying out for JUSTICE, especially for Indigenous rights to be respected in a Copenhagen treaty and the closure of the Canadian Tar Sands. Keep up the pressure!

2010: A year of challenge and possibility for SCM

This coming year will have some big struggles ahead – with students at the front-lines of defending Indigenous rights and civil liberties at during the Vancouver Olympics in February, the world’s most powerful leaders of the G8/G20 meeting in Toronto in June, and the challenge of growing our movement with increasingly limited resources.

With your help – whether you are a committed volunteer, or one of our hundreds of valued donors – we can keep building this movement. Our dream is to become more relevant to today’s students, more visible in our public witness, and reclaim our voice as progressive and radical Christians.

Projects that depend upon increased funding include:

  • Indigenous solidarity pilgrimage – the success of our annual School of the Americas trip will be brought home to Canada, visiting First Nations communities and engaging in solidarity activism closer to home. (Cost: $5,000)
  • Homelessness, poverty and economic justice conference – our newest local unit, SCM @ UBC, has offered to host our General Conference on the issues closest to their heart: economic justice. Students will come together from every corner of Canada to engage the issues and share leadership skills. We want this conference to be the most accessible and diverse ever. (Cost: $10,000)
  • A more effective staff team to support student leadership and outreach – The elected leadership of SCM is investing in the future, but we need staff to support their mandate – we cannot build a movement if we continue to be dramatically understaffed. In the New Year, we are increasing our staff team to three to strengthen our outreach, resources and financial sustainability. (Cost: $26,000 per year)

Our visions for the coming year all require dedication and support. If you are inspired by our vision, leadership and work, will you support us?

  • Make a donation today – online giving is easy, and tax deductible.
  • Join the SCM network – send us your email (and mailing) address so you can keep up to date and get involved
  • *Tell a friend about our vision, and the unique role we continue to play in transforming students’ lives, building grassroots social justice leadership, and reclaiming Jesus’ vision for peace and justice.

Post a comment


(required, but not displayed)

(optional)